Elise and Anne from Diab’Aide, twin sisters and T1Ds

Date Apr 02, 2021

In a few sentences, can you present yourself and your activity/ies within the diabetes online community ?

We are Elise and Anne, twin sisters from Marseille, living with Type 1 diabetes since 1999 and 1996.

In 2014, we created Diab’Aide, a YouTube channel focused on Type 1 diabetes. We share information on different topics, from the most generic (Type 1 diabetes, pancreas, insulin) to the most specific (pumps, sensors, tips and tricks, closed-loop …).

We publish 1 video per week, and we also post on our associated social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, on which we count more than 23,000 followers with whom we talk every day.

What made you start your advocacy/educational work in the first place? And what makes you keeping on everyday?

We launched this project in 2014 on a simple observation: people do not know about Type 1 diabetes, and unfortunately it’s even true for many T1D patients! Our project answers patients need to have information on the different treatments, tips and tricks… and to be able to to share with others patients. As T1Ds, we thought that it would be helpful to share the information we have with our followers, to spread it as widely as possible. And we also think that if patients know everything that exists, then they have the freedom to choose the most suitable treatment for themselves.

One thing you wish someone had told you when you were newly diagnosed? Or that you would tell your younger self?

When I was diagnosed with T1D, I would have liked to be told that everything was going to be alright and that I would be ableto live normally like everyone else.

One thing about diabetes you DON’T want to hear anymore?

“I put only half of the sugar the recipe said to use for you!”

If your diabetes was a real person and you could talk to them once in your life, what would you say?

This question is difficult ☺

Maybe tell them that we hope not to make their life too difficult, and that we try as best as we can to tame them every day, so please be nice with us.

You favorite hypo treat(s)?

Simply apple juice. In fact, when we have a low, we don’t necessarily eat our favortie foods, we focus on treating it quickly and enjoy ourselves at other times 😀

Your favorite low carb food/snack?

Actually we never make “low carb” snacks. Either we take a real snack and adjust our insulin accordingly, or we don’t eat anything. If we eat something, we might as well eat something “normal” instead of sugar-free stuff!

So our favorite snack: crepes with Nutella !!!! 😀

Fav high carb food?

Strawberry cake.

Diabetes burnout: what do you think about it? Personal experience? Any advice on how to cope with it?

We all have our ups and downs with Type 1 diabetes, and sometimes when we give everything we have to balance it, we can quickly break down either because we have given too much and are morally exhausted, or because it is still not balanced and there is nothing we can do about it.

It has never happened to us personally. Of course, as teenagers we didn’t want to hear about it, but since then we’ve been taking charge, trying to live a completely normal life without diabetes taking up too much space.