Type 1 Diabetes

There are currently 140,000 people in Australia with Type 1 Diabetes with 6 new cases every day. Most newly diagnosed cases being in children and young people less than 15 years. From the day kids are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes they are kept alive with daily injections of insulin and this allows survival but is not a cure.

“Entoure has agreed to fund the research to ensure this segment of our community have a happy and healthy life and we believe that the findings will help Type 1 suffers on a Global scale. This is a huge opportunity to make a difference where others are not and we encourage everyone to learn more about the impacts of Type 1 Diabetes and support us in finding answers that will give kids with Type 1 a shot at an active life” Kent Williams Director Entoure.

The Struggles

Every day kids and adolescents have to test their blood glucose level multiple times via a finger prick and for each meal and snack consider the type and amount of food they will eat, the type and amount of physical activity they will do and then match this to the insulin given either as 4 to 6 injections per day or by insulin pump.  This lifelong self-care requires incredible commitment, self-discipline, emotional maturity, tenacity and support.

Yet while when we see children with cancer it tugs on our heart strings, young people with diabetes do not look any different from their peers and thus don’t receive the same empathy.

Type 1 Diabetes is 24/7 for Life

They must live with diabetes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Unlike with some other conditions there is no break from diabetes. Diabetes needs to be considered constantly in the day and it requires that more than 1000 blood glucose tests and more than 1000 insulin injections are self-administered by the person with type 1 diabetes every year.  These demands cause enormous pressure and distress to families. Moreover, the community is often ignorant about the demands of type 1 diabetes. In addition to trying to balance blood glucose levels so that they do not have severe low blood sugars that can cause seizures and sometimes death or high blood sugars that if left untreated can lead to coma, the kids also live with the lifelong threat of developing the long term complications of diabetes such as blindness, kidney disease and heart disease causing premature death.

Importance of Exercise

We all know that physical activity is good for us.  Yet in someone with type 1 diabetes it can play havoc with their blood glucose control causing significant swings in blood glucose levels including very low blood glucose.

As a result many lose confidence and stop playing sport or exercising and miss-out on all the physical and psychological benefits these bring to life.  What is needed is a tool that will give kids and people of all ages with type 1 diabetes the confidence to actively participate and safely enjoy physical activity again.

The exT1D Learning Tool

The exT1D e-learning website is such a tool. Because it is web based it can reach kids and their families in all states of Australia both country and city.  A recent guidelines review of type 1 diabetes care in Australia by the children and adult diabetes societies, APEG (Australian Paediatric Endocrine Society) and ADS (Australian Diabetes Society), has recognized that more information is urgently required to advise people with type 1 diabetes in exercise.

The Research

A project to answer some of these issues is currently being undertaken through a research grant donation from Entoure to the Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Foundation of the University of Sydney and the Diabetes Centre of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.

This research aims to determine if blood glucose levels and confidence in self management during and after physical activity can be improved by a structured exercise program which provides advice in carbohydrate supplementation and insulin therapy.  It is anticipated that this research will have positive impact on the 140,000 people in Australia living with type 1 diabetes and their families.  It will give back to the kids and young adults the confidence to go out and play and engage in the sports and activities they enjoy as well helping take some of the worry from their parents and other loved ones.

The Support

Marilyn Bates – Credentialled Diabetes Educator QLD

To all you QLD Entoure riders – rest assured this research will help QLD kids with type 1 diabetes and their families. I am involved with the Bundaberg Juvenile Diabetes Action Support Group (see image of kids camp) and in Bundaberg alone there are around 80 kids with type 1 diabetes. This research will help give these kids and others all over Australia a reason to smile.