This article identifies what goes into the treatment for type one diabetes from the perspective of a diabetic as well as those close to people with diabetes. I am also a type one diabetic, so I have included some personal experience on the topic as well as an interview with the mother of a somewhat recently diagnosed diabetic. Media has influence the perception of and education about diabetes in various ways, but with the covid-19 pandemic there are new factors that have come into play which make it even tougher for recently diagnosed diabetics.
In 2018, roughly 10.5% of the American population had diabetes, and 1.6 million of these people had what is known as juvenile, or type 1 diabetes. Type one diabetes is referred to as juvenile diabetes because the majority of type one diabetics are diagnosed with the illness at a young age, but there are still some cases of people getting diagnosed later on. Diagnosis of this illness can be extremely overwhelming to the one diagnosed as well as anyone close to them as there are many new hastles that type one diabetes comes with. There are already plenty of resources available to learn about how to manage this illness properly, but there is so much that the diabetic has to learn, and as type one diabetes tends to be diagnosed around the juvenile stage of one’s life, it is usually on their parents to deal with a lot of the work that comes along with it.
Management of type one diabetes requires consistency as a diabetic must test their blood glucose levels throughout the day, any time before they eat, and take insulin shots any time they eat carbs or their blood glucose level rises above the target range. If the glucose level stays above the ideal range for too long, then the diabetic will start to feel poorly by getting headaches, stomach aches, or other effects, although every diabetic has their own case of how they are affected. If a diabetic leaves their blood glucose level too high for too long then they can begin to experience ketoacidosis, which requires immediate attention, but overall trends of high glucose levels can result in long term complications such as blindness and nerve damage. This is a constant battle, because while a diabetic is making sure that their blood glucose does not get rise too high, they must make sure that it does not go too low either as hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose will have much more rapid effects and can result in the loss of consciousness, which if still untreated, can result in a diabetics death. All of these negative effects will influence the perspective of those affected with diabetes, whether it be the diabetic themself, or someone they are close to. This is interesting in new media as facebook groups and other social media pages for diabetics are followed by very few young diabetics as compared to older diabetics or parents of diabetics. This is likely a result of the diabetic surrounding themself with media that they want to hear, ignoring the negative aspects, whereas the older crowd of the diabetic community may have had more first hand experiences, or have more concern over the topic in general.
A type one diabetic must introduce a thorough habit to their life to manage their condition, and their parents are almost always the ones finding the insurance to cover the costs of insulin and other supplies, as well as worrying about if their kid is managing the condition correctly. In an interview with Kirsten, the mother of a diabetic who was diagnosed at 16 years of age, she expressed her concerns and perspective on how her son has been managing his diabetes for the past 2 years since diagnosis. She mentioned how he was concerned and afraid of his glucose level dropping too low, an event called hypoglycemia, but this resulted in his A1C being too high. An A1C is a 3 month average of a diabetics glucose reading, and the American Diabetes Association recommends that a type one diabetic keeps their A1C below 7%, and Kirsten said that her son’s A1C was 11%, which is extremely high. She continued to explain how her son would continue to eat way too much sugar whenever he experienced hypoglycemia, and he wouldn’t measure the amount of carbs he was eating or check on how his blood sugar was responding. After most of his cases of hypoglycemia, he would experience hyperglycemia, which is a high blood glucose level. As I am also a type one diabetic, I explained my theory to her on why diabetics do this, and that it does require a level of self control that is difficult to maintain. In my personal experience, I have done the same thing when experiencing hypoglycemia, and I blame the feeling that hypoglycemia makes a diabetic experience. When I experience hypoglycemia, I am fortunate as I start to feel the effects while my blood glucose is still at a fairly safe reading, but I begin to feel a sense of weakness, shakiness, and as though I may faint if I don’t sit down. Due to these feelings, it becomes extremely urgent to eat carbohydrates as soon as possible to get your blood glucose reading back to a normal level so that you will feel better ASAP.
Kirsten continued to share her experience with me, mentioning the troubles that she faced while trying to find the appropriate insurance for her son, as well as the fact that she checks on her now adult son every morning to make sure that he’s still breathing. I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 4, so my family and I are definitely more comfortable with the idea of diabetes since I have grown up with the condition, and I had only briefly thought about someone being diagnosed later in their lifetime, experiencing life without type one diabetes. This aspect makes it hard enough for someone to adjust their lifestyle to properly manage the disease, but the isolation accompanying the Covid-19 pandemic has only made things worse for newly diagnosed diabetics. At initial diagnosis during covid, hospitalized patients are limited on the amount of people who can visit throughout the day, which in many hospitals like Boulder Community Health allow patients to have one guest per day, and others like Johns Hopkins and many more don’t allow patients to have any visitors. There are likely exceptions made for juvenile parents, but there is information that more than just one parent may need to hear upon diagnosis from medical staff. Following diagnosis, it is recommended that diabetics as well as family and those close to diabetics attend support groups or even sleep away camps to learn more about treatment methods as well as keep up to date about recent findings and new technology to support diabetes management. With the covid-19 pandemic, a lot of these sources became very limited as social distancing became a large part of society, but managing type 1 diabetes requires physical instruction for things such as administering self injections that are physical and need to be taught in person. These support groups are taking place through new media zoom calls, facebook groups, as well as youtube videos and articles on the internet. For Kirsten, her son was diagnosed just about a year before the pandemic began, but they are still adjusting to the new lifestyle.
Kirsten mentioned another point that I found interesting as well as somewhat relatable. She explained how when telling her son to take his insulin, noticing he hadn’t done so when eating a fairly large amount of carbohydrates, he became frustrated with what Kirsten believed to be the fact that he has to put in so much more effort to do what any normal person regularly does, which is the effort of managing of diabetes to be able to eat anything. This can make someone with type one diabetes feel as though they are isolated in the sense that they have a different lifestyle than others, and many factors society faces with the covid-19 pandemic are only making those affected by type one diabetes feel more lost. Kirsten explained how she and her son felt like they were alone in their ordeal and lost in where to look for the right support online or anywhere else, so I felt as I am an “experienced” diabetic that it was only right for me to share my experience too, and offer support whenever they have any questions or thoughts about type one diabetes.
Type one diabetes management is tough enough as it is to deal with for an individual diagnosed with the illness, but there is so much more that comes with the diagnosis than just the treatment of the disease. The Covid-19 pandemic has only brought more trouble for type one diabetics as the disease can make the effects of Covid-19 much worse, so diabetics are in the higher risk category and must take more precautions during these times. As type one diabetes management may seem like it’s only a personal burden so nobody else needs to be involved, using it as a reason to connect with one another during the Covid-19 pandemic, or any time frame, is the best way to gain a greater sense of hope for managing type one diabetes.
