Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Teresa In better control with her pump since 2012
Minimizing hypoglycaemia in Type 1 diabetes
I found out that I had diabetes when I was fourteen and a half years old.
I felt really bad.
I was admitted to hospital with a blood sugar level of 680 (mg/dl).
I spent a week in hospital,
on a sodium and potassium drip.
My veins ruptured after a week. They couldn't take it any more.
I lost a lot of weight and went down to 45 kilos.
I turned into a complete skeleton.
It wasn't easy at first.
Using multiple daily injections was OK, up to a certain point.
I kept having hypos.
Nobody knew what was causing them.
I asked: "How's my blood sugar" "It's fine. Everything is fine."
But why am I having these hypos?
I had serious hypos.
Values of 30 or 40 (mg/dl), or even less.
I was no longer able to control them.
When I had serious hypos, I'd even pass out.
And it frustrated me, because I needed to study.
I was at university and I couldn't concentrate.
So at a certain point, I closed my book and said "Enough".
I would go low and couldn't understand anything:
the teacher would be explaining something that I needed to follow.
I study Arabic and, unfortunately, it's a difficult language.
I needed to be there to hear what the teacher was saying.
But I couldn't understand anything. I couldn't string two words together.
It was hard for me. It was terrible.
The first time they told me about insulin pumps,
I felt like I wanted to run away.
Little by little, I started to think,
"Well, my blood sugar levels aren't good,
I'm fed up with multiple daily injections, I'm always hypo and hyperů"
"Fine, I'll try the insulin pump."
Since the pump, things are much easier.
Say I need to eat:
I go out, I have a sandwich while I'm on the road
and give myself an insulin dose.
The insulin pump is like a mobile phone, it's like sending a text message.
I press two small buttons and that's it, I am given an insulin dose.
The pump supplies the insulin and I eat whatever I want.
In terms of lifestyle, things have changed a lot for me.
I don't have any time constraints, I do whatever I want.
I just do it. Some examples?
I take a shower, I go to the beach,
I go anywhere without any problems, I exercise.
I really don't have any problems.
My blood sugar levels are good,
that's what really makes things better for me.
Since the pump, I'm not hypo and hyper all the time.
It was unmanageable before.
Now it's more manageable, much easier to live with.
What can I say?
Now, with the insulin pump,
diabetes is no longer controlling me,
but I am controlling the diabetes.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN FRANCE NE PAS DISTRIBUER EN FRANCE