FOR the past 37 years, Maree Gilmour has started her day, not with breakfast, but with at least five needles and a blood sugar test.
She was the first one in the family to be diagnosed with genetic type one diabetes and is considered by doctors as a brittle diabetic because her blood sugar levels rapidly rise and fall.
The Wodonga resident said she was shocked when she found she had the symptoms of the disease.
Ms Gilmour, who worked in the diabetes ward in Caulfield hospital in Melbourne before her diagnosis, said she feared for her future after seeing what some patients went through.
Ms Gilmour said she diagnosed herself before seeing a doctor to confirm it.
"I lost three stone and just had this unquenchable thirst," she said.
Her biggest fear was that diabetes would be passed on to her children and grandchildren.
This week during Diabetes Week, Ms Gilmour said she was passionate about raising awareness of the condition because type two diabetes could be prevented.
She said she lived each day to the fullest and said diabetes did not stop her doing anything she wanted to do.
"The hardest thing about living with the disease is going into hypos which is when your blood sugar is very low and you have no co-ordination," she said.
"If I don't get to my jelly beans it takes my body eight hours to get enough glucose back to function properly."
Ms Gilmour said her advice for anyone living with diabetes was to surround themselves with a great support network of physicians and family.
"Educating yourself is just so important," she said.
Published on : Thursday, July 18, 2013
Category : Diabetes
Post URL : http://internal-med.blogspot.com/2013/07/diabetes-doesn-stop-full-life.html
No comment to "Diabetes doesn't stop full life"
Post a Comment