Diabetes is the best thing that's ever happened to me

Diabetes - My Disease - Make a Difference - By Alex Salter

I am writing this as a virtual document that in the future I may turn into a book or a general public knowledge source. Moreover I am hoping that by sharing my experiences and knowledge my words will make a difference.  Especially to the teenagers and young adults who are still coming to terms with Type 1 Diabetes and would like to learn more in relation to how someone else has tackled this obstacle from a young age and what positives it has brought to my life.  If this text can help one person with Diabetes then I will be happy.

Before I start this story of mine, I need to finish this part by saying that one of the most important things a newly diagnosed diabetic is told is that a low or well controlled HBA1c is very important to your overall health not just now but in the long term.  I grew up in England.) I inject 6 times a day and test averagely 7 times a day and from what I know there are 2 different ways of achieving a low Hb1ac. You either have overall good average blood results. Or you end up ''yoyoing'' a lot.   I  'yoyo' a lot and this is not an ideal situation.  This means for example I can have many low blood results such as a 3 and many highs such as a 15 or a 20 that in the long term average out to a good blood result of  about 6.3 –  or thereabouts - You see my point anyway. Theres two ways of achieving 6.1. But the key is to try your best at constant good blood results. Yoyoing is not ideal but is better than constantly high bloods of course.

When it comes to blood control you have to remember no one can hold 7 bloods constantly with Diabetes. Doctors who are strict with this and tell you that you’re doing it wrong and that you should have 6 blood constantly are in my opinion deluded. It is 99.9% impossible to hold it at 6.1 constantly for the rest of your life. Do not fear these things though. What's more important is your 3 month blood test, your Hb1ac and your overall average result. Even if this is high, by taking the right actions you can lower this.

My journey with diabetes started when I was 13.   I realized I had Diabetes after watching a TV advert which was creating awareness of the disease, from this I then diagnosed myself and told my mum. I was drinking 7-12 pints of water a day and losing tons of weight and going to the toilet a lot, this is what the advert alarmed me to. I still remember the lady who starred in that advert, I should contact her and say thanks haha.

I was interested in games and would spend hours inside the online game worlds, and that's where I escaped to. When Diabetes hit me I had to recover from extremely high bloods in hospital and after I put back on all the weight and recovered from the physical ill feeling, I returned back to games as an escape again. But at the same time I had a strong outer attitude, I thought I knew what was coming lol, I had to wear a fanny pack to school for example. I thought people would understand. Over the years and very quickly however, I discovered what people are really like.  More to the point I discovered what the current view on Diabetes is in general and how Type one and Type two diabetes are often mixed up and misunderstood with regard to the differences. This was a vital lesson that helped change me and adapt me to the real world. Luckily for me this bullying happened in school and not further on where it mattered. It was college where I discovered where my true skills lied and became more confident. 

This negative attitude that some people projected at me was one of the key factors in turning me into the person I am today.  The  disease sharpened my views on people, it made me more aware of people and made me see a lot clearer, because of this I now can read people a lot better and can tell very quickly if someone is worth my time or not and I am thankful for this.

My father introduced me to the strength sport of power-lifting at age 14-15. This strict routine in sport coupled with dealing with Diabetes built my attitude and character up and made me a lot stronger.  I was training 6 hours a week and  having to eat 5 large meals a day on training days. Pushing myself till I couldn't do anymore. This was the 2nd key factor that made me into who I am today. Because I would always hit a limit in what I could lift for example. Then by adapting my mind my body would follow - Then 1 year later of constant training I would lift an extra 2 stone, and lift 22 stone instead of the 20 stone record beforehand. My record now is featured at the bottom of this blog.


I applied this attitude to Games Industry related education later on and anything else that I set my mind to, and by doing this I later found myself in newspapers, winning awards and on a highly respected degree course at the university of Derby. A course that regularly outputs students of a high enough caliber to make it into the Games Industry.

There are many ways to tackle Diabetes. It’s all part of learning and we always are. But I believe in good guidance being one of the keys. It is only through trial and error that you learn what works for you and obviously you can turn to your peer’s for guidance when you want it.   It's important that you stick to your own views and do your own research until it makes sense to you and you can begin to understand how your own Diabetes works and your own body works. All the people who don't have Diabetes are just quoting from books.  If they tell you something or give you advice, where else are they getting it from?  If you do want to seek out advice, search for Diabetic forums and community's on the internet and make sure you find someone with Type 1 who is understanding.  Many forums are full of Type 2's whose views on how to control your diabetes are very different. 

It’s very important you see every negative in your life as an obstacle which has been placed before you to make you stronger. If you believe this you will become stronger than you could ever believe.

No one’s perfect and everyone has ups and downs, what's important to remember is how you handle these ups and downs. You can either handle them negatively or positively.  Having friends and family close by is a great help in getting through low periods.  But only a help. Don't rely totally on other people. The most important person is yourself.  Self-realization is key You need to understand how and why you feel low and what actions you now need to take in order to feel higher again. I believe in self-improvement and achieving and bettering yourself. This is what drives me and makes me happy.  Having a positive attitude can come across in many different ways to people. Many people can't control their egos and attitudes and theirs then spiral out of control. 

It is very important if you’re in this ego mental state, to not let yourself learn the hard way.  You need to understand your true position in the world and be fair to others, be understanding and equal in accepting other people’s opinions.  You don't have to agree. But I am saying this for your benefit. Because if you want to win at anything, you need a clear focused mind, if you want to dominate the opponent you need to be able to ignore all ego and stay balanced on that knife edge, ready for any occurrence that the opponent may throw at you.  No matter how better you think you are, when you enter a new world, be it chess, pc games, dissertations, spelling tests, running races, essays, art exams. You are inadvertently or advertantly pitted against others, and it’s up to you to enter that world with an open mind, to soak up your surroundings and situation and use everything to your advantage to win. Using all your skill and knowledge. 

Ego is an internal enemy that you have to ignore forever. Use logic and knowledge to explain to people why your way is right and propose to them to tell you their method if they are adamant in their way of thinking.

This may seem off topic but in my view it's not, It's as close to Diabetes as you can get, because your attitude is the number one area of your own person that needs the most building and looking after, before anything else.

There are many factors in relation to Diabetes Type 1.

It’s important when you find out you have it and when you've left hospital and your home for the first time. Take into consideration what everyone says, but use what you feel inside to make your decisions.  The doctors aren’t always right.  Food/nutrition/exercise/dosages /state of mind/stress/ are all important factors that effect your Diabetes and ultimately your control of it.  It’s all about guided trial and error. The base dosages the doctor’s set for you should be a good starting point.

You need to understand that having roughly strict meal times and dosages as and when you are meant to have them will extend your life. The minimum being, breakfast (inject) lunch (inject) dinner (inject) and with all the simple rules. You inject whenever you’re taking in carbs and sugars. You'll need to roughly learn how to carb count until you know off by heart how much you should inject for differing foods. Of course if you have 3 extra units in you and then you eat you don't have to inject for that. If it's worth 3 units.

Never miss injections, keep roughly strict on eating, injecting and testing. Keep a strong over view on your bloods, look at where the weekly highs and lows are and from that you will be able to see which dosages are too much or too little or what differing foods impacts are. Eat healthy and large. Try to avoid correction dosages whenever you can, the best way to do it is, try to get your first meal injection as accurate as you can and make sure you know exactly how long the meal and insulin will last so you can top up again at the next meal time.

Remember drinking lots of water will help flush out any high bloods that you have.  If you have 25+ and you drink 3 pints of water over 20 mins and you also give yourself a correction dose of 5 you will drop fast given 2 hours.  Of course this is what my body does and you yourself will have to judge how your own body reacts.

Make sure you find out as soon as possible what your 10gs of carbs to units ratio is. It will change as your life style changes. It will change drastically if you increase exercise or eating.   For example - On Gym Training days - my injection ratio is - for every 10grams of Carbs I inject 1 Unit of Insulin. 

On all the other days where I'm not training - I inject 2.5Units of Insulin because I'm sat in front of the computer all day and therefor need more insulin in me to keep the level of food consumed in control. Because I will eat the same as if I was training. 

I would advise to Exercise 3-4 times a week. For 1hour sessions, if you want good 5-7 control hb1ac's.

Slowly you will learn what a hypo feels like, you will learn how long till you need sugar and what sugars do best for you. You will learn how it feels to have 20+ bloods or go hyper or hypo. These feelings you will get used to and when you can feel these off by heart you will know to go eat. Of course until then, make sure you keep your blood test kit and insulin within arms reach always.

Some vital areas you need to pay attention to are - Considering if a pump is right for you.

And - Trying your best to not hypo often. - The more 2.8's or 3.5's any hypo below 3.8 isn't good, it's classed as life threatening. You need to get back above it as soon as possible because over time your body will become friends with this Hypo feeling - You will lose the fast reaction warning to the hypo feeling because your body has got used to it and then if this carries on - When you hypo in your sleep - Instead of the body waking you up - It won’t - because it's so used to the feeling - it might not wake you up till 1.6. by then it might be too late and you may have passed into a coma while sleeping. So keeping blood at 4-10 is best.


Make sure you go for regular eye and foot tests.

Diabetes has been the best thing that's happened to me. It has fired me up to a new level of positivity that I never knew existed. It is a constant battle until I die and I am glad, because at least something is always going to be there trying to keep me down, Diabetes is always throwing me obstacles and I need them to become stronger.


Because of this disease I have achieved many sporting and work related records and achievements. I am proud to have Diabetes and when people ask why I have 'Type 1 Diabetic' Tattooed on the inside of my forearm I always say - ''Best thing that's happened to me'' - They look at me oddly - and I always think the same thing - ''It's a shame they haven't been through what I have, because if they had they'd be so much stronger inside.''