Me and some stats to help show the link between type 1 diabetes and poor mental health. @diabetesuk @jdrfuk #T1D #doc pic.twitter.com/HwH28SJFJn
— James Clarke (@jamesroyclarke) March 19, 2024
#T1D is hard work. The extra weight we carry is unseen and relentless. #T1Dawareness pic.twitter.com/QuXHLjgAnV
— James Clarke (@jamesroyclarke) February 18, 2024
Interview with me for RSPCA volunteers newsletter
My image for #worlddiabetesday
These are the basic facts that we live with when we have type 1 diabetes. Perhaps overly dramatic but it is true. Finding that "just enough" is relentless and tiring.
On an Island and off the grid
A few decisive moments from last month’s Offgrid event on Osea Island. Top notch speakers including Will Gompertz and Alastair Campbell as well as all the usual wild swimming, fine dining and fireside chats. This was my 6th year as official photographer and it still continues to improve year on year.
The Buzz Of Beekeeping
Beyond the enjoyable practices of an ancient process, and meeting some nice people, my beekeeping course has had a really calming effect on me. Once I realised I wouldn’t remember any of the technicalities and I’d got a few pictures, I just let myself relax into being in an idyllic rural location amongst the wonderful buzzy soundscape of the busy bees.
Project Blue November
A nice little tweet about me featuring my Type 1 Pictures from the good people at the Type 1 Diabetes awareness raising group Project Blue November.
THRIVING THURSDAY
— Project Blue November (@PBlueNovember) May 11, 2023
James Clarke has been a freelance photographer for 14 years and prior to that as a picture editor and photographer for The Times, The Guardian, Time Out, Melody Maker, Dorling Kindersley and Getty Images. @jamesroyclarke pic.twitter.com/9M02R1zAXU
Down On The Farm
Some shots from a recent shoot for the RSPCA who run great little school visits to a local farm aimed at giving children an understanding and empathy for animals and the countryside through a farm tour with nice farmer Andrew.
Hands Of Hope
So far, it’s been a whirlwind of bricklaying, mulching, pruning, sowing and sheep-watching. I’ve really enjoyed my part-time volunteering and picture taking for the good people at the Hands of Hope community garden charity. The aim of the place is to teach people and their communities practical ways to sustain, conserve, protect and improve the natural environment as well as improving lives by connecting people with nature and each other. These are dam fine aims indeed and they’ve certainly given me a boost and got me out in the world meeting people and doing some good wholesome stuff.
Me and my CGM
This is me and my continuous glucose monitor or CGM. This little bluetooth device attached to my arm is the latest and best weapon yet in the war against type 1 diabetes. It works with an app on my phone to tell me what my glucose levels are up to, it is undoubtedly a good thing having saved me from many hypos as well as superseding my previous regime of countless, often messy finger pricks and having to carry a blood glucose measuring device with me.
The problem for me though is that its a constant reminder and I can’t at any time forget that I’ve got this chronic condition. Quite often in the past, I could sometimes last a few hours each day without thinking about T1D, but now like being woken rudely from a wonderful dream this thing sets off alarms or you wonder what morsel of food has caused which spike in your continuous and boring daily glucose graphs. Oh and it also means I’m looking at my phone now even more.
Anxiety And Type 1 Diabetes
That feeling of unease, worry and fear, we all know what anxiety is. It is a necessary human emotion, vital for helping us navigate the world. When it is applied to those of us who live with Type 1 Diabetes though, it becomes complicated. Those fears and worries that fuel anxiety are often necessary emotions in a world where you can’t rely on your own body to act the way you would like it to. You need to always be wary of anything that can effect you blood sugar levels because you don’t have a functioning system that can do this for you and so your fear and worry are to a greater or lesser degree, part of daily life. Operating alongside this, the actual feelings of anxiety further confuse blood sugar calculations as anxiety itself can lead to the production of adrenaline which has the opposite effect to insulin, raising blood sugar levels.
Anxiety in type 1 diabetes is also generated through our OCD levels of continually checking that we have all our T1D stuff with us at all times. Insulin - check, glucose - check, CGM and/or finger prick blood tester - check check. Then what if one of these things stops working? There are endless diabetes-related scenarios ahead of us in daily life that we can worry about from the mundane to the life or death ones.
As always, I’m not looking for sympathy (someone recently on twitter told me if I was it was in the dictionary between Shit and Syphilis. Nice and from a fellow type 1 too). No, I’m just trying to raise awareness. Anxiety and type 1 diabetes can both be managed and they can both be managed together. It is important though that we give it some thought and realise that there is a lot going on here and that all this stuff has mental health implications.
The relentless rollercoaster that is Type 1 diabetes
Another new image to illustrate and raise awareness of the relentless blood sugar ups and downs you live with when you have type 1 diabetes and how that impacts your mental health. In the past, I survived by ignoring it. My self-taught mental health regime was to have a stiff upper lip, take my insulin (the same dose each day) and don’t think about it too much. I was diagnosed when I was 25 and this approach worked (kind of) through my 20s and 30s, but into my 40s the long term physical complications kicked in and after operations on my shoulders, fingers and eyes, I’m taking a lot more care now I'm in my 50s. It's not just about taking the time, doing the sums and making sure each day that insulin doses and carbohydrates are worked out carefully. It's also being aware of the varied and sometimes powerful diabetes-related emotions and the importance of doing whatever is needed to ease the pressure on my mental health.