She speaks: Diabetes Awareness Week 2026

 

 

‘Diabetes’ is a blanket diagnosis covering entirely different conditions, Current statistics state that 90% have type 2 diabetes, with 8% having type 1 and 2% accounting for a handful of rarer forms. A report by Public  Health England published back in 2016 stated  ‘The diabetes prevalence model does not make a distinction between the type of diabetes’  Baffling when they have distinctively different causes, effects and require specifically tailored methods of treatment, both the daily checklist of tasks to adhere to as well as within health care settings.

This lack of specification leads to widespread confusion and ignorance by the public and is impacted by the media. For type 1’s in particular this can cause ongoing emotional distress and frustration. Words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones. I am an obvious casualty of this.

 

By: Claire Cairns

 

 

Dear Visitors,

 

It’s a diabetes awareness week, June 8- June 14.  Having diabetes along with an eating disorder is a dangerous and often deathly dual combination, requiring specialized medical and psychological care. We share the post below by Claire Cairns on Type 1 Diabetes and her eating disorder.   People with diabetes may be more susceptible to eating disorders, due to the complex relationship between food, body image, and diabetes management. The awareness and early intervention is the key here.

 

Thank you Claire for all your great work.

 

 

 

She speaks: Diabetes Awareness Week 2026

 

It’s diabetes awareness week. I am all too aware already.

I have written many, many blogs on Type 1 Diabetes and T1DE over the years.

I wish I could manage to post another, but frankly I am out of steam, of saying the words, trying to educate the ignorant. My body is tired and so is my brain, from trying to not absorb uneducated words, comments and headlines. Shouting and screaming and getting on your soapbox never seems to work.

Honestly I want to lay down in the heap on the floor, defeated. But to quote Sylvia Plath “there is a voice within me that will not be still.”

I am not going to state the facts, the myths or the what to say and what not to say to someone with diabetes, particularly type 1. I’ve said all that before. Such information is also currently plastered all over social media by other sources, anyway.

Instead, I’ve decides (despite extreme anxiety over being so…raw) to share snippets of the past 30 years that are unique to me, yet surely relatable to others that have type 1 or T1DE [if you don’t know what ‘T1DE’  even is then PLEASE click one of those link or just do a google search}.

First, let’s get a brief summary of the fundamental facts, aka a guide for dummies on what diabetes even is. Parts of this do explain why I am bothering to write and bravely share this post at all.

‘Diabetes’ is a blanket diagnosis covering entirely different conditions, Current statistics state that 90% have type 2 diabetes, with 8% having type 1 and 2% accounting for a handful of rarer forms. A report by Public  Health England published back in 2016 stated  ‘The diabetes prevalence model does not make a distinction between the type of diabetes’  Baffling when they have distinctively different causes, effects and require specifically tailored methods of treatment, both the daily checklist of tasks to adhere to as well as within health care settings.

This lack of specification leads to widespread confusion and ignorance by the public and is impacted by the media. For type 1’s in particular this can cause ongoing emotional distress and frustration. Words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones. I am an obvious casualty of this.

The following are only a small number of snapshots of Type 1 Diabetes from my own personal perspective. Yet sadly I know my experiences are not rare, with too many type 1’s being able to identify. My words are my own but I can imagine an echo of other voices surrounding me.

• Not long after diagnosis, aged 9, I was walking home from school and someone in my year group asked me “did you get it from eating too many sweets?” Yes, I still think of this now, it stuck.
• I was embarrassed of being diabetic for so long, to the point where I tried to just pretend I was the same as everyone else. If I had to inject, take glucose or have snacks I tried to do it in secret, and if someone else drew attention to it I would feel instinctively ashamed.

• In year 5, I was trying to covertly eat my pack of go ahead fruit slices under the table during a lesson. My tutor was teaching and she of course knew about my diabetes. Despite this she stops suddenly and loudly asks “Claire, why are you eating in class?” I muttered some kind of explanation but she told me I needed to stay after class. She then proceeds to ask me a question about the text we were reading and I have to answer as best I can with a mouthful of food. I was mortified, and after class she said oh well she didn’t know I had to eat MORE and dismissed me without apology. After this I never, ever eat my snacks when I need them. I’d rather treat a hypo privately than eat at 11am or 2.30pm as I was supposed to.

• No, I wasn’t ‘lucky’ to have to go first in the lunch queue daily or have a small Mars bar before P.E, this was a regular remark from my peers. I just put my head down while thinking well I’ll give them all the chocolate they wanted if they took my diabetes as well.

• I had to check my blood sugars pre-lunch in the office with the school nurse. My best friend always came with me. If this ran late it would make the other pupils grumpy if they were just made to wait or if they were able to begin going into the canteen only for me to have to immediately cut in front later on. I’d apologise but their disapproving faces said everything. I began to believe I was a problem and an inconvenience.

• I’ll never forget a comment I received during an adolescent services diabetic clinic visit. It was made to me by my ACTUAL endocrinologist at the time, and it definitely caused me damage. The nurse had taken my weight, height and HBA1C previous to the appointment as per usual. When this particular HCP saw the results he warned me that my weight was at the higher end of normal (i.e a HEALTHY weight) so I’d have to be more careful with my eating as I wouldn’t want to end up becoming overweight. I left that meeting adamant to decrease my weight. When I saw him 3 months later I had dropped a stone and a half from extreme dieting and insulin restriction. His response to this was congratulations. The next time he saw me I was desperately unwell and a patient in general hospital, waiting for transfer to an eating disorder unit.

There’s a lot more I could say, but I will stop here. I may post a part 2 focusing on T1DE as well as how my diabetes affects me now, as well as how the bolus/basal treatment system has provided us with the flexibility to eat when and what we want. Yet despite this being in place for years, some people are still just slow to catch on. Too many times, I have had to explain that I can eat whatever I want as long as I cover it with appropriate insulin injections.

I end on this note: Type 1 diabetes, an illness that is all consuming, relentless and can have a huge influence on your quality of life. The more you try to deny its existence then the more devastating complications it will cause. Most importantly, IT CAN BE KILL YOU,

This is a quote taken from an article I wrote back in 2017:

;…there needs to be official diagnostic criteria in place for people with diabetes and any kind of linked eating disorder. There must be. Not in ten years time but now.“

*I am using 180% zoom and am assisted by Grammarly to type. My visual impairment has caused me difficulty for a number of years, a result of diabetic proliferative retinopathy that means I am registered as partially sighted. However I have noticed a significant deterioration of this over the past fortnight. So please forgive any typos.