BBC news report on type 1 diabetes and mental health

[Music]

doctors specializing in type 1 diabetes

say they're increasingly concerned about

the mental health impact that managing

the disease has on patients

especially young women diabetes uk

estimates up to 40 percent of young

women aged 15 to 35 with type 1

will suffer from an associated eating

disorder at some point

now nhs england has developed two pilot

schemes to try to understand the

problems

as our correspondent jeremy cook

explains in this report some of which

was filmed before the coronavirus

pandemic

when you're hypo all you

want is sugar it's like when you're

drowning and

you only can think about air living with

type 1 diabetes

a year in the life of naomi a year of

fear

and uncertainty even before the covid

crisis

things were tough i get really

shaky and hot and my heart

beats well her body can't make the

insulin that we all need

injection number seven today to control

blood sugar

and so there's a lifelong constant cycle

check my of testing blood and injecting

and worrying whoa 2.8

it's a full-time job that you can't quit

the massive burden

that you didn't ask for didn't expect

naomi's consultant dr helen partridge is

dedicated to treating diabetes

are you doing your insulin yourself she

knows that most of her patients cope

with the demands of type 1

but that it is hard you've got to learn

to live with it day in day out it's not

going away unfortunately

and so actually the psychological aspect

is huge

it means many patients with type 1 at

some point

experience mental health problems i

hated it i was

i hated was eddie is ok now

but as a teenager and type 1 patient he

suffered burnout

that's when the burden of it all becomes

overwhelming

he stopped taking his insulin i just

wanted to be normal

i just wanted to be like my mates i just

thought i'm invincible

i can get through this nothing's going

to affect me i started getting problems

with my eyes and i had problems

with my feet and then i had problems

with my stomach

naomi is 33 now she was admitted to an

eating disorders unit

i was in the impatient ward for us about

seven months

she didn't have anorexia like the other

patients here and while they struggled

to eat

naomi struggled to take her insulin i

just couldn't handle the

physical or mental demands of diabetes

anymore

for the first time naomi was treated for

both her diabetes

and her burnout at the same time a

groundbreaking

joined up approach you hadn't been

taking your insulin for a long time

diabetes patients treated by

psychiatrists

these people are seriously unwell

seriously unwell and they putting

themselves at harm every day of their

lives that they don't take the insulin

they could die what has this place done

for you

saved my life seriously yeah i

really honestly think i would have died

if i hadn't come in here

i couldn't do it anymore down to the

floor the physical risks of type 1

diabetes to eyesight and limbs and

mobility

are well-known move over to your other

eye but this

nhs pilot scheme explores the mental

health link too

we want to look at where we are with

physical and mental health putting it

together trying different ways to tackle

it

it shows our team's belief that if we do

tackle

these two together it will help improve

outcomes for naomi

and others living with type 1 the

demands can feel too much

and the covet crisis has piled on the

pressure

today's a really hard day i'm sick and

tired of numbers and

thinking about diabetes all the time the

team at the hospital

are constantly remotely monitoring naomi

and they know she's struggling they've

called me in because

well i think because i just haven't

taken care of my diabetes and

i've been hit with burnout pretty bad

researchers found that this specialist

joined up detailed help

is essential for patients like naomi

whether or not there's a cure

i don't know but even if there's never a

cure there's still hope there's always

hope

and we get to choose life every day see

it as an opportunity to choose life

jeremy cook bbc news bournemouth

and for details of organizations in the

uk which offer

advice and support with diabetes go

online to bbc dot co dot uk forward

slash

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