My Journey with Type 1 Diabetes: Embracing Challenges & Finding Strength
Diabetes. We’ve all heard it. Time to clear up some misconceptions about it and spill the tea.
It has been some time since I’ve made an article piece on Medium. A lot has changed since then. We now live in a world of AI that is capable of writing everything for us, and eventually, they’ll likely do everything for us. But this isn’t an article about AI, despite it being a cool subject to talk about.
Let’s jump right into it. But first, a little bit of context.
About 2 months ago (at the time I’m writing this), I was having a peaceful morning and woke up early to head out to an event. This event being hosted in central London, took around an hour to get there by tube.
I almost forgot; this was on International Women’s Day (8th of March). One of my favourite days and have always celebrated it in one way or another. Now, I’m a bit of a homebody — I don’t like to leave the house. Unless you take me shopping, then sure, why not! But events, conferences? They’re a bit new and I’m not always the most upbeat about them.
On this day, being the courageous and likely terrified person that I am about events, I decided to go and head out into hell: Busy, Chaotic, London.
Now, the event and socialising with new people were all fantastic. It was an extrovert’s dream, but obviously not mine. That exact morning whilst I was at the event, they were serving breakfast. Who could resist?! Me being too nervous, I forgot to eat before I got there.
A chocolate Pain Au Chocolat won’t hurt, right?
Oh, how I was wrong…
Without me knowing what was happening inside my body then, that alone was harming me and making me sicker.
It was time to leave. I thought to myself “How do people always seem so chill, and at peace when they’re out socialising?” “what do people think about?”. Either way, I knew I wanted to head back and get started with work.
I’m on my way home and I have a call from my GP (General Practitioner). It’s about a blood test I had a few days ago. I knew something was wrong — why else would they be immediately calling?
I couldn’t really understand everything that was being said to me, apart from “immediate attention” and “stay overnight at the hospital”. And something about a thing called ketones being too high? Lots of medical terms and I still had no clue, maybe it wasn’t serious?
Later in the day, I’m rushed to A&E (Accidents and Emergencies). Bypassing the very long queues you have to wait and immediately being seen by the team. Still, I didn’t know what was happening around me, but there sure were a lot of people (nurses, doctors) checking my blood, and family history and checking up on me every hour.
I’m safe though, and being treated. And for that, I couldn’t be more thankful to everyone on that day. After several days in the hospital, and many cries later, I’m being treated for type 1 diabetes.
You might have heard of diabetes before (does anyone recall of that meme?).
What comes to your mind when you think of it? You think of “sugar”, right? You might ask, “Oh did you have too much sugar as a kid?”.
You couldn’t be more wrong from the truth.
About 8% of people in the UK have type 1 diabetes and more than 2.4 million people are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The numbers are shocking, and It’s only getting worse.
So naturally, you might be thinking, what in the world is diabetes?!
Let me explain it to you in simple, non-medical terms.
We all have a gland inside of us called the Pancreas. A weird-looking thing that lives right underneath your stomach. As with any other gland and body part, it plays a huge role.
The pancreas produces a hormone called Insulin. In a healthy person’s body, insulin is automatically produced to tackle low and high blood sugar when you eat. With someone who has type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t produce insulin at all.
So, if I don’t produce insulin, what happens then? Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be here writing this if I wasn’t diagnosed in time. And that’s exactly what the doctors had said to me; they caught it just in time.
The same thing happens for type 2 diabetics. However, we need to understand a few key differences between them.
Type 1: Brought on by a trigger of some sort (e.g. virus, environmental), or can be genetic.
Type 2: Brought on by yourself, e.g. (lifestyle choices, diet, weight).
Both are auto-immune diseases. Both affect the pancreas. Only one is curable. Unfortunately, for those out there with type 1, it’s for life and cannot be cured.
With type 2, you’re looking at making lifestyle choices and better diet/exercise to reverse the condition.
The main thing here to understand is, with type 1, your body cannot naturally produce insulin. With type 2, you might be lacking insulin, but with the right changes, you’ll have the condition under control.
Technology and the advancements made in the medical field truly amaze me. Especially in the diabetes field. New technology is constantly emerging to help those with diabetes manage it with ease every day.
Now, it’s possible to live life as normally as a type 1 diabetic with a few changes in management and taking daily insulin.
When it comes to type 1 diabetes, there are a few symptoms to look out for:
- Frequently urinating;
- Drinking excessively;
- Feeling more irritated;
- Feeling more lethargic.
Note, when it comes to the symptoms, type 1 diabetics will often feel them come on straight away. It just happens all at once. For type 2, symptoms appear over a period of time, and might not be fully recognisable for up to 6 months or even up to a year.
Whilst not impossible, it’s tricky and sometimes can be draining on your mental health. The thought of continuing to prick yourself and inject yourself multiple times a day is not easy and can take a toll.
However, I firmly believe that if you have the right mindset, you can do anything and you can get through it. No matter how difficult it is.
As I’ve been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I’m in this part of my life where I want to know everything about the autoimmune disease and so I’ve sucked myself into this rabbit hole where I’ve now become an “expert” in the field; reading everything I can about it, watching every video about it, learning all the terms and partaking in courses.
If I can recommend one amazing and the most helpful book you’ll ever read, when it comes to knowing more about this condition, please read Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner.
Trust me, you will not regret it and I never learned as much about type 1 diabetes until I read that book.
It really should be a mandatory read given to everyone who has the condition.
I’ve learned a lot in the past 2 months of being a diabetic, one precise skill I’ve been able to hone in on is to worry less about things you can’t control, and focus more on your health and mind.
Your body is one amazing being and we should all listen to it more often. Ignoring any signs is going to prolong any further complications down the line. Look after yourself and selfishly put yourself first.
I’m now in a part of my life, as a 23-year-old working full-time in web3, where diabetes won’t stop me from doing the things I love.
It’s, unfortunately, part of me for life. I don’t mind that. We’ll become friends, likely the best of friends. But it won’t control me. I’ll be the one controlling and efficiently managing the diabetes myself, one day at a time.
