Hey everyone,
Today's post is a very important one. My good friend Kayleigh (@dailykayleigh) was recently diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, which came as a massive shock. In order to deal with this crazy change in circumstances, Kayleigh has started a blog (BeteIt.wordpress.com) to share her experience as well as getting advice from those who have had the disease for longer. Here I have interviewed her briefly to give everyone an idea of what it's like to have your world turned upside down and how it is to live with Type One Diabetes...
What exactly IS Type One Diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition caused by the pancreas failing to produce any insulin, which is the hormone which allows glucose from food to enter your cells to give you energy. This means that before diagnosis, none of the glucose from the food you eat gets converted into energy, so the treatment is insulin injections for the rest of your life. The cause is unknown, but I’ve read about all sorts of theories so far, from a vitamin D deficiency to genetics. Apparently another potential cause is that some people’s immune systems can be so strong that they start attacking the (healthy) pancreas, effectively killing its ability to produce insulin, but nothing’s really been proven yet.
What is the difference between Type One and Type Two Diabetes?
Type 1 is also known as juvenile diabetes because it tends to show up in younger people, and the cause hasn't yet been pinpointed. It means you don't produce any of your own insulin, so all type 1s have to inject.
Type 2 tends to be linked more to lifestyle and is more often found in overweight people, and it's when the pancreas creates some of its own insulin, but not enough, or the body can't use the insulin as efficiently as it should. It can be controlled with diet and exercise to a certain extent, but lots of type 2s eventually have to take tablets and insulin injections as it progresses. There's a lot less flexibility in the type 2 diet if they're not injecting insulin, because they can't adjust their insulin based on what they eat.
How did you discover you had the illness?
I found out I was diabetic in a ridiculously dramatic way, and I’m so tempted to sell my story to a tacky women’s magazine under the headline ‘Skipping a lecture saved my life’! I was feeling a bit woozy one day before a lecture as I was fighting off what I later found out was pretty bad tonsillitis, and decided to bring forward my plans to visit home for the weekend to that day, rather than going to my lecture and heading home the next morning as I’d originally planned. It turns out it’s extremely lucky I listened to my body, because early the next morning I was barely conscious and couldn’t stand up. My mum called an ambulance, and I don’t remember anything about the journey or being in A&E, but the next thing I knew I was in intensive care being rigged up to numerous drips (including one in my neck – arrgh!) I didn’t really know what was wrong with me until the next day, when the diabetes team came to visit and told me I was suffering from severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). This is when the body is running off its emergency fat supplies for energy because it’s not getting any from food, and when the fat breaks down it produces toxic ketones, and the blood becomes really acidic, which in the long run will lead to diabetic complications such as blindness, nerve damage, organ damage and heart disease. I stayed in intensive care for a few days being rehydrated and on antibiotics to get rid of the tonsillitis (which had triggered such an extreme bout of DKA – illness pushes the blood sugar up even further – not ideal when you’re already running with very high blood sugar!) and IV-administered insulin, before moving onto the endocrinal ward for a few days before being set free.
How has having diabetes affected your diet?
The diet is a bit of a minefield for the newly diagnosed, because the NHS advice is in direct contrast with what actual diabetics find works for them. The main focus is on carbohydrates, which provide most of the insulin. The main changes are making sure you opt for low-GI carbs, like wholegrains, and monitor your intake of overall carbs. When my blood glucose is a bit more stable, I’ll be going on a carb counting course, meaning I’ll be able to adjust my insulin to match the amount of carb I eat in a meal. I can’t really eat white bread anymore as it’s a really high-GI food, and I’m only allowed to use sugary drinks like Coke to treat a hypo, which is when the blood sugar is too low, but otherwise I should eventually be allowed to eat pretty much normally!
What effect has it had on your family/friends?
People keep on saying that they wish they could take my place so I could stop being diabetic (not the best illness for someone as needle-phobic and blood-phobic as I was before diagnosis), but I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. People seem to feel guilty about eating sugary things in front of me, but they really shouldn’t! It’s just like having a food allergy: you wouldn’t eat nuts if you were allergic, and I can’t eat too much carb (starch and sugar are considered equal in carb terms these days), so I don’t! It’s been quite a learning curve for my family, going from normality to suddenly having to help me read (my vision was quite badly affected for a while, as fluctuating glucose levels change the shape of the eyes’ lenses, so I couldn’t read anything at all for a few weeks) and learning about what to do in an emergency etc. I’ve yet to tell most of my friends how to deal with my medical emergencies, but the best thing people can do for me is to carry some jelly babies or other fast-acting sugar in case my glucose drops too low... exciting!
What advice would you give to someone in your position?
The main piece of advice I have is ask questions about everything. At my appointments at the diabetes clinic, I go in spouting question after question, from ‘Is there a reason everyone else in the waiting room is about 50 years older than me?’ (answer: they were mostly type 2 diabetics) to ‘What do I do if my blood sugar drops when I’m swimming?’ (answer: eat a couple of extra carb servings, or drop your mealtime insulin, as the exercise will have the same effect in terms of bringing down blood sugar). It makes me feel SO much better getting that reassurance from someone who deals with people like me every day!
So there you have it; a first hand account of Type One Diabetes and the effect it's had/is having. If you would like to keep up to date with Kayleigh's progress, check out her blog (beteit.wordpress.com)!
If you have anything to say on this subject, would like to find out more or would like to submit your own account of dealing with an illness, please write to me at theyoungladysguide@gmail.com
Love,
Blaise
Useful Links:
beteit.wordpress.com
soupdujournalism.wordpress.com
http://www.diabeteschallenge.org.uk/challenge/tannertakesthebridgechallenge
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