14/11/2025
It’s World Diabetes Day, and after 34 years as a Type 1 Diabetic, I wanted to share some moments with you all.
It makes sense that I’ve become an injector - I’ve been doing my own since I was three 😂 From drawing-up syringes (the same kind that I use with some of you wonderful people), to clicky-colourful pre-loaded pens, and finally to various types of automatic insulin pumps (see my post on Diabetic Barbie), it’s been a REAL ride!
One of the most difficult times was when I was about 25, after moving to Manchester, starting my career, balancing a social life and a new relationship. I even saw a clinical psychologist who tried to work out WHY I just couldn’t follow the rules. He wondered if I had an eating disorder called “diabulimia” where Type 1 diabetes deliberately don’t take their insulin in order to lose weight. It wasn’t anything like that - I just could be bothered 😳 He gave up on me 🤦🏾♀️😂 (I laugh, but I suppose it isn’t funny).
In 2015, my diabetes consultant finally convinced me to try using an insulin pump, and even though it still took a lot of messing and experimenting, I was actually taking some of the insulin my body needed to utilise and store the energy from the food I was eating. I’d avoided using one because I didn’t want to wear something that would “make me look ill”. My dad compared it to wear glasses because you can’t see, and I guess it’s pretty much the same - except, some things are socially-accepted, and I couldn’t imagine that an insulin pump would be. Fast-forward to 2016 where I wore my insulin pump ON STAGE at in Florida, USA.
It’s not perfect, but chronic conditions rarely are, because they’re always there! You can’t arrange life around them; you have to LIVE and accept the ups and downs (literally) 💙
