Daily life

It is often difficult for a healthy person to imagine what it is like to live with type one diabetes. You might hear something about a sensor, an insulin pump, a sugar low or similar things. But you don’t really have enough exposure to fully understand what it’s all about. This becomes different the moment you spend more time with someone who has type one diabetes. It could be  your brother, mother, child, partner or someone else with whom you have an intimate living relationship. In that case you will still find yourself on the sidelines, but you will get a lot more exposure to what it is like to live with type one diabetes.

Over a year ago, it became clear that the coronavirus is more than just a simple flu. News headlines such as ‘mysterious lung disease’ and ‘deadly pneumonia’ frightened me. As the virus slowly began to take over the world and seemed to get more serious by the day, I found myself becoming more anxious. What does this mean for me, as a person in my late twenties who at the time was still smoking and had type 1 diabetes? This was not the best combination anyway, I know. But what if I also get the coronavirus in a condition like that?

At some moment in time, you expect to know all there is to know. Especially after several years of living with type 1 diabetes. In the end, you live with it 24/7, so you tend to think you know everything about it. But it turns out there’s always something new to learn. Even when you’ re chronically ill. There are a number of things about diabetes that I didn’t discover until quite late. It could have helped me if I had realised those things earlier. But better late than never, I suppose. Maybe it could help you too.

Applying for or renewing your driver’s license can be more difficult if you have diabetes. I deliberately say ‘can’, because it doesn’t always have to be that way. For example, I renewed my driver’s license without any problems and it wasn’t too bad. I was even a bit disappointed afterwards because I had wasted four months of validity by doing it so early.