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Step right this way for some diabetes snapshots, information, and inspiration.
URGENT REQUEST TO PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA FROM INSULIN FOR LIFE
Insulin for Life Australia is in urgent need of Lantus insulin. If you have any no longer needed Lantus (or any other insulin, but Lantus is the priority right now), please consider sending it to Insulin for Life, Australia. More information available here. (If you are not in Australia, please use the same link and request information about where you may be able to send your donated insulin.)
Women’s work
International Women’s Day may have been a couple of weeks ago, but I loved this piece from the Diabetes Mine team paying tribute to women in diabetes.
Researching DIYPS
While we’re talking women in diabetes, this wonderful profile of Dana Lewis showcases not only her trailblazing work in DIYPS, but also how she has moved into researching the technology.
Diabetes devices overview
KQED Science ran this great overview of diabetes devices, including a well-balanced summary of current sensor-based glucose monitors. The piece features another legendary woman in diabetes, Melissa Lee.
Diabetes UK Conference wrap up
Last week, Diabetes UK held their diabetes professional conference in London. They extended the conference by as day to host the Diabetes UK Insider event for people with diabetes which provided a summary of some of the sessions from earlier in the week. (You can catch up on twitter by checking out #DUKPC and #DUKPCInsider tags.)
There was some stellar tweeting from both events from a few twitter stars and the blog posts are trickling through now.
You can read this one from Ros at Type 1 Adventures.
And Ascensia smartly engaged Grumpy Pumper once again to write updates for them, and you can find them here.
Four years
Kim Hislop is a pretty cool woman and recently she wrote a beautiful piece about the last sixth months, which she says have been some of the most difficult times of her life. Four years ago, Kim received a kidney transplant from her mother-in-law and, unfortunately, in September last year, the transplanted kidney was rejected.
Read Kim’s story, including how she is feeling about starting dialysis and what she hopes for her future. She is a truly wonderful person and has been such a wonderful advocate for sharing stories about living with diabetes complications. I really hope she keeps writing.
Please, if you are not already an organ donor, please consider becoming one. Information about becoming an organ and tissue donor in Australia is available here.
Pre-pregnancy planning study
Are you a woman with either type 1 or 2 diabetes aged between 18 and 40 years of age living in Australia? Then Helen Edwards wants to hear from you!
As part of her PhD research, Helen is developing a tool to determine how prepared women with diabetes are for pregnancy. The idea is for the tool to be used by diabetes HCPs working with women with diabetes contemplating pregnancy.
If you are interested in participating, please get in touch with Helen at helen.edwards@adelaide.edu.au.
Just Talking
Last month, I sat down with Christopher Snider and had a chat for his Just Talking podcast. By ‘sit down’, I mean that I was at home in Australia and it was the weekend and I was drinking coffee because it was crazy early, and he was at home in the US and it was … well, who knows when it was – I’m not got at time zones.
We chatted about weird accents (I think we were referring to mine), the Hemsworths and Nicole Kidman, #LanguageMatters (because it does) and other diabetes stuff too.
#GBDOC
I’ve been given the keys to the GBDOC tweetchat bus for this week. I’m talking about including people with diabetes in … well … everything to do with diabetes. I suspect the #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs hashtag might get a bit of a run alongside the #GBDOC tag. Please join me at (UK time) Wednesday at 9pm (which is Thursday at 8am AEDT, because we are the future).
Aims for the chat: don’t use too much Australian slang; limit swearing. I should be right about not using slang…
Spare a Rose wrap up
In case you missed it, the final tally for this year’s Spare a Rose, Save a Child campaign is in!
Thanks to everyone who donated and shared information about the campaign.
The three most important women in my life are forces of nature: My mother, president of union, has instilled in me a desire to do work that helps others. My sister, the fiercest, feistiest, smartest person I know, who constantly challenges me to think outside my comfort zone. And my daughter – my amazing, miracle kid, (and kids like her) – is why I feel that the world is actually going to be okay.
The supporting cast of close family – mother-in-law who just happens to be an Australian aviation pioneer, my sister-in-law, aunts, cousins – and friends means that I am constantly surrounded by brilliant women doing brilliant things. I am astounded, daily, at the challenges they overcome, their triumphs, the lives they change, the impact they are making.
And in my diabetes life it is women – the incredible women – who keep me going and keep me motivated. My diabetes healthcare team is made up exclusively of women who truly breathe the whole person-centred care belief system, building me up and then supporting me as I do the best I can with diabetes. The women I have worked with, and continue to work with, in diabetes organisations who champion those who would otherwise be forgotten have become friends, mentors and daily cheerleaders.
It is people like Cherise Shockley, founder of DSMA; Dana Lewis, creator of Open APS; Susan Alberti, philanthropist; Jane Speight, diabetes language forerunner; Taryn Black, Diabetes Australia policy director and champion for having the voice of PWD heard; Riva Greenburg, journalist, changing the way we see people living with diabetes; Annie Astle, advocate and speaker, and the person I am most grateful to have come to know because of diabetes; Monique Hanley, cycling legend; Christel Marchand Aprigliano, advocate leader; Cheryl Steele, CDE extraordinaire and leader in diabetes technology education; Kerri Sparling, author, blogger and incredible advocate; Anna Norton, Sarah Mart and Karen Graffeo, the women behind Diabetes Sisters; Melissa Lee, incredible communicator, singer, former leader of DHF and now at Bigfoot Biomedical; Kelly Close, founder of diaTribe and Close Concerns; Georgie Peters, speaker, blogger, diabetes and eating disorders advocate…
And you know what? I haven’t even scratched the surface. The diabetes world is shaped by women, built by women, sustained by women. Advocacy efforts are often the brainchild and then led through the blood sweat and tears of women. And how lucky the world is!
I celebrate these women today and every day!
More writing about women and diabetes, and women’s health.
This is what Diabetes Privilege Looks Like
One Foot in Front of the Other
Since my talk last at ADATS year about my journey to Loop, I have had many HCPs want to talk to me about my experience using a DIY system. When I was ATTD two weeks ago, several Aussie HCPs also at the conference cornered me, and, in almost hushed tones, asked if they could pick my brains about the whole DIY thing.
I have to keep reminding people that all I can talk about is my own experience – I’m certainly not an expert, my involvement has been following the brilliantly clear step-by-step how to guides developed by a brains trusts of brains far, far smarter than mine could ever hope to be. But I am always happy to talk about my own decision to try Loop, and experiences since.
DIY is not going anywhere and I’m pleased to say that over the next few month I’m giving a number of talks at HCP conferences where I have been asked to speak about how my diabetes management – and attitude to diabetes – has changed since I started Looping. It great to see this on the agenda of diabetes HCP meetings (including the ADEA Victorian Branch conference later this month and the ADS ADEA ASM – or whatever it’s being called now – in August this year. I hope that ADATS will give it more airtime when that come around in October.)
Naturally, and I suppose somewhat reassuringly, the first part of any conversation about Loop is about how safe it is, or rather, questions including varieties of: ‘But the safety! There’s no regulation! There are no RCTs! Where’s the evidence?’ These are often the same things held up by device companies when talking about their products: ‘We are ALL about safety! We have jumped through all the regulatory hoops and come out the other end with flying colours! Here are our RCTs! Here is the evidence!’
When I began reading up about Loop, the thing that would make me close my computer, shake my head and pack all thoughts of it away, was not that I didn’t think it safe. It was that I didn’t think I had the technical aptitude to make it happen.
From the very first reading of the documents and listening to others speaking about it, I realised that this was something that had been built from the foundations of safety. Unlike the health condition that moved in almost 20 years ago.
Type 1 diabetes is not no-risk. At the point of diagnosis, we are handed a supply of a potentially lethal drug. I know I don’t like to think of it in those terms– insulin is my lifeline – but anyone who has even an ounce of knowledge about the treatment of type 1 diabetes knows how potent insulin is.
We know that too much insulin – even a tiny bit too much – can be problematic. And that problem spectrum can be from ‘Shit, I need jelly beans’ to … well, to death. We are faced with this reality every day. I have enough insulin in my pump at any time for it to be extraordinarily problematic if overdosed.
With this knowledge on board – alongside that theoretically lethal drug on board – we mitigate risks with every single thing we do. We over treat lows; we err on the side of caution when we bolus – under dosing for fear of overdosing.
We live safety, we breathe safety – all the time – because if we don’t the risks are high. All too terrifyingly high.
I say this without an ounce of disrespect, but when a device company or HCP implies – intentionally or otherwise – that those of us using a DIY system are being reckless and being unsafe, I find it insulting, and a little disingenuous, because any conceivable hazard is highest to those of us who have the devices stuck to our bodies, and using an algorithm that decides how much insulin to push into our bodies.
I feel much safer Looping that I did pre-Loop. Scary hypos are a thing of the past. My glucose levels sit in a straight, tight line for most of the day instead of the rollercoaster I was used to that would send my mind into a permanent state of fuzziness. I am not running low overnight, only finding out for just how long when I finally wake in the morning and see my Dex trace below the red line for hours and hours and hours without my knowledge. My A1c is in the range that means (allegedly) I am least at risk for developing diabetes complications.
I honestly don’t know how I can be any safer while living with a health condition that throws so many unsafe things at me!
I wrote the post below back in 2016 (original version here). The Lancet had just published a piece about the differences in insulin access around the globe and I was once again astounded and pained by just how difficult it is for some people.
I wanted to share it again because with the #SpareARose campaign finishing tomorrow, I thought that a reminder of just how dire the situation is for people born with diabetes in some countries was timely – especially for those of you who have been meaning to make a donation to Life for a Child, but just haven’t managed to yet.
Can you imagine if it was you or your child diagnosed, and that instead of heading to hospital for treatment, and then home again equipped with all the drugs and supplies you needed to manage diabetes, you had been handed nothing but a death sentence? To be honest, I can’t imagine that, because my situation – as with most people reading this blog – was not that.
Please take a moment to make a donation. It takes USD$5 to provide insulin to a child for a month. (And I promise, this is the last time I’ll be writing about this. At least, for now!)
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The life expectancy for a child diagnosed with diabetes in sub-Sahara Africa is as low as one year. That’s right: one year.
This is a fact for 2018, almost 97 years after the discovery of insulin.
And it is just not good enough.
In The Lancet, this piece was published about the challenges of accessing insulin around the globe. Why is this drug still so unattainable to so many? Why has access to insulin not had a high priority within agencies such as the UN and WHO?
Why are children and adults still dying when there is a medication available?
I am so angry and sad and desperate that this is the situation and while I am pleased that we are starting to increase the conversation about the unfairness of it, it’s just not enough.
Where is the outrage here? We get angry and feel vilified when someone doesn’t understand the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, or because some celebrity dared to say something stupid about diabetes, and we retreat online and complain and bitch and moan. We say that we feel stigmatised and isolated and misunderstood.
And it’s true. Diabetes is stigmatising and isolating. People don’t understand the details. It’s downright, bloody unfair.
But we are not going to die because we can’t get our hands on a bottle of insulin. Perhaps we need to channel some of our oh-so-easy-to-access outrage and frustration towards an issue that can actually save some lives.
A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in some countries is a death sentence, plain and simple. And a quick one at that.
And this isn’t okay.
Click image to donate
Have you been thinking about making a donation to Spare a Rose; Save a Child, but just haven’t managed to do it yet? Did you think that because Valentine’s Day is over that it’s too late? Watch this and find out why your donation is still greatly needed.
Donate now to have your donation added to the 2018 Spare a Rose tally. Just click on the image below.
Three days in Vienna is never going to be enough, and neither were three days at ATTD. But mother guilt is a very strong motivator for getting back home as quickly as possible.
This is the second ATTD conference I attended. Last year, I returned a little bewildered because it was such a different diabetes conference to what I was used to. But this year, knowing what to expect, I was ready and hit the ground running.
There will be more to come – this is the initial brain dump! But come back from more in coming weeks. Also, if you emailed me, shot me a text, Facebooked me, Tweeted me or sent me a owl last week, I’ll get back to you soon. I promise. Long days, and long nights made me a little inaccessible last week, but the 3am wake up thanks to jet lag is certainly helping me catch up!
So, some standouts for me:
DIY
The conversation shift in 12 months around DIY systems was significant. While last year it was mentioned occasionally, 2018 could have been called the ATTD of DIY APS! Which means that clearly, HCPs cannot afford to think about DIY systems as simply a fringe idea being considered by only a few.
And if anyone thinks the whole DIY thing is a passing phase and will soon go away, the announcement from Roche that they would support JDRF’s call for open protocols should set in stone that it’s not. DANA has already made this call. And smaller pump developers such as Ypsomed are making noises about doing the same. So surely, this begs to the question: Medtronic, as market leaders, where are you in this?
It was fantastic to see true patient-led innovation so firmly planted on the program over and over and over again at ATTD. After my talk at ADATS last year – and the way it was received – it’s clear that it’s time for Australian HCPs to step up and start to speak about this sensibly instead of with fear.
Nasal glucagon
Possibly one of the most brilliant things I attended was a talk about nasal glucagon, and if diabetes was a game, this would be a game changer! Alas, diabetes is not a game, but nasal glucagon is going to be huge. And long overdue.
Some things to consider here: Current glucagon ‘rescue therapy’ involves 8 steps before deliver. Not only that, but there are a lot of limitations to injectable glucagon.
Nasal glucagon takes about 30 seconds to deliver and is far easier to administer and most hypos resolved within 30 minutes of administration. There have been pivotal and real world studies and both show similar results and safety. Watch this space!
Time in Range
Another significant shift in focus is the move towards time in range as a measure of glucose management rather than just A1c. Alleluia that this is being acknowledged more and more as a useful tool, and the limitations of A1c recognised. Of course, increasing CGM availability is critical if more people are going to be able to tap into this data – this was certainly conceded as an issue.
I think that it’s really important to credit the diaTribe team for continuing to push the TIR agenda. Well done, folks!
BITS AND PIECES
MedAngel again reminded us how their simple sensor product really should become a part of everyone’s kit if they take insulin. This little slide shows the invisible problem within our invisible illness
Affordability was not left out of the discussion and thank goodness because as we were sitting there hearing about the absolute latest and greatest tech advantages, we must never forget that there are still people not able to afford the basics to keep them alive. This was a real challenge for me at ATTD last year, and as technologies become better and better that gap between those able to access emerging technology and those unable to afford insulin seems to widening. We cannot allow that to happen.
Hello T-Slim! The rumours are true – Tandem is heading outside the US with official announcements at ATTD that they will be supplying to Scandinavia and Italy in coming months. There are very, very, very loud rumours about an Australian launch soon but as my source on this is unofficial, best not to add to the conjecture.
How’s this for a soundbite:
GOLD STARS GO TO….
Massive congrats to the ATTD team on their outstanding SoMe engagement throughout the conference. Not a single ‘No cameras’ sign to be seen, instead attendees were encouraged to share information in every space at the meeting.
Aaron Kowalski from JDRF gave an inspired and inspiring talk in the Access to Novel Technologies session where he focused on the significant role PWD have in increasing access to new treatments and his absolute focus on the person with diabetes had me fist pumping with glee!
Ascensia Diabetes packed away The Grumpy Pumper into their conference bag and sent him into the conference to write and share what he learnt. Great to see another group stepping into this space and providing the means for an advocate and writer to attend the meetings and report back. You can read Grumps’ stream of consciousness here.
Dr Pratik Choudhary from the UK was my favourite HCP at ATTD with this little gem of #LangaugeMatters. Nice work, Pratik!
ANY DISAPPOINTMENTS?
Well, yes. I am still disappointed that there were no PWD speaking as PWD on the program. This is a continued source of frustration for me, especially in sessions that claim to be about ‘patient empowerment’. Also, considering that there was so much talk about ‘patient-led innovation’, it may be useful to have some of those ‘patient leaders’ on the stage talking about their motivations for the whole #WeAreNotWaiting business and where we feel we’re being let down.
I will not stop saying #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs until I feel that we are well and truly part of the planning, coordination and delivery of conferences about the health condition that affects us far more personally that any HCP, industry rep or other organisation.
DISCLOSURE
Roche Diabetes Care (Global) covered my travel and accommodation costs to attend their #DiabetesMeetup Blogger event at #ATTD2018 (more to come on that). They also assisted with providing me press registration to attend all areas of ATTD2018. As always, my agreement to attend their blogger day does not include any commitment from me, or expectation from them, to write about them, the event or their products. It is, however, worth noting that they are doing a stellar job engaging with people with diabetes, and you bet I want to say thank you to them and acknowledge them for doing so in such a meaningful way.
This morning, I saw news that President of the Australian Medical Association, Michael Gannon, wants a shock campaign, similar to our hugely successful QUIT (anti-smoking) campaign, to address growing obesity rates, and increase understanding of the ‘frightening end-stage health results of obesity-related type 2 diabetes such as limb amputation, blindness, stroke, heart and kidney failure.’ (The Courier Mail article where this quote is from can be found beyond a paywall here. Some details also freely available here.)
That quote alone would have put me off my breakfast if I was the breakfast eating type. Alas, I am not. Which is good, because there was more…
In an accompanying editorial (also behind a paywall), there was the brilliant idea that ‘…there is room for some shock and awe education…child-friendly information that is both understandable and impactful when it comes to the consequence of living with type 2 diabetes’. The editorial again made the flawed connection between this idea and the success of anti-smoking campaigns.
We can point to the triumph of the QUIT campaign – and should do so as it has been an extraordinarily successful – and long term – initiative. But if anyone believes the success of QUIT came from some shock advertisements on TV, they are so wrong. This campaign has always been a multi-pronged approach: advertising, legislation, taxes, education and – most importantly – funding, and that is why it’s been so successful.
Alongside the high-rotation television, radio and print media commercials (and in more recent times, online ads), there was legislation. Cigarette advertising was banned. As a kid, I remember Summer being brought to us by Benson and Hedges. As we watched the Aussies playing the West Indies in the cricket (seriously, you want me on your trivia team if the questions are about the 1980s West Indian cricket team. I still have a crush on wicket keeper Jeffrey Dujon) it was advertisement after advertisement of cigarettes. The fence around the MCG was adorned with golden B&H logos.
And then, that stopped. Tobacco advertising on television and radio was prohibited as was all print advertising. No longer could cigarette companies hire billboards to spruik their products. Today, cigarettes sold in stores must be hidden away in a cupboard without any advertising at all.
And new and steep taxes were introduced, increasing the cost of cigarettes more and more and more each year.
Smoking became illegal in more and more places: firstly there was no smoking in restaurants and cafes, then pubs. Most recently, smoking has been banned anywhere that food is served, meaning that the last place to have a smoke while eating (outside seating at a café or in an open beer garden) is now not an option either.
There were education programs funded to provide information about the dangers of smoking.
But smoking is not obesity. Tobacco is not food. We can’t use the same approach as the ‘every cigarette is doing you harm’ idea (used recently as part of QUIT). Food is much more nuanced. It’s fine to eat so-called ‘junk food’ occasionally. While there is no safe level of smoking, there is a safe level of eating a little bit of everything!
The idea that some scary advertisements on prime time will in any way solve the issue of obesity is ridiculous. Will these advertisements be shown alongside those for Macdonald’s latest burger, or a new sugary breakfast cereal? Will telling kids the dangers of being overweight and eating ‘bad’ foods happen before or after their Milo– or KFC–sponsored sporting activities?
If we are seriously going to address the obesity issue, we need to get serious with all aspects required for significant change. We need advertising controls, we need (sugar) taxes, we need proper, funded education programs.
And we need to get the messaging right. I was so disappointed to see Michael Gannon single out type 2 diabetes in today’s news. When we talk about the consequences of obesity, we need to stop being so selective about what we connect it to.
Obesity may be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but it is also a risk factor for other conditions, including some cancers and cardiovascular disease. And yet we would never, ever blame someone for developing breast or bowel cancer – a diagnosis of which obesity may or may not have contributed to. It is too easy – and lazy – to single out type 2 diabetes.
I don’t for a moment think that we should bury our head in the sand and do nothing about the obesity situation in Australia. But we need to do it properly, we need to do it collaboratively, we need to do it honestly, and we need to do it sensitively.
Here I am speaking too fast, hands waving erratically (#TooMuchCoffee), with an idea about how we can get Spare a Rose, Save a Child better known outside the diabetes community…
Click image to donate
It’s that time again. Supermarkets are covered in red heart-shaped foil balloons, fluffy heart-shaped pillows and velvet heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. Florists are about to hike up the price of roses by three or four hundred percent. And the sex shop in my neighbourhood has an odd display of edible underwear in the front window, surely begging the question: who the hell actually thinks that is a good idea as a gift for any occasion? Anyway, I digress..
It must be Valentine’s Day.
We don’t do Valentine’s Day in our place. It is a Hallmark occasion if ever there was one and quite frankly, the idea of being loving and affectionate and amorous one day a year is ridiculous and would leave me feeling very short-changed.
But despite my complete and utter aversion to organised romance, I have, for the last few years, thrown my weight behind Spare a Rose, Save a Child. And today, with two weeks until Valentine’s Day, it’s time for me to start talking about it again…
A reminder of how the whole Spare a Rose thing works:
Instead of giving your Valentine twelve (overpriced) roses, give them 11, saving yourself about AUD$6. Donate that six bucks you’ve saved to Spare a Rose.
All funds raised by Spare a Rose go directly to the Life for a Child program which provides insulin and diabetes supplies for kids in need and your six dollar donation is enough to provide a month’s worth of insulin to a kid who might otherwise not have any.
It’s pretty easy and you don’t need to be good at maths to work out how much to donate to actually make a difference.
Of course you can give more – you can forgo the flower thing altogether, donating the cost of the whole dozen (meaning you’ve just provided a full year’s worth of insulin for a child). Aaron knows my favourite sort of vase on Valentine’s Day is an empty one, with the cost of the whole bunch going to Spare a Rose.
You know, here in Australia it the most it will cost to buy insulin is $39.50. If you have a healthcare card it’s $6.40. We really are so fortunate that the vast majority of Aussies don’t have to worry about insulin prices increasing at terrifying rates or insulin not actually getting into the country. I don’t for a moment think our healthcare system is perfect.
But it is a far cry from places where children and adults are dying because they cannot access insulin. That is the reality for a lot of people, and we can do something about it.
Six dollars. That’s all it takes. And it is as easy as clicking here. Please donate.
DISCLOSURE
Spare a Rose Save a Child is an initiative of a few well known advocates from the DOC in the US. In the last couple of years, they’ve invited me and advocates from the UK to be involve in the campaign. (Obviously, I receive no funding to work on this, and am doing it because I believe in it.)
There were some really important and impactful sessions in the Living with Diabetes stream at #IDF2017 in December last year, but perhaps one of the most significant was the final session. Chaired by Professor Jane Speight, the session was titled ‘Diabetes and mental health: distress, diabulimia and emotional wellbeing’.
Talk about finishing with something to get people thinking and talking!
Bill Polonsky kicked off the session with a talk about how emotional wellbeing is affected by diabetes, and offered some ideas for addressing these issues.
(Can I just say what a stroke of genius it was to have Jane Speight and Bill Polonsky on stage together?! To have two champions of diabetes behavioural psychology in one place was definitely a highpoint of the Congress, and anyone who chose to go to a different session missed out. Big time! … Credit where credit is due to us all, Manny, Mary, Hakeem and Kelly!)
The session ended with Erika Backhoff from Mexico who gave an outstanding presentation on diabetes distress and the importance of appropriate training and understanding of the difference between diabetes-related distress and depression.
But for me, the highlight of the session – and one of the highlights of the entire stream – was Georgie Peters speaking about diabetes-related eating disorders. (Georgie writes a great blog that you can read here.)
Georgie began by sharing her own story of insulin manipulation. I’m not going to write anything about this part of Georgie’s talk, because you can see and hear it all here. (You’ll need to have a Facebook account to view it.)
Often, when people speak about living with a health condition, they are called ‘brave’. I absolutely hate it when people refer to me as brave because I live with diabetes (and all that comes with it). I’m not brave, I’m just doing what I need to do to stay alive.
But Georgie WAS brave and I’ll explain why.
Often, when we hear from people living with diabetes, what we hear about is people conquering mountains (literally and figuratively). We hear tales of the super heroes running marathons and winning medals. These are the socially acceptable stories of living with a chronic health condition: the ‘I won’t be beaten’ anecdotes. They give hope, are meant to inspire and make those not living with diabetes feel better about things because suddenly, it seems that this health condition is manageable and everyone with it is a champion.
But the reality for most people with diabetes is the same as most people with diabetes – we don’t run marathons, we don’t climb mountains, we don’t win gold medals. We are just doing the best we can with the hand we’ve been dealt. And sometimes, we deal with difficult stuff.
Sharing stories of the tough times and the challenging things that often go hand in hand with diabetes is not always easy – for the person sharing the story or for those reading or listening to them
But perhaps that’s exactly why we do need to hear about these stories, and ensure stories like Georgie’s are heard and given a platform.
Just because something is difficult or uncomfortable to listen to doesn’t mean that it should be hidden. This is why people don’t seek the care and assistance they need. It’s why people think they are the only one’s struggling and why they don’t know where to turn.
I could see some people in the audience shifting uncomfortably in their seats as Georgie eloquently, determinedly – and completely unapologetically – shared her experience and, most usefully, offered suggestions for how to work with people with diabetes and eating disorders. I know that I left with a far better understanding of the topic. And an even more resolute desire to keep these types of issues in the public domain.
Disclosure
I was the Deputy Lead for the Living with Diabetes Stream, and an invited speaker at the 2017 IDF Congress. The International Diabetes Federation covered my travel and accommodation costs and provided me with registration to attend the Congress.
Georgie owning the stage at #IDF2017
Diabetogenic 