World Diabetes Day 2023
Marked every year on the 14th of November, we come together to celebrate the successes in technology, raise awareness and turn the world blue for a condition affecting so many.
I am one of the many. 30 years ago this month, my life changed forever. A scared six-year-old, who had already been through a trying time in the previous few months before, was told that for the rest of her life she would have to inject herself, a lifetime of counting carbs and a lifetime of blood sugar tests. Told that she had Type-One-Diabetes.
It was a lot. Looking back now, that little girl was strong. If it happened now, would I take it on in the same way and I could honestly say I don’t think I would.
According to Diabetes UK, only 8% of the population diagnosed with Diabetes are diagnosed with Type-One, which is where the pancreas stops producing insulin altogether. It is not caused by weight, lifestyle, or diet.
My diabetes, I was advised was caused by a shock 4-6 weeks prior to diagnosis. I had a shock, 4 weeks, and 4 days before. Does living with diabetes get better, No! You find ways of living with it, you find ways to manage and working together with agencies you hope one day you will find a cure. I know it won’t be in my lifetime but hopefully for generations to come.
Every year on the 14th of November, the world turns blue in recognition for World Diabetes Day. It’s a day where millions of people raise money, raise awareness, but also celebrate how far this disease has come.
If we go back over 100 years ago, a diagnosis of Diabetes was a death sentence. Children put in a ward and left to die. A horrific vision for anyone.
That was until Frederick Banting came on the scene. Having experienced the horrifying suffering first hand, after a friend Jane died of the condition just two months after diagnosis and Frederick being her pallbearer, he was determinded to come up with a
cure. Working with John Macleod they discovered Insulin.
In 1923 Frederick Banting became the youngest person to be awarded a Noble Prize for their discovery.
For every type-one-diabetic, insulin is not just another medication. To us, it is life-support. Without it we would not be here.
This year’s theme for World Diabetes Day is ‘Access to Diabetes Care’ and is about making sure everyone, everywhere has the same equal access to the care they need.
I know firsthand, the difference in care between two hospitals, let alone between two countries. I was astonished when moving from a home counties hospital to a London hospital and the extra services I was given. I was first asked when I last saw my psychotherapist. ‘I don’t have one’ came my reply. The new consultant looked at me in disbelief. ‘Every patient with Diabetes should have a psychotherapist, you are living with a lifelong condition – well you will see one by the end of your appointment today’ and I did.
I have experienced this once again today. What better way to celebrate World Diabetes Day 2023, then with a Diabetic review at my doctors surgery. At my old surgery I would go in, have my appointment, they would talk through my blood sugars, discuss if I was going to my diabetic appointment at the hospital, told to do a self-service blood pressure check on the way out and give the results to reception, book in for a blood test and I would be out in 10 minutes.
At my new doctors, I saw the nurse, who took my blood pressure, talked through my heart issues, checked my feet, did weight, height, urine analysis, talked through my concerns with food and then took my bloods there and then. She even held my hand when I almost passed out afterwards!
I go back in two weeks to see the nurse to discuss my blood results and go through more details. It is a real thorough check. I was
in the first appointment for 30 minutes.
I followed my appointment with a visit from my Podiatrist, Tristan, who comes and sorts out my feet. However, this has to be paid for privately, as whilst one of the most import parts of the body for a diabetic is to watch is the feet, the service you get from community chiropodists can be quite shocking. I have ingrown toenails and due to my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome cannot have local anaesthetics so have them treated, but the NHS won’t treat them, and I was left for years in extreme pain and discomfort unless I had an operation. Privately, I have them treated every six weeks, no anaesthetics needed and no pain.
Access to care, is not just about the doctors we see and the services we get. It is about the technology that is available. I have been lucky in the sense that I was offered the pump in 2009 after being on 8 injections a day. The Inulin pump is a device that delivers insulin through a small tube and canula into the stomach.
This was followed by a flash glucose system in 2018, whereby I can scan a device or my phone over a small round disk which is inserted into my arm, and it tells me my blood sugar. Unfortunately, it is not as rosey as the adverts on the TV says and doesn’t totally cut out finger pricks but it has cut them down dramatically.
However, access to these devices is a postcode lottery and just as individuals are now all gaining access to them in the UK, new ones are coming out with better features.
We have already come so far with technology that there is hope that one day children will say I used to live with Type-One-Diabetes, not I live with it!
Whilst it can seem to the outside world that Type-one diabetes is not that serious, it is…
Please know the symptoms!
The checklist on my Diabetes page are the four main signs and a quick finger blood test can rule the condition out. Don’t be someone who says my child used to live with diabetes.