Dr. Triana Rego

In 2007, when I was 17 years old, I started feeling unwell. I went to the hospital various times and was told I must be dehydrated. I became more tired through the years, experienced some nerve pain, and, in the last year, experienced severe weight loss and was so weak that I felt like I was dying. I went from 100 lbs to 73 lbs, but my doctor always said it was “in my head.” I went almost every week that last year and finally asked him to check me for T1D, as a family friend said it sounded like her symptoms. My PCP said that Spaniards are Hispanic and “Hispanics would have type 2 and be gaining weight.” I didn’t care what he said, I returned and begged him to check me. The next day, after 6 1/2 years of advocating for myself, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on 01/16/2014, three months before my 24th birthday. I had my endocrinologist check years later and I have all five markers, so I was always going to develop it at some point. No one in my family has it. I’ve been on Dexcom since 11/2015 (currently the G6), + Omnipod since 12/2015 (now the Omnipod 5 which loops with Dexcom).

I joined the online community in early 2018 and engaged more through The Sweet Type by that summer. It is the BEST choice I could’ve made. I’ve advocated for real change. I’ve met the most amazing people from all over the world, a few my best friends. I started hosting meetups in January 2019 since I noticed they weren’t really existent on the East coast yet, and I’ve loved bringing type 1s together. I also help individuals with chronic health conditions through my work as a psychologist.

I make sure my T1D revolves around my life and not the other way around (as much as I can). I eat what I want/when I want and I fortunately have a very positive relationship with food, always have. I just also make sure to be disciplined with my insulin by calculating more than a mathematician and prebolusing whenever necessary. At the end of the day, what I know is T1 will never be perfect. All of us have highs, lows, and feel sick sometimes and it 100% isn’t always something we’ve done. There are over 50 contributors to blood sugar fluctuations, and I personally am affected by all of them (especially the weather – insane!!). So, I take T1D with a grain of salt and A LOT of humor.