When you hear the word ‘Diabetes’ a lot of people think: fat, too much chocolate etc. But that is such a misconstrued idea of the disease. Firstly, there’s two types of Diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.
Type 2 is generally caused by being unhealthy/obese or can come with old age. This can be treated with exercise, healthy eating and tablets- I don’t have this.
Type 1 Diabetes is something which can come on at any time, it’s where one of your organs: the pancreas, fails and no longer produces a hormone called insulin. In simple terms, insulin is used by the body to break down your food and allow energy to get to your cells.
My pancreas no longer makes insulin for my body, meaning I have to give insulin through injections any time I eat something with carbs in, the insulin counteracts the food. This is crucial to keep me alive and to make sure my body functions properly. For the record there is carbs in pretty much EVERYTHING.. A small apple=10g of carbs!
It is a dangerous disease because if my body has too much insulin, my blood sugar will go down and I’m at risk of going into a coma, and if there’s too little insulin, my blood sugar will go up and I would again be at high risk of going into a coma.
This means I’m supposed to do six blood tests and effectively three or more injections per day. But in reality, being at uni, this doesn’t happen.
I have had complications due to my Diabetes and seem to spend most of my life in and out of doctors and hospitals. Some people closest to me already know what I have to deal with however, not everybody does and it’s not something you automatically say when you introduce yourself to somebody. I’ve always hidden the fact that I have Diabetes however, I want people to know it’s okay to talk about any illnesses or even problems you may have. And although living with this disease freaking sucks, I have so many things to be thankful for.
I’m always inviting and including everyone in everything, some people don’t know why I bother with so many different people from different groups, when half of them probably wouldn’t return the favour. I always say hello, make an effort, text, smile even. I’m forever trying to organise big groups of people to get together and go out. This is because in my old 20-year-old age, I’ve learnt that life is precious and I’m this way simply because you never know what’s around the corner. Carpe diem- seize the day.
georgiaadderley 