Sallie – Interview 36
Diagnosed 6 years ago. Sallie tried to control it with diet and exercise but has recently started metformin.
Sallie was diagnosed 6 years ago at a very difficult period in her life. Her mother and her brother were seriously ill and she took responsibility for providing care and support for them both. Compared to what they were going through she says, her diabetes seemed irrelevant and ‘not a real illness.
Sallie said she didn’t want to face up to having diabetes and pretended she was trying to change her diet when really she was eating wrong kind of food and comfort eating – chocolate especially. Two weeks before the interview she realised she had become quite ill and went to her GP and diabetes nurse. She was prescribed metformin and now feels a lot better. Her main form of exercise is walking her two dogs everyday.
Sallie enjoys her family and her social life to the full. She says that she can be moody and finds that if she’s told not to something it usually makes her even more determined to do it. She says her husband understands her very well and has always given her wonderful support. She says her medical team are brilliant and have been there for her ‘110%’.