Like many children of the 1980s, I was a diehard fan of the Babysitter’s Club young adult book series. The perm-haired and fashion-forward Stacey was my favourite character. But while I couldn’t get enough of the books as a child, little did I know that Stacey and I would later share a life-long condition.

The first Babysitter’s Club book reveals that Stacey lives with type 1 diabetes. After being teased about her condition at her last school, she unsuccessfully tried to hide her diabetes from the other babysitters. After my diagnosis of type 2 diabetes three years ago, I found that many young people with type 2 diabetes also do what Stacey did.

You often hear about the young people with type 1 diabetes, but there’s not a lot of discussion about people my age, 30, with type 2. That needs to change, and that starts with me. Although my childhood role model had diabetes, I still felt affronted by my diagnosis and remember feeling angry, annoyed and thinking “Why me?â€

Not a likely suspect
In some cases, type 2 diabetes is preventable if you catch it fast enough, but now I’ll have diabetes for the rest of my life. At first it seemed that I was not a prime candidate for developing it because I didn’t tick the boxes most people know to be the risk factors: I was under 45 years old and not overweight nor obese. However, I was also adopted and unaware of my family’s medical history until just two months ago, when I reunited with my biological mother two months ago and learned that she too lived with type 2 diabetes.

I was finally diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after a few people, including my partner, recognised the symptoms. I was going to the toilet too often, drinking lots of water and eating an enormous amount of food, but still was always feeling hungry.

The benefits of awareness
Now I take daily medication and have made conscious decisions to manage my diabetes well. I exercise more and eat better, but portion control is the hardest thing for me. Resisting that second helping is hard but as much as I want it, I don’t really need it.

I think I would rather know I had diabetes than not be diagnosed and continue down the path I was on, not that it was a bad path, but I am really aware of my health now, so it’s probably a good thing.

How stigma creates shame
However, I think the media portrayal of people with type 2 diabetes can lead many people to feeling ashamed. I know a lot of people who won’t speak out about having type 2 diabetes because others believe that only obese people have it.

People ask, “Did you eat too much cake? Too many lollies?†So it’s really difficult to break free from the stigmas and shame that are attached to type 2 diabetes.

Knowing what I now know can also be frustrating. I’ve got some friends who have pre-diabetes and I think, “If you don’t take action and you get diabetes, you’re going to wish that you were more vigilant.â€

I now work to fight misconceptions about type 2 diabetes through getting involved in Diabetes Australia’s ‘Young Leader’ program. There is lack of resources for young people with type 2 diabetes and there are inconsistencies in access to treatments, such as insulin pumps for people with type 2 diabetes who are insulin-dependent. I believe that other young people with type 2 diabetes should have access to information and programs that are relevant to them.

Two types of diabetes, one community
Another significant issue for me centres on discrimination between the groups of people living with diabetes. There’s a lack of understanding that exists between young people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I see it a lot in online groups but we all have the same chronic illness in different ways and in the end, we need to find ways to understand each other better and work together!

I live a full life in rural Victoria working in childcare and hospitality, studying for my certificate 3 in children’s services and working casually as a Girl Guide Leader. While my blood glucose levels affect my day for the good or the bad, it doesn’t take precedence over living life.

Every day has been a learning curve. I’ve met some amazing people along my journey with diabetes and have been able to have some awesome experiences, such as diabetes kids camps and international connections at the World Diabetes Congress in Melbourne last December.

Lou Vickers-Willis moderates a Facebook group for young adults with type 2 diabetes, www.facebook.com/groups/457646154272793/

This article was originally published in Conquest Magazine published by Health Publishing Australia