Nicole Silver, Dexcom Warrior

Four years ago, having already struggled with chronic fatigue for years, Nicole Silver suffered a dramatic change in the quality of her life before she and her family realised what was causing it.

It wasn’t until Nicole Silver came across social media posts by people with diabetes that she began to understand what her new symptoms meant – the oversleeping yet always feeling exhausted, the losing weight, the feeling constantly thirsty, and the frequent bathroom visits.

‘One time, I had just started a new job and I had to go to a conference where I fell asleep. I would also go to lectures and fall asleep.’

As a result of the symptoms, Nicole was forced to move from her flat back into the family home. And it was here where she twigged that something in her body had changed. She went to her GP.

‘She ran tests and, sure enough, it was type 1!’

Nicole began with the normal finger pricking and multiple injections, but, being newly diagnosed, she didn't know much about insulin stacking or the importance of timing doses. She would forget to factor in exercise or whether she was going to be sitting down for the next three hours.

She remembers going low with no warning at the most inconvenient times, like when talking to a customer at work or in the middle of a gym class. ‘I would stumble out of the room with everyone looking at me, or I would be sweating profusely and slurring my words like I was drunk.’

Keen not to repeat this, Nicole became fearful and anxious and would let herself run with a slightly high blood sugar to avoid the embarrassment.

Running high all the time meant she was increasing her HbA1c, causing her to feel like a zombie. ‘I felt like the walking dead every day and I knew it would increase my risk for other complications later in life, like kidney damage.’

Nicole says she felt scared all the time as well, especially when going to sleep at night. How would she know if she went low while she was sleeping? Naturally, she worried whether she would wake up the next morning. Or if she ate before bed, would she then go high and stay high during the night and cause ketones?

After a year of fear and anxiety, Nicole was approved to get an insulin pump. Not long after that, she made the decision to get a Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM).

She had since moved out of home but had to move back in again as rising living costs and the cost of a Dexcom CGM made it hard to stretch her finances. She says she would be over the moon if the Dexcom CGM was funded in New Zealand. ‘It would change everything. I could be a normal 28 year old and move out of home. It feels like a no-brainer given the Dexcom CGM integrates with the pump that is already funded.’

SKATER GIRL

Nicole says she now has more energy and that her mood is a lot better, giving her more confidence to go out and do things. This includes being a roller-skating coach.

Nicole has roller skated since she was eight years old and competed throughout her teens and into her twenties before retiring and becoming a coach. She now teaches public and private classes in artistic roller-skating. Each class hosts up to 50 people, and she coaches six girls in a private class.

‘It’s like ice skating. You wear costumes and compete with a choreographed routine to music.’

What she enjoys about the community is meeting people of different ages. Some women begin skating in their thirties and start competing. ‘I am passionate about bringing older people into the sport – you don’t have to start young to have a skating career.’

She credits her CGM for allowing her to live such an active and social life. A keen hiker, she enjoys the freedom of going out alone and being connected to loved ones via her blood sugar data, which is shared onto their phones.

‘With my insulin pump, I have Control-IQ, so if I’m about to hit the gym, then I can set my activity, which reduces the risk of going low. I also get warned when I’m dropping too quickly or before I have a severe low, so I can treat it in time before anything embarrassing happens.

‘This device is literally a life saver. Long term, it’s putting years back on my life, and short term it’s saving me from life-threatening hypos.’