I have six injections a day: What it’s really like living with diabetes

Diabetes is probably one of the most stereotyped diseases. Once again, yet another statistic has labelled the number of people being diagnosed as an “unrelenting march”.  Yes, it is pretty unrelenting. It’s a 24 hour condition that can go wrong at any time. It can be a real pain. But we should stop negatively labelling it as a drain on society’s resources, instead helping the people who live with it and celebrating the healthcare professionals who help us.

I was diagnosed with type one diabetes when I was three years old. This meant I wasn’t able to have a proper fourth birthday cake, and at the time it seemed like the end of the world. Throughout primary school, I’d have to get a snack  -usually two custard creams – at 2 o’clock. All my classmates were super jealous, and I’d often get told off for sharing them with my friends. My Auntie was diagnosed when she was 10, so it’s been a huge help having somebody so close who just gets it. Both type one and two are genetic, so there are often multiple cases in families. It’s always comforting to have another diabetic buddy so close.

A lot of people say to me they could never deal with the multiple blood tests, injections, eye screenings etc. You do because you have to. Eventually it becomes second nature and you’ll have no issue injecting, testing, nipping down to the hospital and then injecting some more. Yeah, it’s shit sometimes but there are worse conditions to have. My best friend is allergic to eggs and soya which means she can’t eat cake or dairy milk – I feel like she’s got a worse deal.

Modern medicine is amazing, and now I can pretty much eat what I want when I want. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without compromise. I have at least six injections a day, which means I’m very, very bruised. Parts of my legs, arms, bum and stomach are either green or blue or purple. You’re especially under the microscope if you’re diabetic, we have flu jabs, regular eye screenings and it effects the contraception you can go on.

Diabetics everywhere are grateful for the tireless work of the NHS, nurses are always on call, check-ups are routine and they keep you in tip-top condition. However it can be difficult to muster enthusiasm for appointments – especially as sometimes you feel like you’re being judged. I was told by one consultant once that my tummy looked like it had two marshmallows pointing out of it (it wasn’t me over-indulging, rather scar-tissue from all the injections); never a good thing for an impressionable teenager to hear.

I’ve been to hospital due to complications about four times since I was diagnosed. I’ve been sick for 12 hours straight and had to stay in HDU for three days in the middle of my A-Levels when my sugars were too high. I’ve had a fit in my student room when my sugars were too low, and my housemate had to break in to my window Superman-style in order get the ambulance to me. It’s  never fun calling your parents from a cubicle in A and E. So in some ways it is unrelenting, but having had the condition for nearly 17 years, you’re going to have your ups-and-downs. Such is life.

However, there’s no point in using the condition in a “woe is me” sort of way. All sorts of people have diabetes. Overweight people. Underweight people. Healthy people. Unhealthy people. Some of us might lose our legs – but please don’t remind us of that. Super-human Sir Steve Redgrave was diagnosed with type two diabetes in 1997, and managed to win a fifth gold medal three years after being diagnosed.

What’s unhelpful is the negativity surrounding the condition. There is an obesity epidemic and one of the dangers of obesity is type two diabetes – but there’s no point in cataloging diabetes as a “fat persons’ illness” or demonizing it as an “unrelenting march”. I’m fairly healthy, but live by the motto “everything in moderation, including moderation”. Yes it’s on the increase, and that’s not great. But please remember the people behind the statistics .