Thread by @HarrietMinter

#worlddiabetesday and also two years to the day since I went to A&E thinking I was just a bit stressed & left three days later with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. This is what I’ve learned in two years of managing a chronic condition that most people think is a joke 🧵:

1. It’s physically exhausting. Essentially your body is trying to kill you and spending a lot of energy on that, so it makes everything else twice as tiring as it was before. Be nice to your friends with diabetes, they are exhausted.

2. The mental load is insane. Every time you eat anything / do any exercise / the weather changes (seriously) you have to do advanced level maths to work out what impact this will have on your blood sugars and how you will manage it.

3. It’s estimated that type 1 diabetics make 180 health related decisions each day. 180!! When do we have time for anything else? We don’t. Bring us that cup of tea without us having to ask.

4. Except do ask because caffeine also plays havoc with blood sugars so we might want a cup of tea but we might also be one of the people who can’t tolerate caffeine

5. (or we might not be because diabetes is truly magnificent in how it adapts to create individual problems for each person, so no two cases are the same and there are no clear rules, only “guidelines”)

6. And speaking of “guidelines” - your doctor will know the guidelines but have no idea how to apply these to your individual case so they will do their best but most of learning how to manage diabetes comes from other people who have it.

7. There is a strong diabetes community because diabetes is a political issue. Partly because of all the assumptions & misinformation but also because insulin (the drug which keeps all #t1d alive) is being sold for an astronomical & unethical profit across the world.

8. And that is why I am eternally grateful to live in a country which puts people’s well-being before profit (and very much want it to stay that way)

9. So now you know, diabetes is stressful on a personal, societal and global level, so please stop making it the punchline to your donut jokes. And be kind to anyone you know with diabetes - of any kind! It’s rough. And now I’m off to treat my crashing blood sugars with a biscuit