In the autumn issue, (here) 18-year-old Samantha Williams talked about the stigma around type 1 diabetes. Now she discusses the day-to- day grind of managing the condition – and celebrates what keeps her going.
Every day I realise how much I don’t know about this disease. Every day I seem to stumble on a new surprise. Even after 12 years I can’t get it right because it’s constantly changing. Everything can affect your sugar levels – exercise, stress, a period, food ... You have to think about a lot: calculating insulin doses, working out how much to eat, when to test and how often, learning and understanding the signs from your body.
A good day for most people is where they hang out with friends or complete a task. For me it’s keeping my levels in the target area and not feeling sick or dizzy.
Some days I just want to give up, and those are the hardest. Usually they strike when you’ve got a million other things going on in your life and you really don’t want diabetes as well. But there’s no holiday from it. Some days, I’d give anything to be normal again, even for a day.
I think the mental health side of living with a disease like type 1 diabetes is more significant than most realise. You’re constantly trying to control something that has a million factors affecting it, and trying to guess what impact each factor will have. You’re in a fight with your own body, and it’s not easy to process. It’s easy to feel alone and isolated, and that’s the scariest part.
There’s no cure for type 1 diabetes at the moment – only medication, as well as technology being developed to help with control and management. One is the Abbot FreeStyle Libre, which I’m incredibly lucky to have been using for just on a year. It’s a small patch that goes onto the arm, with a tiny wire that goes into the skin and reads glucose levels. I can scan it with my phone, and it tells me my blood sugar and shows a graph of my levels over the last eight hours.
This technology has helped me take much more control of my type 1. But it’s currently not funded by the NZ Government and costs $100 per sensor (which lasts two weeks). I’m lucky to be in a position where this is a cost we can afford, but many people with type 1 diabetes cannot.
When people ask about my sensor, I love it. It gives me the opportunity to talk about type 1 diabetes which raises more awareness – something I’m passionate about. There are so many people that are supportive. My family always have my back, and I’m forever grateful because it hasn’t been easy. My friends are an incredible bunch of girls who I’m lucky to be blessed with. Although they may not understand the full extent or get the whole thing, they do their absolute best and they sure as hell do care, and that’s all I can ever ask for. My colleagues – the ones that are aware of my type 1 – are incredibly supportive and always checking up on me, which means so much. And the online type 1 diabetes Facebook community is always there when I need advice, or just somewhere to blab to people who’ll understand.
It still is hard to believe it’s been 12 years. That’s 4,383 days of living with this disease. I don’t remember a life without type 1.
It’s something I’ve become proud of. It’s not going to stop me from achieving my dreams, but instead, encourage me to push harder to reach them. This disease may come with hurdles that are hard to jump over, but every day it makes me stronger and gives me the strength and power to push on.
Sam shared her story in the Winter 2019 issue of Diabetes Wellness magazine.