Finger prick to measure blood sugar level. Only eat meals at fixed times in order to ensure a balanced supply of insulin. This is an image of diabetes mellitus that Lily Cheng calls antiquated. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes – in this autoimmune disease, the body produces little or no insulin. The woman from Graz has been suffering from it for around 20 years.
Although suffering is the wrong word when talking about cheng and diabetes. “I don’t feel any restrictions,” says the 41-year-old. She wears a sensor on her body for glucose monitoring and is also supported by an insulin pump. Both are linked to the smartphone, so she can always see the essential values. “I only have to enter what I eat and the app does the rest.”
The artificial pancreas
The combination of continuous glucose measurement (CGM) and modern insulin pumps is also known as an “automated insulin dosing system”, “closed loop system” or “artificial pancreas”, because this organ is actually responsible for the production of insulin. This is an endogenous, vital hormone. Insulin is not produced in people with type 1 diabetes. With modern medical products, fixed meal times and regular finger pricks are a thing of the past.
Julia Mader, diabetes specialist at the Clinical Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the University Hospital in Graz, sees it in a similar way to her patient. She now describes diabetes as more of a chronic condition. “We are so far that we can give people a normal life.” So normal that you can become a professional athlete. Tennis Olympic champion Alexander Zverev recently made it public that he has had type 1 diabetes since childhood.
How diabetes is treated
But it doesn’t work without treatment or therapy. Without insulin, the sugar in the blood cannot be used and accumulates – and this can have a number of health consequences. “Chronically elevated sugar levels can lead to nerve damage,” says Mader. This can impair the feeling of pain, the retina can also be attacked to the point of blindness and blood vessels can be damaged, which increases the risk of a heart attack.
Around 800,000 people with diabetes live in Austria. Type 1 diabetes accounts for around five percent and type 2 diabetes for 95 percent. The latter often, but not exclusively, occurs in old age. Lifestyle changes can help prevent type 2. Anything that is commonly referred to as a “healthy lifestyle” can be helpful: a balanced diet, not being overweight, regular exercise and not smoking.
Lily Cheng advises people who have just been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus: “Get in touch with those affected, network, exchange ideas. This not only helps in dealing with diabetes, you also realize that you are not alone .”