'Go through the burnout, but come back. You owe it to yourself to come back' with Sane Mazibuko

Sane Mazibuko’s introduction to type 1 diabetes was waking up in hospital after collapsing as a 6-year-old. But as she tells us in this heartfelt episode, being told what to do to manage a health condition is not the same as being told why or how.

Growing up in Durban, South Africa, Sane had moved across the country as an adult before she spoke to her first endocrinologist, and after years of confusing and isolating experiences, she eventually found the support team that allowed her to be honest about her condition.

29 years into life with type 1 diabetes, Sane now uses the information and experience she’s gathered to help others in South Africa and beyond to better understand the life it’s possible to live with the condition, from eating the same foods as everyone else to workplace support, to coming back from burnout. As she says on her social media, Sane’s decision to ‘choose softness daily’, is helping her move through the challenges that type 1 diabetes endlessly presents. 

Sane also talks poignantly about educating her young daughter about her mum’s diabetes, including being able to understand Sane’s CGM readings <3 

CONNECT WITH SANE
Follow Sane on Facebook.
Connect with Sane on Instagram.
Find Sane on TikTok.

DISCLAIMER
Nothing you hear on Type 1 on 1 should be taken as medical advice. Please consult your healthcare team before making any changes to your diabetes or health management.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY:
Come and say hi @studiotype1on1 on Instagram.
Visit the Type 1 on 1 website.
Subscribe to the Type 1 on 1 newsletter.

SPONSOR MESSAGE
This episode of Type 1 on 1 is sponsored by Dexcom. Using Dexcom CGM has given me so much confidence to make informed diabetes treatment decisions in the moment.

You can choose to wear it on your arm or your abdomen, and all Dexcom CGMs have the share and follow feature even when connected to an insulin pump, so family and friends can see your glucose levels and get alerts, giving that extra bit of support when needed.

Head to Dexcom.com to request a free Dexcom ONE+ sample.

Always read the user manual for important product aspects and limitations. Talk to your doctor for diabetes management terms and conditions and terms of use. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Type one on one is sponsored by Dexcom.
More on that later. Thank you so much for pressing
play today. If you like what you hear, please do
hit follow so that you're in the know about future episodes.
And as with every episode of Type one on one,
nothing you hear within this podcast is intended to be
nor should be taken as medical advice, and you should

(00:21):
seek the advice of a medical professional before making any
changes to your health management. Now are you signed up
to the Type one on one newsletter? Yes, I send
a regular dose of type one real talk straight to
your inbox, and it's nice and concise. It's a mix
of personal musings, things that have happened in my week

(00:42):
in the ongoing adventure that is type one diabetes, and
often a nice little bit of hype as well, because
we all need that support sometimes. So head to Type
one on one dot com forward slash newsletter if you
want to sign up, or you can click the link
in the episode description. Hi everyone, and welcome to Type

(01:02):
one on one, a podcast that delves into the obscure,
complex and challenging.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
World of life with Type one diabetes.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm Jen Greeves, and each week with the help of
some brilliant guests. I'll be showing that there is no
normal when it comes to handlingk this whopper of a
chronic condition, because we're all pretty much figuring out the
messiness of day to day life with diabetes as we go.
And most of all, even though it doesn't always feel
like it, we are absolutely not alone. My guest today

(01:34):
is Sarnae Mazibuko, joining me from Cape Town in South Africa.
Sarnae was diagnosed with type one diabetes in nineteen ninety
six at the age of six and has been carrying
all the good and bad that comes with it for
almost three decades. Through the many challenges of living with
type one diabetes, Sarna uses her voice to, in her words,
be part of the change, choosing softness daily and showing

(01:55):
up for every person living with any type of diabetes,
for anyone who's ever felt share, misunderstood or not good enough. Sanai, Sorry,
those are such powerful words and such beautiful energy.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Welcome to Type one on one.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Thank you so much for having me in, Thank you
for joining me.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
I just think that's such a lovely energy to move
through this like very difficult condition with. And we'll definitely
get into that. But first of all, how are you
doing today? How are the glucose readings? How are you
feeling in this mad world of type one diabetes and
everything else.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
I'm good today, I'm good. The glucose looks good. Today.
We're sitting in the green, which is good. But you
never know. We could be in the green now in
the next five minutes, we could be yellow orange. I'm
hoping we'll just take consistantly green. How are you today?

Speaker 1 (02:46):
That would be nice. Yeah, I'm good, Thank you. I
was saying to you before that my sugar is like dropping.
It's a little bit on the low side. So I
just gobbled a couple of sweets. But I'm also thinking
my food is about to kind of do that delayed
of kick because I've been sat at the desk all morning.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
So here we are, just another day with type one, right.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
So let's get into it, because there's just so much
to talk about from looking online at the stuff that
you share and kind of that energy that you carry
that just emanates from everything that you post. That phrase
choosing softness daily is such a beautiful thing. As I said,
this condition is tough, as everyone listening also knows and

(03:29):
the world is tough too, So talk to me a
little bit about how you came to that conscious choice
of choosing softness daily.

Speaker 4 (03:38):
I think with years and years of trying to navigate
living with diabetes, I know how hard it gets and
know how as opposed to living with diabetes, we sometimes
beat ourselves up because we're feeling like we're not doing
what we're supposed to be doing. And with that and
haven't gone through it for the past twenty nine years

(03:59):
at I wanted to create a space where people can
feel like it's okay to be not okay, it's okay
to show up as you are, and sometimes you just
need someone who says, I understand, let's take this, let's
take the journey on as much as we can together,
because you know, sometimes we show up in a medical
facility and it feels like you're in the principal's office

(04:22):
and you just like, what happened on this day? Why
is this? I just I don't want that. I don't
want that. I want us to be like, you know,
the other day was hard, but I've dealt with whatever
was going through and today I'm showing up as pace
as I can.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, and that's really all we can do.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
And it speaks to really the humanness of this life
and this you know, it can be easy to forget
the humanness when we're looking at the numbers and like,
as you say, kind of feeling that pressure of trying
to keep it together and trying to stay arranged. So
I really love that, and I know that that choice
also kind of pertains to the experiences that you had

(04:59):
as a child growing up with type one diabetes. So
if we can take it back and just start at
the beginning in nineteen ninety six, and we'll paint that
picture and then and then get into the experiences that
you've had that have led to kind of where you
are today. Nineteen ninety six is also when I was diagnosed, actually,
but I know obviously everyone's experience is completely different. Yeah,

(05:23):
So if you can tell me a little bit before
diabetes came along about what family life looked like like
what Sanna was up to in nineteen ninety six.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Before diabetes, we very family orientated. I mean we still are,
but also we had a lot of holidays with cousins.
They would come from from parts of the country, and
we had a place called mini Town, and I used
to live and dribin. I had a place called Minitown
where it was just like rides and candy floss. That

(05:59):
was a bit of my less married like my cousins,
and I would go there and would get candy flows.
There was life before and then now suddenly one day
I am at school. I've actually for a couple of
a couple of days, we were preparing for our school
sports day, and every time I would run the track,

(06:20):
I would come back really exhausted, really living water like
bundles and bundles of water. Is the point where my
mom used to pack for me two bottles of water.
One she would pack frozen and then the other is normal,
so that I could have that much water because I
kept telling her that I was just constantly thirsty. And

(06:42):
then yeah, it came on for a few days until
one day I just couldn't any more. My body couldn't anymore.
I literally collapsed went into a coma. But I think
it was for about a week that I was in
a coma, and in that time then the diagnosis was
found that I have Type one diabetes.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Wow, scary for your mom, I'm sure do you remember
much about that experience.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
And yeah, I remember the extreme thirst that you remember,
and then I remember we just waking up in a hospital.
Waking up in a hospital, and even when I woke up,
I remember I was still thirsty and I asked for water.
I was giving water and there were just tubes and
pipes and things because I was in ICU, and everyone
around was very happy to see me awake, still very confused,

(07:31):
and I think the next couple of days there after
we were very very confusing for me because I think
people didn't know how to pitch this to a six
year old, to say that your life is about to change.
So that the gist of what I understood at the
time was I've got the same disease that my grandmother has.
I'm no longer allowed to have sugar, I have to

(07:54):
have injection every single day, and I had to have
snacks on standby, But the why was never really explained
to me. So, yeah, there was that earliest memory of
waking up and realizing that I now have this condition.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, that's a lot for a six year old to process,
even if that explanation was there. I think it's a
lot to take on, isn't it. How did you find
it as you started to move through it and get
used to kind of this new quote unquote normal that
isn't normal at all. But do you sort of remember

(08:30):
the injections and I guess that comparison to your grandparents,
like the kind of mix of all of those things.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
So so my paternal grandmother had type two, which at
the time I don't know that there was a difference
between a type one and a type two, so she
never had injections around her, insulin around her. But my
maternal grandmother had type one because when I started taking
injection and I realized that gor Go had also been

(09:02):
taken injections, and I was liking myself to her, I
understood the units that they told me I needed to take,
so it was long acting in the morning and some
short acting in between. Again for me, the why I
never never stuck at that point, and I think I

(09:23):
still see it today with a lot of especially in
the South African South African context, where I feel like
we understand that we have diabetes, but the how and
the why is some sometimes missing, and that's where I
feel a lot of people need someone to just break
it down, not say to them to them in medical terms,

(09:45):
but break it down and every day terminology. I sometimes
so now I have a five year old and I
take the journy, I take you along on the journey.
She knows how to read my readings from my CGNs.
The funny story the one time I took her to
work and I was in interviews the whole day. She

(10:06):
came knocking at my door with one of my colleagues
and said, my mom's diabeties is in danger. Because she
had my phone with her and the alarms were going off.
So she came and she said, the mom's diabees is
in danger. So she's also asked what do we do?
Do we give injection or do we drink some juice?
And then it's always a mess of but do you
have to finish all the juice now? Because I also

(10:28):
wanted some of your juices? You know. I find that
we need to break things down to people on an
every day kind of terminology so that they can understand
and be better equipped to live the life with the drink,
like live the life for diabeties.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, it's incredible that kind of comparison you have there
where you've kind of imparted that knowledge to her in
a way that makes sense, in a way that makes
sense to a young child.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
And how much kind of.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
That's that sounds almost like she's taken it on in
a way that's that's ownership and empowerment that she can say, hey,
my mom's in danger, Like how has that been to
witness for you versus kind of what you went through
as a child and not having that that level of information.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
I I love I love watching her understand and interpret
her understanding of the condition. Because the other day we
were out with friends and this friend of mine had
just come out from hospital having been you know, gone
through something else, and she was talking about having a

(11:39):
drip in her arm, and again we explained to her
so that there's like an injection that you put on
your arm. And so her first question was, does that
mean that you also have diabetes? Because that's what that's
what it is for her. If you have injections every day,
it means that you you have diabetes. So it's it's yeah,
it's always important to bring things down on a person's level.

(12:01):
And I also wish that somebody had also broken it
down to a six year old level instead of speaking
to it's like in a normal day adult conversation, because
when I got back to school, my teacher suddenly said
to me, and your snack is over there. If you
need to, just let me know. And I just I
was like, why am I now suddenly being the only

(12:23):
person allowed to have a snack whenever I want to,
you know? And then later on I realized, Oh, because
I now have diabetes, there is an expectation that my
blood sugar could drop at any moment, and so I
must have snacks on standby to be able to to
cater for that.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
But it was the next time to you, just so
I'm clear, like why those snacks were there, what they
were for? You had to kind of figure that out
for yourself.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
Yeah, Over time, I had to figure out what the
relationship is with me having to have extra snacks and
that before I go for a netball game or before
I go for a hot key game, I must be
aware of what is happening with my blood sugars. Because
also another thing, back then, we obviously didn't have access
to cgms and so on, so it was a mass

(13:11):
of finger pricking and and all of that manual work
that goes into taking care of your diabetes. But I
also because I started feeling like I was the odd
one out. I didn't take my my lucomisses to school
because now I felt like I needed to prick my
fingers in front of everyone. So what I would do

(13:33):
is I would do it. I teast my sugars in
the morning, and I tast my sugars in the evening
before I have my breakfast, before I have my dinner,
the in between. I just wanted to be a child.
I just wanted to be a child as normal as possible.
And I also didn't take my incidents to school. I
only did it in the morning and in the evening,
so that when I'm at school with other childrens, I
could be as normal as possible, but also not realizing

(13:56):
that I am sort of hindering my own wellness journey,
you know. But as I said, I was the only person.
I was the only person my age doing these things.
So it was just like, I just want to be
a normal child.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, of course, And I think that's such a common
pain point for anyone going through this at a young
age and in an adult age as well, Like, especially
at a young age, you just want to be like
all of your friends and especially if you didn't have
that kind of bridge between why you were experiencing something
that was seemingly different to your friends'. That's, like you say,

(14:35):
just so incredibly confusing. I'm so sorry you went through that.
That's a lot, a lot to carry. And you mentioned
they're kind of the awareness and understanding in South Africa particularly,
and you've talked about kind of stigma that you've faced,
which I know you now speak a lot about. Do
you mind telling me a little bit about some of
those experiences you had and to what extent you feel

(14:58):
maybe they will reflect of wider misconceptions in society.

Speaker 4 (15:04):
There is still a very big gap in terms of
awareness in the South African context. So we know diabetes exists,
but the general public doesn't really know type one versus
type two. When you say your diabetes, you are diabetic.
The only I think the one form of connection that

(15:27):
people have diabetes is associated with food, but not realizing
that diabetes is a holistic condition. It's not just your food.
As a female, you've got homownes that you need to balance.
It's work. Stress, How and when you get up and
what do you do in the morning affects how your

(15:47):
sugar shows up, your diabetes shows up, brother, so that
that that hasn't really sort of landed in the public space.
I think only people who have the condition would typic
then dig deeper to understand what does diabetes mean. So
the first assumption is, oh, you have diabetes, so you

(16:09):
can't eat exc and set oh you probably have the
most bland food ever. I mean my parents felt for
that as well. For the longest time, my parents would
have two separate pots, one that has all the spices
and all the nice things, and then there all a
sudden is pots of food, which I think ideally, as people,
we should all be eating the same foods. We should

(16:29):
be giving our children the same foods. If you feel
that your children needs to have something different than what
you are having, I think that's a red flag because
that affects how their nutrition is developed and how they're
grow and so forth. So there was a time where
we were stuck in we believe this is what you
should eat. Because today's still I get people in boxing

(16:51):
me saying are we allowed to eat this? And that?
Are we allowed to I was told I was not
supposed to eat this. What do I do now now
that I've eaten this and that, And I said to them,
you need to understand the relationship your body has with
your circumstances. So there's obviously, as is with any other country,

(17:13):
economic differentiators, And you know, you get people who live
in urban areas and you get people who live in
sort of more rural areas. Where I've had someone come
to me saying, I live in Limpombo, which is a
bit more rural than Cape Town, and I only have
access to pub and Fiji's am I allowed to eat this?

(17:36):
And I said to them, tell me what what what? What?
At home? What do you guys typically eat? And I
can help you navigate how to go about balancing your
plate so that you are not heavily affected by your
circumstance in managing your diabetes. So there's a lot of
conversations that I feel whistle to have in South Africa
to say we understand where you are right now. It

(17:59):
doesn't mean that you can't manage the situation, but let's
give you a bit more information so you know how
to handle yourself in what your a situation you find
yourself in it.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, and do you have any sort of understanding from
the work that you've done how that information can get
out there, how you can spread education and awareness in
a way that maybe is holding things back.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Do you how do you feel that this can.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Be tackled specifically to the experiences that you're seeing in
your DMS and in South Africa.

Speaker 4 (18:35):
So another big factor is our access to healthcare. So
we've got two mainstreams. You've got the public health care
and the private healthcare. The private is a bit expensive
versus the public, which most South Africans then refer to
or end up using, as I have experienced both because

(18:57):
there are times human medical aid was exhausted growing up
and then I would have to go to a public hospital,
public clinic. And the information I've got family who work
in the public space, the information that they have is
different to the information that the private practice has. The
posters are a bit more outdated in the public space

(19:21):
with information versus what information a person has in the
private space. So if we could find funding to ensure
that the information fit into the public space where most
people are sitting is up to date, and then there
will be one of the leading areas of change in
how people manage diebeces in the South African context.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I think That's a really good point because certainly,
in the thirty years that I've lived with type one diabetes,
they're thinking around type one diabetes particularly has.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Changed so so much.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Like you, I was told I could never eat again,
but in the same breath was given like snacks and
I had two bowls of nest Quick cereal the day
after I was diagnosed. I remember, and that is like sugar,
sugar in a bowl, do you know what I mean?
And so it didn't make sense, but that information has evolved.

(20:17):
But it's the spreading of that information that's the key.
As you're saying, yeah, yeah, that's really interesting. Have you
seen anything that's that's been really sort of powerful and
actually helpful in terms of tackling this.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
With the focus on diabetes, I don't think there's been
one area where we're doing it very well. I feel
like there is a community online that is talking about diabetes.
But also I found that it depends on which platform

(20:52):
you're on, because my audience on TikTok versus my audience
on Instagram and Facebook are very different. I find TikTok
is now becoming very more accessible to everyone. So maybe
we could do more in terms of talking to people
there and also putting out the right information, because as
much as we speak about diabetes, then I'll be I

(21:15):
would be posting myself taking an incident shots and somebody
would comment and say, you know, there's a hope. There's
a hope that you can take that will cure your diabetes.
And that comes from not understanding that I've got the
kind that needs a new a new pancreas in order
to be cured, if ever we get to that stage,
but also understanding our communication platforms that we have. Last

(21:40):
year on World Diabetes Day, I spoke on a radio show.
I am naturally as seasable speaking person, so I speak
a couple of languages, so it is speaking. So I
was on the biggest radio station that speaks this is
rule and there I was able to portray the message

(22:01):
that the kind of message I'm speaking to you about,
but in a different language, again, reaching a wider auntaped
audience who rely on the public tunics to get the
information that they get, and I was speaking a language them.
I opened up my DNS and I said, if there's
anything you know, you feel like you want to just

(22:22):
talk about vents, whatever you can, you can reach out
to me, and again I got a whole host of
different people speaking to me about things that are seemingly
everyday things to me, but people are still stuck on
because it wasn't explained things like I A one C.

(22:42):
People who go to public hospitals don't always get that information.
So yeah, it's a matter of using whatever platform that
we have as best as we can. Because also I
don't know, I don't know how effective it was in
the UK, but in South Africa when HIV and AIDS
was dominating and causing so much, you know, death and wellness,

(23:09):
there was a whole treatment campaign that went as far
as going to Parliament and stuff. I feel if we
as a diabetes community made that much noise, we could
also get a chance for the higher powers to pay
more attention to us. But I feel we need to
have a very strong voice, a bigger voice, so that

(23:32):
attention can be given to us and the rest of
the year, not just on the fourteenth of November, because
suddenly everybody remembers you have diabetes on the fourteenth of November.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
And you make a good point there about like people
with diabetes taking on this responsibility, like yourself to use
your voice, but like it isn't your responsibility in a way,
you know, you are also entitled to just live your
life and we need these these higher powers to get
behind it. So in terms of your own education, you know,

(24:07):
going from that confused place and hiding it, what did
that journey of discovery if you like look like as
I'm assuming you weren't feeling great if if you were
kind of doing a couple of fingerpricks a day and
things like this, So where did that start to shift?

(24:27):
Was there a particular point where things shifted or was
it just over time you sort of gathered a bit
more information.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
Younger me was made aware of the Kid's camp Diabetes
Kids Camp, but when I got there there was literally
one in susualn in So it didn't feel like what
what I envisioned KEMP to be like. So I kind
of gave up on this. And then as I grew older,
I started reading about I think it mat I started

(25:00):
reading a bit more byt diabetes in the online space,
and I created a blog where I would vent and
go off about diabetes. But I also just kind of
just also just kept it to myself, and I was
like the world will find it twin the world finds it.
But then I also realized that the world was more

(25:22):
international than South African and I needed diabetes to be personal.
I needed diabetes to be spoken to in a South
African context when I speak about certain certain South African
foods and having understand having to understand how do our
bullers for a South African meal. I wasn't really getting that,

(25:43):
so that kind of pushed me to carry on writing
and speaking about it online. I was taken down the
post the blog because then I realized social media, and
I got a bit scared of, you know, putting my
voice out there. And then I moved away from home.
Moved away from home ten years ago. It was actually
exactly years ago I moved away from home. And that's
when I realized that for the most part, my parents

(26:04):
were managing my diabetes for me. I would go into
the doctor's rooms. I call it cooking the books when
you haven't really been updating your log book to say
what is happening when so, I feel like I need
to show up in such a way that my doctor
thinks that I've got the best control diabetes and really
does the paper with the blood work and he says, no,

(26:24):
something's wrong. Yeah, what's going on? And I still wasn't
comfortable enough because I was like I needed to show
up for my parents and my doctor's assisiment. Because also
I was an a B class student, so sort of
like in the B class most of my life, I
felt like it always has to show up a certain way.
And then I moved out of home and I realized
the diabetes is mine. It's not my parents, it's mine.

(26:47):
I need to understand it. So I was like, that's
when I found out that you have endochronologists. Because I
was just being managed by a GP when growing out.
I was like, oh, so I can speak to a
specialist and have a bit more standing. And when I
spoke to her, one of the questions you asked me
is or you do you naturally have a sweet tooth?
And I was like, I have diabetes, what do you mean.

(27:10):
She's like, no, but you're a person first, before you
had diabetes. You're first a person, and it's okay to
have a sweet tooth if you do, let's find out
what is the best way to manage your sweet tooth.
You're gonna have carrod cake every day, but every now
and then you can and you can prep your body
for the carrot cake. Then I started realizing that, oh,
I need to be part of the conversation in managing

(27:32):
my diabetes. And I think that's where I started again
rebuilding the online, finding Instagram and finding Facebook to realize
that the things that I felt I needed to hide
growing up or with the things that were hindering me
because to the point where I got to my eye complication,
it was because I felt like I needed to show

(27:53):
up with the perfect sugars, but in reality, I'm hurting
the veins in the back of my eyes. I'm hurting
myself by not being honest with how I'm managing my sugars.
So then I started being more honest. My doctor created
a space where you could come in and be like,
in such and such a time, I was going through
the most and I needed to just pick out I

(28:15):
needed not to see the numbers I needed. And once
I got to that point and as then unpacking what
was happening in your life at this stage, maybe try
this coping mechanism instead of ignoring this, that and the other,
I felt that the journey was a bit better. I
was also more curious in understanding things that affixed my

(28:36):
blood shaar. For the longest time, I just knew that
when I was a teenager, when it was time for
my period, I'm going to get sick. But I didn't
also understand that it's okay to do things like correct
your blood sugar because I thought you were told this
is your basil, this is what you must take, this
is what you must take with every meal. But I

(28:58):
also wasn't understanding that in order to manage the meal,
you need to look at what you have on your
plate and then prep your body via insulin to be
able to manage what you're about to consume. So it
was those things that that quind of cause that mind
said shift to be like, oh, oh, is that how
I'm supposed to be looking at it. And also there

(29:22):
was a time where I met the person who was
thirty years living with diabetes that I realized, oh, because
my grandmother passed away when I was quite young, I'm
my maternal grandmother. My paternal grandmother passed away five years ago,
but my maternal grandmother, who was the type one diabetic,
she passed on earlier, so I sort of had no

(29:43):
reference to type one diabetes. But I met someone who
has been living with type one diabetes for thirty years,
and I was like, it's possible. It's possible to look
after yourself to that extent with diabetes and live a
normal life. I was scared of fulling pregnant because I
saw the it's going to be complications. I had absolutely
zero complications with my pregnancies. That's that's the shift that

(30:06):
I need everybody to hear, to be like, yes, you're
going to go through the hard days that you can
prep yourself and be okay, or you can allow yourself
to go through it. I always say, allow yourselves to
go through the burnouts, but come back, come beck. You
owe it to yourself to come back in order for
you to be okay with yourself again.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Wow. I mean, there's so much in that, and it's
it's so powerful to hear, like it's it saddens me
because we've had it so many times. I certainly have,
and it it's like resonates as well, like we kind
of have to figure it out for ourselves. On that
road is so tough when you're wondering why you feel

(30:49):
so bad and you think you're doing everything right, but
there's this whole world of information that you don't even
have any awareness of. At the same time, you're carrying
the pressure of trying to present as a certain quote
unquote perfect diabetic which doesn't exist, and all these other
things that you're thinking and feeling about your future and
being the only one and feeling like the only one.

(31:11):
But then that kind of unlock and how incredible and
life changing that is to be able to access that
kind of information that shows you what's possible in terms
of just living a life, you know, you know, let
alone any other kind of huge, really big moments like
going through a pregnancy.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
It's I think it's a lot of people's experience, isn't
it like having to figure this out for ourselves and
wishing it could be different. And you've sort of seen
it in your daughter, how she's so young, but instilling
that information at such a young age, actually it is
so so, so so powerful.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Right Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Wow, Well, I mean absolute respect and credit to you
for finding your way and being curious and asking those questions.
How are you feeling like now as we chat today
about being a person living with type one diabetes. I mean,
it doesn't get easier in my opinion. But obviously this
kind of information and understanding absolutely helps. So as we

(32:14):
sit here today, what does it mean to you to
be a person living with Type one diabetes.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
Yeah, there's a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to
ensure that I live as long a life as possible.
Doesn't help that I'm a mother because besides the diabetes,
I'm always hoping that you know, my daughter is okay.
But I've also learned that being vulnerable around her and

(32:46):
teaching her helps us both manage the journey a bit more.
I've taught her emergency numbers. If you feel this is
what is happening, this is a person that you must call.
I think and just knowledge is what we have to
best manage our condition, which is why I also with

(33:08):
the CGM. You know, some people when they see it,
they think that automatically manages your should go for you.
It doesn't. What it does is gives you a whole
lot of data that you can use to better understand
and better manage your condition. I also say again that
it does sometimes feel like a death sentence, but also

(33:29):
you do have a life. As much as diabetes is
your partner for life, you are supposed to do your
best to live an enjoyable life as possible. So on
the days where you feel like having whatever, use the
data that you now have at your fingertips, through your phone,

(33:50):
through your finger practice, and et cetera, et cetera. Use
the data to empower you to live a bit more
of a courageous life and do the things that society
tells us as people live diabeties, that we're not supposed
to be doing. I went for the one warning network.
I just wanted a croissants. I just wanted a croissants.
And my colleague says, are you're allowed to a crossants?

(34:12):
And I said, you know, it's actually yes, Yes, I
am allowed today. I am allowed. I've done all the checks. Today,
I'm one hundred percent allowed to have a croissant. So
find the joys. Are the joys in the moment. And
I know people are burdened by how the highs and
the lows feel, but there's also a time where it's

(34:34):
it seems okay. Delights in those moments, and that's what
I tried to do. I tried to look for the
positive out of it as much as I can, which
is why I've learned to also quieted down on correcting
everybody that has a negative onlock with diabetes. Oh you
have diabetes, Are you're gonna get your taken? Etc? Amputated,

(34:58):
et cetera, E ceterac. And I said, there is another
side towards I've had diabetes for twenty plus years. Oh yes,
I've got a complication with my eyes. But there was
also in a period where I was not understanding and
being rebellious against the condition. But once you understand, you
can live a very very long life for diabetes.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, amazing.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
And I love the hopeful note that you bring because
that you say, this isn't easy, but going through it
with hope for me certainly is something that I've found,
just like you say, noticing the beautiful things in life,
the simple things, appreciating those moments like it does help.
It's not going to make my diabetes any easier to manage,
but it's certainly going to help what's going on in

(35:39):
my head, and that then kind of does come full
circle and help me with my perspective on all of this.
This episode of Type one on one is sponsored by Dexcom.
Using dex COMCGM has given me so much confidence to
make informed diabetes treatment decisions in the moment. You can
choose to wear it on your arm or your abdomen,

(36:01):
which is so great to give those sites a break.
And all dex Comm cgms have the share and Follow
feature even when connected to an insulin pump, so family
and friends can see your glucose levels and get alerts,
giving that extra bit of support when needed. Head to
dexcom dot com to request a free dex COOM one
plus sample. Always read the user manual for important product

(36:23):
aspects and limitations. Talk to your doctor for diabetes management
terms and conditions and terms of use. When you get
comments like the one about the quassan, well can you
eat that?

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Etc.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Or when people come to you with that curiosity that
you mentioned, you know, wanting to learn and wanting to ask.
I feel that people sometimes are kind of nervous to
ask or not sure what to ask. Do you personally
welcome it when people ask you questions and are curious
about your condition?

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Divility divisity. I feel like I do have a role
to play, sort of as a change agent in people's
way of thinking. A weigh my sense with pride. I've
had people stop me at my place of work to say, Ah,
I realize you have diabetes because of this, because I
also have a partner or I have a family member

(37:19):
that weighs this. How do you deal with this? How
do you deal with that? I've actually got two colleagues
who have choral room diabetes, and sometimes they walk in
and they just like, last night was hard, and I
was like, let's talk about it if you're comfortable. So
I've opened myself to speak about diabetes as much as
possible because I feel because I have this lived experience,

(37:44):
the little bit of knowledge that I have could be
the conversation one person needs to change their onloock on
diabetes and decide to embrace it instead of keep fighting
the condition.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
What tools?

Speaker 1 (38:01):
I mean, you've kind of touched on it in terms
of finding the joy, But outside of the medicine and
the glucose sensors and the appointments, have you found to
be most helpful for you in terms of.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Staying saying if you'll excuse the pattern.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Because you are on instagrammers as the same diamactic, which
will come on to because it's a fantastic name.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah, So what does that look like for you?

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Living life? You have a life you just look forward
to each day of life. I used to hike quite
a lot, and I think we've kind of used COVID
as an excuse to not go back to what we
used to do. So I used to. I used to
to enjoy the head and whenever the chance opportunity shows itself,

(38:57):
identity go back to hiking. I love food, guys, I
love food, and I will explore with food, so I
get stuck in that as well. I will try when
I'm going out to not meet, to make sure that
I don't go to the same place I've been to before,
because I want to try a different kinds of food,
you know. So it's don't forget the things that make

(39:19):
you happy outside of the fact that you live with diabetes.
That's and then again, the one point that I can't
stop talking about is the community that we have, the
community that I feel that we have built around diabetes
online and as as well as in person, the people
who are now my close friends who have type two diabetes,

(39:42):
type one diabetes, that we just be like, Hey, what
are you doing on Saturday? Let's hang out, you know,
and the hangouts is absolutely nothing to do with diabetes,
just life and catching up, so leaning on the people
who are around you, leaning on those things that you
used to love pre diabetes, even pre COVID, lean and

(40:02):
go back to those things. And then I also have
a very talk to five year old who keeps me
on my toes, will ask questions even when I'm tired,
and then I don't feel like answering, and then she's like,
I'm just asking, so that I understand you say, I'm
ast ask questions. I'm just asking, so I have to
feel like, no, let me do the right thing. She's
she's got a very open mind and a different way

(40:24):
of brilliant things, and she keeps on my toes and
I love it because she keeps me young as well,
and I see things from a different perspective. I mean,
the other day, we're just drawing something where I wanted
it to be a perfect butterfly, and she's like, oh,
would you look at that? And she came up with
a different perspective on it, and I realized that's what
life is. That those those other things that brings you

(40:45):
away to my life as well.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
So yeah, yeah, I love that so much. Just before
we get onto the diabetes community, in particular, I did
want to ask you. You mentioned that you said something
very powerful about going through the emotions that diabetes springs
and going through the burnout if that is what's happening,
but that you owe it to yourself to come back

(41:07):
and for you what tools have you got now that
enable you to come back once you've experienced it, felt
it and gone okay, time to come back.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
What do you have in your in your talk it
now that helps you do that?

Speaker 4 (41:25):
My mindset, my mind's set, and I know that, especially
because I live alone with my daughter, so I feel
that I need to show up for her, even on
days when I feel like I shouldn't and I can't.
Having her around me brings me back. It definitely brings
me back in the thing is that there's another human

(41:47):
that is in my life that I need to show
up for. So yeah, I hate putting pressure on children
like that. That's why I don't say it out to her,
but I know that I need to show up, and
it's to say to school the next day, I need
to go for whatever curriculum we're doing. I need to
show up for her. If I have promised her that

(42:08):
we're having homemade burgers, whatever, she'll remind you. That's what
they shall usually ask you what day of the day,
week is it? She'll remind you, and then I have
to get myself together and make sure that I show
up for her to show that, you know, life goes on.
But I do sometimes, like you say, I do switch,
Like when when when I'm going through the burnouds, I

(42:30):
do put the CGM to the side and just be like,
you know what, today, I'll just take enough students to
know that I will survive the day. And then when
I feel a bit bitter, then I go back and
be like, Okay, let's see what is happening here. What
can I do to make sure that I'm okay again?
Et cetera, et cetera. So that's that's my view on it. Hmm.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
That's interesting, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Because the data is amazing and I'm so thankful for
having it, but yeah, it does come with this kind
of you know, data overwhelmed is definitely a thing.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
So managing that balance in terms.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
Of where you're at in the day, your headspace, what
other things you've got going on, like, it's it's it's
definitely something to be aware of for sure. Yeah, So
let's talk about the online community, and how you came
to set up your account, the name for it, because
I know there's like a meaning there as well, and

(43:25):
choosing specifically to use a platform, an online platform to
talk about diabetes.

Speaker 4 (43:31):
So as you said, my name is Sunnay s an E,
which is short for sunny l See way got a
very long name. But my dad used to seize me
and you'd be like, ah, the same one. Whenever he'd
talk to me, he'd call me the sane one. And
then I realized that I wanted to speak about diabetes online.

(43:51):
So I said, let's combine these two and say the
same diabetic. And that's how the name killed out. I'm
going to play on my name obviously. Yeah, I need it.
I needed supports because you know, you've got your parents there,
you've got your doctors there, and they are not living
with diabetes. They don't quite get it. I just wanted

(44:15):
to have other people I could speak to who would
get it. When I say that I've done everything I
feel is right to make sure that I'm okay. But
because I am going through a breakup or because I'm
going through a stress at work, my blood sugar is
not doing the things that I expected to, you know,

(44:37):
without also over explaining things. You know, just be like,
I think I'm going to get the flu because I
can see my blood sugars are not in range. You know,
just simply saying simple things like that and having an
expersonly like I completely get it. That's what push pushed
me to go ahead and write about it and put

(44:58):
it out there. And I also just needed to be
in the South African context as well, when we're all
going through summer. We just we were must all almost
all diabetically go through summer as well, when we're all
going through winters and we are in the hearts of
the hearty meals and we're trying to negotiate Okay, we're

(45:20):
going to have our OX tale with Nash, We're going
to have our ox healed steam bread, or we're gonna
go exaled SAMP. What does it mean to us diabetically?
How can we make sure that the next time we
have our OX sales we are okay, oh, we're in
whatever season we're in. How do we relate to this?
How do you guys cycle it? So that's that's that's

(45:40):
that's what pushed me to bring about the diabetes. The
same diabetic online.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
MM. And you mentioned as well when you first started
writing your blog that then there was suddenly this consciousness
of being out there. But you've come back in kind
of another guys, in another way through another platform. What
happened there in terms of going away coming back, and
how you kind of view it in terms of what

(46:09):
you're putting out there online now, because it's sort of
something I've experienced as well.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
I'm just curious.

Speaker 4 (46:16):
When I was younger, I think I was more angry
with diabetes, so I was venting more. I was like,
why did I get it? When there were so many
other things I could have done in life? Why do
I have inject myself every single day? Wait? It was
a lot of blame and not understanding that, not understanding
and accepting the condition. I think now I'm very much

(46:39):
accepted the condition, and now let's make it work, because
that's the approach. Let's make it work. Okay, It's yeah,
there's nothing I can do about it. I can't get
a new pancreas that works. It's here. Let's find strategies
that allow us to be okay with however diabetes shows up.
It's okay not to be open key, and like I said,

(47:03):
it's a space for us to be soft with ourselves
with diabetes and just being okay and just talking about
to the highest, the lows and everything else in between.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
Yeah, lovely.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
And to what extent do you think that kind of
you know, there's certain bits of it that are extremely
and just in terms of not getting the information basic education,
but the journey through exceptions and how you how you
view that, To what extent do you feel like.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Those emotions are kind of part of that journey.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
They're very much a part of the journey because it's
very much an invisible condition. Yes, you see the CGM,
but also you don't really see how everyday things affect
my world being my diabetes, my diabetes. After you've gotten
angry with diabetes and you've got you get to a

(47:57):
point where you've accepted that it is what it is,
you find ways to make it work. For me, it's
being vocal about it, being a support for others, being
able to tell people that I completely keep you are.
I get it. And at some point I also didn't

(48:19):
know what to do about it until I found a
doctor that I was comfortable with where I felt like
I could just be bare, and I do wish that
for everyone. I do wish that everyone could find a
support system, including your medical health team, that allows you
to be you, because that's when you can be honest

(48:39):
about whatever you're going through. There's also a connosation that
we seem to be talking about all the positives. But
I do post when I'm going through my highest highs.
I do post when I'm going through my lowest lows
to show that yes, I speak about it, but it
doesn't mean that it doesn't affect me on a day
to day at different So that's what I want the

(49:02):
rawness to be. Like, that's why you know I was
the one day I was. I took a screenshot of
my page and I think it's a chetchy PC and
CHETCHIPC said that my conscience is not polish. It's raw,
and it's fine. It's fine because you can't you can't
sit today, I'm going to come up with diabetes from

(49:22):
this angle. No diabetes will come to you raw like that.
You make it work.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, Like it's so messy. It's so messy and it's
so real, and to paint it in any other way
for me is like, you know, that's that's the humanness
of this experience called life, you know, and diabetes for
me is a huge part of that. And and I
personally find like the depth of how I can come

(49:50):
to terms with it is kind of in that messy
bit where none of it, like you never, I never
have drawn one hundred conclusions on any of this. How
I feel about it changes all the time and depending
on the days I'm having and all these things. So yeah,
I love that you were like, no, Chatty, you're wrong,
because for me, this is me that makes yeah, yeah,

(50:11):
exactly your whole human being. I just want to touch
very briefly on workplace because I've noticed that you've said
you've got a very supportive workplace, just wondering if that's
always been the case, and how you've gone about asking
for that extra support and those adjustments that you need
as someone living with a chronic condition.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
So with my first job, I had no choice whether
I wanted to disclose or not, because I think from
the excitement. I ended up in hospital on my first day,
so my team, my team kind of knew that I
had diabetes, but I had a very meverly manager. So

(50:56):
the slightest thing then she would fef she'd be like,
are you okay? I don't quite like that because I was,
like I was, I was trying to, you know, establish
myself as a professional, and now the diabetes is kind
of you know. Then my second job, I keep quiet
about it until somebody so I was working in a factory,

(51:18):
as I said, I work in human resources. This person
was continuously sleeping on the job and he said it's
because he has diabetes and his bladchuggers are not controlled.
And I said, SI, guess what, I also have diabetes.
Let's talk about it. So how can we How can
I help you with it? What do you need? Then
I started being more vocal about my diabetes in the

(51:40):
workplace from that regard to the point where other people
would come in and just double check to ask, are
you sure if you have tapeties you don't because you
don't look like it, And I'm just like, I don't
know what I'm supposed to look like, but I mean, okay,
it's they let me help you not look like you
have texas as well. And then it just followed me thereafter.

(52:01):
Funny enough, for my current job, when I did my interview,
they said they wanted to know me outside of work.
So I showed them a CGM and my or someone
on the panel had a child, a child who is
also living with diabetes, and we started speaking about it there.
And I came into the space and people saw my

(52:23):
CGM and who just openly having continued conversations with people
in the cafeteria about diabetes, people who are in my team,
who know about my diabeties, people who don't know me
and certainly see me. So I'm grateful for the fact
that it is comfortable. I am in a space that
is comfortable enough to speak about diabetes.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
Yeah, okay, so that's I think the power of conversations
has come back again again. Hasn't it like sharing willingness
to be vulnerable in a way that's comfortable for you
on the days that you feel that you've got that
in you. But yeah, that's I think that's very helpful
for people to hear.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
So thank you.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
I just want to ask, and I'm sure the answer
to this will be many things before we wrap up,
But what springs to mind when I ask, what has
diabetes taught you about yourself?

Speaker 4 (53:11):
It has taught me that I am a speaker. I'm
always ready and to speak about it. It has shown
me my resilience, which I've never really thought about. But
when I look back at what I've gone through and
everything else, I realized that there were so many opportunities

(53:33):
and times where I could have been like, I don't
want to do this anymore. But I've come back kind
of pushed through and I've made sure that I'm okay,
and I haven't done it as an island. My parents
were quite supportive, my friends have been supportive on the journey,
my family, my daughter, so the supports has always been there.

(53:53):
But I'm always reminded that I'm not an island because
even when I do have well, I think the last
time I was sick, oh no, no, it was I
think it was last year. Last year I had to
get an operation done on my eyes. Besides my immediate seeing,
people in the workplace notice that I was gone and
at kid WhatsApps chicking in on me and stuff like that,

(54:13):
and people would relate it to my diabetes as well.
You know, yes I had gone for an operation, but
it was not diabetes sent it. But when you when
I go missing, I know that people look out and
are a bit worried about what's going on. So it's yeah,
it's told me that I have a voice. I must
use my voice. I'm resilient, and I mean I'm one

(54:37):
one one four eight centimeters. I'm not a very tall,
big person, but I clearly have prisons and my diabetes
has reminded me that.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Oh that's such a beautiful note to end on, and
a beautiful night restarted on as well. So thank you
so much for this beautiful conversation. And yeah, it's small,
but mighty will say, where can people find you if
they want to follow you or say hello?

Speaker 4 (55:07):
So I'm on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. You look for
the scene diabetic I we'll pop up with one for more.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
They're there, lovely, and I will pop that in the
episode description so that people can click and come and
find you and get some of this beautiful energy that
you've shared with us today. So thank you so much, Sanae.
I've really enjoyed this, and here's to choosing softness daily
as well.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Thank you so much, Gine, thank you.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Type one on one.
Please remember that nothing you hear on this podcast should
be taken as medical advice.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
I'm definitely not a healthcare professional.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
If you like what you hear, hit subscribe and do
leave a little review on iTunes if you have time.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
It really helps to spread the word about

Speaker 1 (55:57):
Type one diabetes and thank you so much for listening.