Embarrassing Illnesses

Chandler Bennett, 17, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in October 2004. She maintains a positive attitude to life, and has learned to manage it by calculating the carbohydrates in her food and taking insulin.

"When I was first diagnosed, my first thought was, 'Oh my God, why me?' I used to be terrified of injections, so that whole side of it completely scared me.

"I was self-conscious at first. I didn't want to inject myself in front of everyone. I thought it was going to be embarrassing and everyone at school would think I was shooting up in the middle of lunch.

"If I didn’t medicate, my blood sugars would rise and I would start to feel dizzy. If I then continued not taking insulin, I would get ill, probably throw up and then eventually die.

"When you have type 1 diabetes you have to calculate the carbohydrates in your meals. A piece of toast is 20g of carbohydrates and I have one unit of insulin for every time I eat 20g of carbohydrates.

"It was a foreign idea. I hadn't ever considered food as something to be calculated. Sometimes school lunch can be a bit difficult because you don't really know what's in everything.

"It was a bit tricky and I made mistakes at first. You have to expect that, I suppose. However, you get into a pattern and everything becomes second nature.

"It definitely affects my sports. I have to check my blood sugars more frequently when I'm playing sport. I do quite competitive sprinting, which is difficult because adrenaline in sport brings your blood sugars up rapidly.

"A few months after I was diagnosed I moved on to the insulin pump. It was a good change for me. It definitely gives me a lot more flexibility. It's like a bigger injection, but once every three days, and it pumps in insulin throughout the day.

"Sometimes I get little red spots on my body, which makes me a little self-conscious when I'm going to the beach. I don't really like to wear bikinis.

"It was definitely a bit of a nightmare at first, but I think if you approach diabetes with a positive attitude and more of an 'I can do this. How will I do it?' instead of a 'This is a nightmare. Why did I get this?', it just becomes a part of who you are.

"Everyone can control diabetes; you just have to put in the effort. It's worth it, because when it's controlled, you feel like you're just like everybody else."