[ 2013-07-28 ]

British Home Secretary reveals she has Type 1 diabetes
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is suffering from
Type 1 diabetes, she revealed on Saturday night.
Mrs May said she has been told by doctors she must
inject herself with insulin at least twice a day
for the rest of her life.

Mrs May, 56, told the Mail on Sunday: “The
diabetes doesn’t affect how I do the job or what
I do. It’s just part of life - so it’s a case
of head down and getting on with it.”

Her decision to talk candidly about her condition,
which she learned she had last November, stems
partly from comments about her two-stone weight
loss, which was initially seen by some as
preparation for a Conservative leadership
campaign.

Part of her weight loss was, in fact, a result of
the diabetes. She said: “This was not some great
Machiavellian plan. There is no leadership bid."

Mrs May, who is married to Philip, a banker, had
begun a new diet and fitness regime before being
told she had the condition.


She said: 'It was a real shock and, yes, it took
me a while to come to terms with it. It started
last November. I'd had a bad cold and cough for
quite a few weeks. I went to my GP and she did a
blood test which showed I'd got a very high sugar
level - that's what revealed the diabetes.

"The symptoms are tiredness, drinking a lot of
water, losing weight, but it's difficult to
isolate things. I was drinking a lot of water. But
I do anyway. There was weight loss but then I was
already making an effort to be careful about diet
and to get my gym sessions in.

Initially, doctors thought she had Type 2 diabetes
but two months ago she was told she had the
chronic Type 1, normally diagnosed in teenagers,
which means her body does not produce insulin.

She said: "It doesn’t and will not affect my
ability to do my work. I’m a little more careful
about what I eat and there’s obviously the
injections but this is something millions of
people have. I'm OK with needles, fortunately."

Mrs May is the bookies' 4-1 favourite to succeed
David Cameron as Conservative leader, a shorter
price than potential rivals such as Boris Johnson,
the London Mayor. She denied any bid and said of
Mr Cameron: "We have a first-class Prime Minister
and long may he continue."


She added: "There’s a great quote from Steve
Redgrave, who was diagnosed with diabetes before
he won his last Olympic gold medal. He said
diabetes must learn to live with me rather than me
live with diabetes. That’s the attitude."

Source - The Telegraph

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