My Relationship With Type 1 Diabetes - Heath | Omnipod® Australia
My Relationship With Type 1 Diabetes
Author: Heath Morley
Heath was one of the first Podders in Australia, moving from Multiple Daily Injections with CGM over to Omnipod® insulin pump therapy with the Omnipod DASH® Insulin Pump Management System saying “It’s the closest I’ve felt to not having Diabetes”. Heath has been on the Omnipod DASH® System since 2021.
For me, being diagnosed with T1D as an adult meant I had to change the way I saw myself a lot. All of a sudden, I had to think about a load of things I took for granted for 40 years.
I couldn’t enjoy a meal without doing complicated maths, I couldn’t leave the house without taking a load of things with me (the ‘full kit’ I call it), there is a meme I’ve seen that says "The average type 1 has to make 180 extra decisions per day than the non-diabetic person" and I believe it.
As a person who was doing multiple daily injections (4-6 per day) and also someone who has never like needles (I actually fainted the day I was diagnosed because of a blood test) it's a whole process, screwing on the needle, trying to remember where the last jab was, untucking clothes in a cafe, on a plane, anywhere. The looks that you get from some people are not that awesome. Then disposing of that needle cap before you can enjoy the meal.
Oh yeah and those ugly bruises on my legs, and tummy, sub optimal especially in summer at the beach or pool*.
"Now since moving on to the Omnipod DASH® System my life has been truly simplified."
I DON’T HAVE BRUISES… Anywhere! (can't wait for the warm weather to start and the board shorts* to come out)
In a Melbourne winter I have not had to untuck the 3 layers of clothes to get to an injection site, we had lunch with my mother-in-law in Ballarat in a beautiful restaurant and she along with all the other diners just thought I was sending a text while I was programming a meal-time bolus through my Omnipod DASH® Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM).
"I am not ashamed to be a Type one but it is just so simple and convenient"
When it comes to having coffee and possibly even a cake at the restaurant I didn't have to think, I looked at the PDM and it assists me in knowing how much insulin I still have on board, it does the thinking for me and I have a flatter line, less spikes and less hypos. I’ve lost count how many things the Omnipod DASH® just does for me.
"Diabetes is now just a passenger; it doesn't drive the car."
The biggest change in my day-to-day management now is that it's simplified, I think a lot less about things. It's so easy to do a corrective dose (something I sometimes just avoided so I didn't have to have another shot).
I don't resent being type 1 as much as I did, I can just leave the house now with my PDM and not the "full kit" I am able to manage my Type One now better and more easily.
It's not all consuming and no longer the first and last thing I think about every day and every night. For me, the Omnipod DASH® System simplifies what has traditionally been a very complicated way to manage diabetes. It just makes it simple for me and In my day to day life I put a lot of value on that.