Patients say that type 1 diabetes is widely misunderstood and that sugar triggers

A simple lunch break over 20 years ago still feels embarrassing for Mackay-based Serena Neil.

As a Type 1 diabetic, Neil needs to adjust his blood sugar several times a day by injecting himself with insulin, especially before meals.

“I was working at the Gold Coast City Council at the time and did a lot of fieldwork, which meant a lot of lunch breaks in the park,” she said.

“I was in uniform and in the city council’s car, so the employer called to complain.

“I might laugh at it if it happened now, but I found it very embarrassing.”

Lack of “frustrating” knowledge

For Jeremy Morris, who lives on the Sunshine Coast, the lack of understanding of the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes was frustrating.

He said the use of terms like “sugar diabetes” to describe Type 1 was useless and contributed to the spread of false alarms about the disease.

“It’s been a true trigger point for 18 years for me, and it’s never going to be a trigger point for me,” he said.

Ms. Neal also said that people do not understand that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and not the result of a high-sugar diet.

“People think you have no control over yourself and you should take better care of yourself,” she said.

“They think they are trying to help, but there are many decisions.”

Morris said the judgment was also his experience.

“It’s more than just “sugar diabetes,” there was nothing I could do to prevent it,” he said.

“For such terms, people come out and say, “Oh, if you’re diabetic, you can’t eat sugar,” or “why are you not fat?”

Perpetuate incorrect information

Many schools in Queensland still use the term “sugar diabetes” in its medical form.

Sunshine Coast’s mother, Jackie Goldston, said she worked hard to remove this semester from children’s school forms about three years ago.

“It will go home in camps, excursions, forms that occur whenever they need to know about medical conditions,” she said.

“That’s not true. There is no such thing as sugar diabetes. [the school] We realized how upset it was, when they fixed it.”

Goldston said the form was provided to the school by Education Queensland and simply needed to update the old template.

In a statement, the Ministry of Education acknowledged “the importance of using the current term to accurately reflect the medical condition” and said it did not support the use of the term “sugar diabetes.”

“Rather, schools are encouraged to use the accepted terms “diabetes,” “type 1 diabetes,” and/or “type 2 diabetes,” the statement said.

“Some schools may be using old forms. If a department notices that the school is wrong or uses old terms or forms, they are encouraged to change their practices.” .”

to manage

Neil has taken steps to improve management and monitoring of diabetes, including major dietary changes.

“Getting a pizza for my family is the driving force behind my torture,” she said.

“The scent in the car is very good, but I know how it feels when I eat it.”

Neil says he uses a real-time glucose monitor to help manage diabetes, and has given insight into how her body responds to different situations and environments.

“I never knew how much stress I had on my body.”

Ms. Neal is no stranger to emphasize. She is now a local SES controller and formerly an RSPCA inspector.

In one instance, she had to self-treat a hypo when her blood sugar became too low while she was in the middle of a cliff.

“I was tied to a harness and attached to a rope so I could treat myself and recover.”

Diabetes and mental health

A new Australian study of diabetes reports that one in three people with this condition have elevated levels of stress associated with disease management.

About 80% of those surveyed said they had not been provided with mental health or psychological support in the last 12 months, and 25% said they needed help but were unable to get it. I will.

Jeremy Morris said autoimmune diseases are causing conflicts sometimes with his mental health.

“So it’s pretty mentally exhausting because it always has to be checked in my head no matter what I do, which can be difficult.

Morris said he wasn’t a person with type 1 diabetes and didn’t like being called diabetic.

“We are ordinary people living in some condition,” he said.