Gemma: I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on my first birthday!

My name is Gemma and I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on my first birthday!

My mother was told I had a viral infection and that she was being paranoid and to go away!! She remembers that I was very quiet and just stopped being so active but was very thirsty. She gave me tomato soup one night and when I brought this up she took me to the hospital thinking it was blood and refused to leave insisting that there was an issue. My other symptoms were extreme weight loss and I was very luckily diagnosed before falling into a diabetic coma.

I was the only person in my family to have diabetes for 36 years until my 6 year old daughter Charlotte was diagnosed two years ago.

Charlotte gave herself her first injection without any hesitation, and has been incredible as to dealing with this since. I noticed the fatigue, extreme thirst and frequency in accidents had increased and requested blood tests immediately. I do not know any different having been diagnosed so young, where I do see Charlotte has resentment at times.

What I resent is the narrowminded thinking and information the general public know about Type 1 Diabetes, most will know about Type 2 & gestational, I wish at times it was called something different. But no matter what type you have it is something that you never get a break or holiday from it affects absolutely everything you do and the other members of our immediate family. The constant thinking, planning, calculating and pro-activeness required to live with Diabetes is relentless!

If the government was to help fund CGMs that would be so life changing for not only for us who have diabetes but also our family.

It is a small step in better management practices that could give us all a much better quality of life. Surely having technologies available that enhance better self care have a greater effect on our health systems long term too? It seems like a no brainer to me.