Claudia: I’ve decided to pay over $100 every 2 weeks for my growing baby’s health

My name is Claudia, and I was diagnosed with type one diabetes on November 2001. I’ll never forget this date. Every year when it comes round, I take time to myself to think about my journey and how proud of myself I am. I was 6 years old at the time, and since then, a lot has improved in the way of technology!

I thank my parents for getting onto my symptoms early. I lost a lot of weight, started drinking much more water than usual, and started peeing a lot. One day at school I fainted in class. I got taken to the sick bay where my mum met me. She just happened to be drinking a hot chocolate, and gave me some. I felt better almost instantly. Low blood sugar!! That weekend I was taken to the doctor and then admitted to hospital for a week. I started learning how to prick my finger and do my own injections with a syringe.

I’ve definitely had my battles over the last 20 years, but the thing I’ve really struggled with is testing my blood sugars. I’ve gone weeks before without testing, because it takes time, it hurts, everyone around you can see what you’re doing. I know how important it is to test regularly, but if I’m honest, I just hate it.

I’m currently pregnant with my second child, and I got offered a 2 week free trial with a Freestyle Libre. From day one I was in love. This thing is genius! It’s really helped combat my overnight lows, and I’ve now got my carb ratio perfect. The only thing putting me off the idea before this was the huge cost. I just couldn’t justify it. During pregnancy, blood sugars need to be monitored a lot more and insulin levels change frequently. I’ve decided to pay over $100 every 2 weeks for my growing baby’s health and to put it bluntly, a better chance at surviving.

Hopefully I can justify the cost after baby is born, but honestly I don’t think we can afford it. I didn’t ask to have diabetes. I have done everything I can to control my diabetes to the best of my ability. It’s not fair that people like me have to cough up 5-10% of their income in order to live comfortably, and somewhat “normal”.