Two ECHO reporters have shared their experiences of living with diabetes as they say "it is 24 hours, seven days a week".
World Diabetes Day is held annually on November, 14, and this year's theme is #RewriteTheStory. Diabetes UK is highlighting the importance of being diagnosed early as “it can save lives, prevent a media emergency and reduce the risk of life-changing complications later”.
The charity is making sure everyone knows the warning signs to look out for and when you should you visit your GP. These include feeling very tired, urinating more frequently than usual, especially at night, frequent episodes of thrush, cuts or wounds that heal slowly and blurred vision.
Paul's story
The thought of spaghetti bolognese still haunts me to this day.
It was only last week my boyfriend offered to make the classic Italian meal for dinner when I had to sit him down and kindly remind him of my burning hatred for the dish.
Like clockwork, every Wednesday after school for a good few years my family would sit around our wooden kitchen table and tuck into a bowl of the long thin, cylindrical pasta, covered in juicy meatballs and topped off with chunky onions. And like clockwork, every Wednesday, I would refuse to eat more than five mouthfuls - if I had any more than that, that is when you knew something was wrong.
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My parents dismissed it as me being nothing more than a typical teenager who didn’t want to eat any more vegetables than they had to. But little did any of us know I was weeks away from being diagnosed with type one diabetes after fainting at a rugby match in Ireland and waking up 158 miles later at my local hospital in the North of the country.
Type one diabetes is where the body's immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin and is less common than type two diabetes where the body does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not react to the insulin. In the UK, around 90% of all adults with diabetes have type two according to the NHS website and Diabetes UK claims someone is diagnosed with diabetes every two minutes.
World Diabetes Day is held annually on November, 14, and this year's theme is #RewriteTheStory. Diabetes UK is highlighting the importance of being diagnosed early as “it can save lives, prevent a media emergency and reduce the risk of life-changing complications later”. The charity is making sure everyone knows the warning signs to look out for and when you should you visit your GP. These include feeling very tired, urinating more frequently than usual, especially at night, frequent episodes of thrush, cuts or wounds that heal slowly and blurred vision.
The two other symptoms which impacted me the most were weight loss and constantly feeling thirsty. Now, with hindsight, I can’t blame my parent's cooking for my dislike of spaghetti bolognese but rather the lack of saliva in my mouth and my loss of appetite which made it nearly impossible to swallow a forkful of my dinner every Wednesday evening.
Since being diagnosed my life has changed - some days for the better and other days for the worse. I prick my fingers usually around six times a day to test my sugars and inject a needle into my stomach or thighs four times a day to give my body the insulin it desperately needs. I carry around my glucose kit which rarely fits into my coat pockets and a bottle of Lucozade is never too far away from me in case of emergencies. Having said that, it has made me more conscious about living a healthier lifestyle and given me the kick I needed to lose some weight.
Olivia's story
At 11-years-old, wherever I went I needed to know exactly where the nearest toilet was.
It was something that constantly played on my mind and would also be the bane of my parent's life, as I told them I needed to go to the toilet every half an hour - or whenever I had a drink. Due to no immediate family having type 1 diabetes, we didn't know this was a key sign of the condition.
The excessive thirst would never go away despite having a bottle of water or juice always on hand. I would easily go through three big bottles of fluid in one hour, but my mouth was always dry.
Clothes started to not fit as I started losing weight dramatically and also bed-wetting happened from time to time - something an 11-year-old should have grown out of and which had not happened since I was a toddler.
At first, my family thought it was a phase which I would eventually grow out of. However, I started having repeated episodes of thrush, which was unusual for a child. My parents took me to the doctors on numerous occasions for this, but I was given a cream and sent on my way.
It was only after a number of visits that the doctor decided to perform a blood test. I remember vividly seeing the doctor's car driving down my road and telling my family that they needed to pack me a bag and take me to the hospital there and then.
It's been 16 years since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and a lot has changed. I am currently on daily injections and test my blood sugar using a continuous glucose monitor called a Libre. This has allowed me to have more control over my glucose levels, as I can see any patterns which might be forming. I am also on tablets called Metformin as I have built up a little insulin resistance over the years.
One thing people might not be aware of when it comes to diabetes is the impact the condition has on mental health. Having a condition which is 24 hours, seven days a week can be exhausting. The constant worry of developing diabetic risks such as blindness, amputations or heart attacks when you're having a bad day or having to manage your routine day in and day out is tiring. There are no holidays or time to switch off from diabetes, which is often hard to accept.
However, the condition has made me more resilient and I am keen for people to know the warning signs of type 1 diabetes. Remember the '4Ts': Toilet - going for a wee more often, especially at night, Thirsty - being constantly thirsty and not being able to quench it, Tired - being incredibly tired and having no energy, Thinner - losing weight without trying to, or looking thinner than usual.
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