Five reflections as a carer of a Type 1 diabetic to mark World Diabetes Day

The following views are my own.

I didn’t know anything about Type 1 diabetes until I met my wife, Olivia.

To mark World Diabetes Day on 14th June, Diabetes Week and also 100 years since insulin was discovered, I thought I’d share five pretty honest reflections as her carer (her words) of 10 years to help raise awareness of, and empathy for, a serious but often invisible disease to most of us.

"Oh so you can’t have sugar, right?"

I want to shout back, "Wrong!". But Olivia will wearily reply, “Something like that". Most people have no idea what Type 1 diabetes is. Nor should they, hence this campaign. I didn’t have a clue before I met Olivia. So if you do one thing, please read this short explainer and become aware. 43 million Type 1s will thank you.

Pic: Olivia’s tubeless insulin pump that I help change and attach every 3 days

There’s no off switch

Day and night, it's always on. Relentless. Selfish. Thankless. It’s a taker and never gives back. Why? Because a Type 1 diabetic has to replace the job of their pancreas and manually manage their blood glucose level from anywhere between 3 and 30+ all day, every day. It’s a full time job that’s impossible to get 100% right. Take too much insulin and Olivia will be sweating and shaking on the floor. Take too little and she'll be clawing at her throat trying to relieve an unquenchable thirst. By contrast, a working pancreas like mine keeps me around 4 or 5 whether I’m sleeping or sprinting without me having to do anything. ANYTHING. Feeling lucky doesn’t even come close.

Pic: Me filling the syringe with insulin and trying not to spill a drop

Type 1 is not Type 2

You’re either a Type 1 or Type 2 diabetic. There’s no such thing as a general ‘diabetic’. To group them together is in simple terms to group an incurable, unpreventable disease with an often curable (reversible) and preventable condition. The media is the worst at this. A name change is needed to ensure both sets of people get the treatment and attention they need. You can read more here as an example.

Pic: Me priming her insulin pump with three-day’s worth of insulin

Technology to love and hate

In the 20 years Olivia has had diabetes, she’s injected herself something like 40,000 times. Recently, she's replaced the injections with a tubeless insulin pump and a wireless blood glucose monitor. The technology is amazing and there’s a lot to love and be grateful for. But despite the marketing, it’s not a fix-all. One requires a needle to be fired into her arm, stomach or back every 3 days, the other every 10 days. I do this. It hurts her. She cries. They often irritate her skin and used to burn so bad she couldn’t wear them. The data insights they reveal are life improving. But have a bad readings day and they beep. And buzz. And keep notifying her that she's got it wrong. In certain moments there can be a lot to hate too. Technology isn’t perfect.

Pic: Before, during and after – me firing the (big!) blood glucose monitor applicator

An attitude to admire

Type 1 diabetics are tough, resilient people. They have to be - it’s a serious and scary disease. Sure, there are bad days where Olivia wants to tear it all off and not face the daily battle. But in the ~3,650 days that we’ve been together, these bad days are less than 1% because she has an incredible attitude to life that comes from the perspective of living with Type 1 diabetes every day. And so naturally I check myself and my attitude against hers. As a result, I'm more careful about what I take for granted, ignore much of the petty stuff in life and deal with man-flu all by my big grown-up self.

If you've got this far then please do spare a few minutes to check out World Diabetes Day and if you can, lend your support. Thank you.