I have a young son, born fall 2008, participating in the TEDDY Study (The Environmental Determents of Diabetes in the Young). I started a blog to share my family’s experiences with TEDDY study visits, monthly poop collections, 3 day diet records and much more. My family and I enjoy participating in the TEDDY Study but you should know that I’m a little biased because I also work for the TEDDY Study.
I started working for type 1 diabetes research studies right out of college a few years before TEDDY even existed. I’m in the unique position having been there from the beginning, seeing how TEDDY has evolved and then getting that phone call that my own son has an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Of course my husband and I wanted to have our son in the follow-up. We need to know if he has those antibodies and I also like being a part of something big that might change the world someday (ok, that’s a stretch, but the TEDDY study might figure out what is causing diabetes). Now we’re on the other side actually completing parts of the study instead of just talking about what the TEDDY families are asked to do. My perceptions have changed since I first heard about the TEDDY protocol, for example: monthly poop collection-easy yet sometimes hard to remember, diet records-most challenging part of the study, blood draws-surprisingly easy so far.
I don’t want to be the only voice that gets heard. My hope is to blog about my family’s experiences but also have other TEDDY parents write guest blogs or do interviews about their perspective and experiences with TEDDY. All posts will be required to be reviewed by our central study and will always be anonymous. If you would like to contribute please send an email to your local TEDDY site or teddymomblog@gmail.com. Please check back every 2 to 3 weeks for new posts.
