The Diabetic Mammy Podcast

Living with or parenting Type 1 diabetes can feel relentlessly isolating. The decisions start before breakfast and often stretch long past bedtime. In this episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, we explore why community connection is not an optional extra in Type 1 diabetes care, but a vital part of thriving.This episode speaks directly to parents of children with Type 1 diabetes, adults living with T1D, and partners and carers who carry the emotional and mental load alongside the practical work of diabetes management. We move beyond “coping” and into what it really means to feel resourced, regulated, and supported while navigating life with a chronic condition.We discuss how being seen and understood by people who live Type 1 diabetes every day can ease decision fatigue, reduce burnout, and calm the nervous system. From diabetes conferences and education sessions to informal meet-ups, online groups, and shared conversations, this episode highlights the many ways community shows up and why shared language matters more than perfect solutions.With a gentle January reframe, listeners are invited to consider connection as an act of self-care. Not more goals. Not more pressure. Just the quiet intention to stop doing diabetes alone. The episode also includes a warm invitation to Thriveabetes, a face-to-face Type 1 diabetes community event in Dublin, and reflects on the power of gathering with people who already understand the weight without needing it explained.If you are parenting a child with Type 1 diabetes, living with T1D yourself, or supporting someone you love, this episode offers reassurance, validation, and a reminder you may not hear often enough:You were never meant to carry Type 1 diabetes on your own.Connection is regulating. Support is care. And thriving is possible when we stop trying to do this alone.(Buy your Thriveabetes tickets @ https://thriveabetes.ie/thriveabetes-2026 )

In this reflective episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, I sit with the idea of choosing your hard.Inspired by a Saint Stephen’s Day run and an honest conversation about work, home, food, movement and the everyday decisions we make, this episode explores a simple but powerful truth: life is hard, and so is living with and/or parenting type 1 diabetes. There is no easy option, only the path we choose and how gently we live inside it.I reflect on how diabetes weaves itself into every choice, from routines and energy to expectations and self-judgement, and offer permission to release the idea that there is a “right” or superior way to manage it all.The episode also pays tribute to a quiet, moving moment shared over Christmas with a listener who spoke about being deeply affected by the Welcome to Holland episode number 6 of this podcast (available @ https://open.acast.com/public/streams/6768991d15b96146455e80f3/episodes/683d9801708e9fc9b4394c66.mp3 ). A conversation about emotional processing, strength, and learning to feel as adults reminds us that tenderness and resilience can exist side by side, in all of us.A compassionate listen for anyone carrying invisible weight, navigating chronic illness, or simply doing their best inside a life that is already hard.

For many families, the 6th of January marks the true end of Christmas. In Ireland, it is known as Nollaig na mBan, Women’s Christmas, a day that traditionally honours the invisible work carried by women and offers a long-overdue pause.In this reflective episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, I explore what it means to return to diabetes routines after the holidays without guilt, rigidity, or pressure. We talk about the hidden labour of Christmas when living with or parenting type 1 diabetes, the emotional dip that often follows the festivities, and why blood sugars, energy, and routines rarely realign at the same pace.This is a gentle conversation about recalibration rather than correction. A push back against “New Year, New You” culture, and an invitation to choose kind, realistic, and sustainable intentions for the year ahead.If January feels heavy, if decision fatigue is creeping in, or if you’re finding the transition back to routine harder than expected, this episode is for you.A soft landing. A moment of recognition. And permission to move slowly.

As this year draws to a close, this gentle episode invites you to pause before the countdown begins.Drawing on a Scottish New Year tradition of opening the back door to let the old year out, and the front door to welcome the new one in, Catherine reflects on what it truly means to live through another year with type 1 diabetes. The hard days survived. The quiet wins that often go unnoticed. The lessons learned about ourselves, our families, and diabetes itself.This episode offers space for reflection without judgement. There are no resolutions to set and no perfection to chase. Just an invitation to honour what you have carried, to recognise the resilience it has taken to get here, and to gently welcome the year ahead.Whether you are living with type 1 diabetes yourself or parenting a child with it, this episode is a calm companion as one year ends and another begins.A moment to breathe. A moment to reflect. And a reminder that you do not step into the new year alone.

In this Christmas week episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, Catherine reflects on how to honour celebration while living with and parenting type 1 diabetes. Sparked by a simple comment, “Christmas must be a nightmare”, she gently challenges the idea that diabetes must dominate special days.This episode offers reassurance for anyone navigating their first festive season with type 1 diabetes, alongside validation for those further along the journey. Catherine introduces the idea of a safe minimum approach to Christmas Day, focusing on preparation, safety, and letting go of perfection in favour of presence and joy.Through lived experience, practical planning tips, and compassionate reframing, she explores the balance between diabetes care and connection. From adjusting expectations around numbers to embracing the concept of “time in happiness versus time in range”, this episode gives permission to let diabetes take a back seat, just for a day, without compromising safety.A gentle, grounding listen for parents, adults with type 1 diabetes, and anyone feeling the emotional weight of trying to do it all during the festive season. This episode invites grace, flexibility, and kindness towards yourself, reminding you that memories are made in the messy, joyful moments, not perfect blood sugar graphs.

In this reflective episode of The Diabetic Mammy Podcast, I explore life with type 1 diabetes through a triplex identity: living as a person with T1D, a healthcare professional, and a parent raising children with type 1 diabetes. These three perspectives shape how language, advice, and reassurance land in everyday life.We sit with familiar phrases often heard in diabetes care, such as “I don’t know,” instructional comments like “calm down” or “be careful,” and the well-intended but complex reassurance of “don’t worry.” Spoken with good intent, these words can comfort or quietly undermine confidence. Drawing on lived experience, clinical insight, and parenting, this episode invites more compassionate language, deeper self-trust, and permission to pause.A gentle listen for anyone living with, caring for, or supporting someone with type 1 diabetes. 

In this comforting episode of The Diabetic Mammy, we explore the emotional reality of living with a chronic condition through the lens of the Christine Miserandino's Spoon Theory (see link below) and my own gentle twist on it: the Spoons of Sugar Theory. Together we look at how type 1 diabetes quietly drains our daily energy, why so many of us wake up already short on spoons, and how this constant effort shapes our emotional wellbeing.We then move towards something softer. I share how pairing the hard diabetes tasks with small, intentional moments of sweetness can help prevent burnout, soothe the nervous system, and make diabetes care more sustainable.Whether you’re a parent of a child with type 1 diabetes or an adult managing your own condition, this episode offers compassion, understanding, and practical ideas for restoring balance on the days when the work feels heavy.Join me as we talk about energy, resilience, diabetes fatigue, and the importance of emotional sugar in a life lived abundantly with chronic illness. May this episode feel like a little exhale in a busy week.(More info about The Spoon Theory @ www.butyoudontlooksick.com )

In this week’s episode of The Diabetic Mammy, we explore what happens after we start noticing the language used around diabetes. Because once we tune in to our words, we can’t help but notice something else sitting quietly beneath them: stigma.I talk about the subtle, often invisible ways stigma has shaped how many of us live with diabetes – the hiding of injections, the quick tucking away of sensors, the apologising for alarms, and the belief that we shouldn’t be “seen” managing our condition. I share my own journey from discreetly checking numbers in toilet cubicles to openly, proudly creating a well-organised diabetes kit at home, shaped by my pharmacist’s training and years of living overseas. We look at how stigma shows up in clinics, in family life and in the words we hand down to our children. And, most importantly, we talk about how visibility builds confidence: how checking glucose at the table, wearing tech with pride and speaking kindly to ourselves can slowly, gently dismantle shame.This episode is an invitation to notice the quiet places where stigma still lives in our routines and to make one small shift towards being seen. Because visibility is not weakness - it’s strength, safety and self-respect.

In this episode, Catherine opens up a gentle but powerful conversation about the words we use in diabetes care, why they matter so deeply, and how they shape the way we see ourselves and our children. Inspired by the global #LanguageMatters movement championed by advocates like Renza Scibilia, the episode explores how everyday phrases can either uplift or undermine, connect or isolate.Catherine shares examples from clinic life, home life, and her own experiences as a pharmacist and a mammy living with type 1. She invites listeners to reflect on the tone and labels that often slip into conversations about diabetes and challenges us all to pause, listen, and choose words that support rather than shame.The episode also looks at how the language we use around our children becomes the language they use with themselves, and how tiny shifts in phrasing can model self-grace, resilience, and emotional literacy.Ultimately, this episode is an invitation to speak with more kindness, more accuracy, and more humanity. Because when it comes to diabetes, language isn’t neutral. It’s powerful. And it truly, genuinely matters.