Season 2 Episode 8: Why You Should Care About Diabetes, with Therese Cameron

Diabetes affects more than you realise. Here’s why you should care. 

In this episode of The Hurdle2Hope® Show, I’m joined by Therese Cameron, Credentialed Diabetes Nurse Educator, Chronic Care Coordinator, and founder of Diabetes Alliance. This conversation is for everyone — whether you're living with diabetes, support someone who is, or want to better understand how to stay well. 

We unpack the real differences between type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes, the emotional toll of chronic illness, and why so many people are still being misdiagnosed or misunderstood. 

Later in the episode, Therese shares how Qi Gong, a meditative movement practice, became part of her healing journey after cancer — and how it helped shift her entire approach to wellness. 

KEY TAKEWAYS 

• Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are completely different — and need different support approaches 
• Misdiagnosis and stigma are still major issues in diabetes care 
• Technology like insulin pumps and CGMs can be life-changing — but are not the full solution 
• Self-management and education are just as critical as medication 
• Holistic practices like Qi Gong can support emotional and physical healing 

SHOW RESOURCES 

• Website: diabetesalliance.net 
• Email: info@diabetesalliance.net 
• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresecameron/ 
• Resent your Mindset in Nature  

ABOUT THE GUEST 

Therese Cameron is highly respected, with 20 years' experience as a Credentialed Diabetes Nurse Educator and Chronic Care Coordinator.  

She is experienced in the education of adults and children with diabetes as well as medical staff, allied health professionals, corporate organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs) and other primary health care stakeholders in diabetes management and research information. 

Therese also has experience as a support nurse in the immunology portfolio of rheumatology, gastroenterology, dermatology, and chronic care management. 

She has extensive experience working in the area of Health and Wellness Coaching. With a nursing background that includes department management and accreditation, she seeks opportunities to apply her wealth of knowledge in the further development of a challenging career path. 

Unexpected hurdles interrupt all of our lives. It is how you respond that will define your experience.

To find out how Hurdle2Hope can support you or your organisation please visit hurdle2hope.com.

I would love to connect with you, Teisha.

Also, are you following @hurdle2hope on social media... I would love to see you there!

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Transcript

Teisha Rose: [00:00:00] Hey there, Teisha here and welcome to The Hurdle2Hope® Show. Hopefully you've had a lovely week. I've had a, um, yeah, I've had another busy week. was part of a panel discussion around lived experience within the disability sector, so that was really fun experience and met some incredible people. Um, but yeah, today I'm actually doing this episode introduction from inside so it is so windy outside. I thought you're not going to hear anything I say. So the background is of our full dam at um, at Hurdle2Hope® at Daisy Hill. Um, and yeah, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see you'll be, hopefully you don't get too seasick.

Um, we're going round and round in circles on loop, but this is our dam, which was up until just a couple of months ago, it was empty. So it's now full, which is very good for all the wildlife. And also you can [00:01:00] see behind me, um, there's beautiful green grass there as well. So yeah. So that's our dam.

But I wanna get onto today's episode. I'm talking all things diabetes.

And you might be thinking, this doesn't sound very exciting episode, but I promise you my guest, Therese Cameron and I have lots of fun, lots of giggles. I really enjoyed this interview. Um, and diabetes, it impacts all of us. You might either be living with it, you might be supporting someone who is living with it or just trying to stay well and make sure you don't get diabetes.

So diabetes is on the rise. Often it's very misunderstood. And in today's episode we unpack everything with Therese Cameron. So Therese is a credentialed diabetes educator. She's a qualified nurse, um, chronic care coordinator, also a health and wellness coach, and the founder of [00:02:00] Diabetes Alliance.

So basically Therese is a perfect person, um, to chat all things diabetes with. What I loved as well is our conversation took us to places where I wasn't necessarily expecting it, but Therese is also a teacher of Qi Gong. She'll explain all about that and also has had her own cancer journey. So what I love about these conversations is when we look at our wellness holistically, you know, it impacts so many parts of our lives.

So yeah, have a listen. You'll get a lot out of this, and I'll be back with another background video after this conversation. Enjoy. [00:03:00] 

So welcome Therese. Thank you so much for joining me here on The Hurdle2Hope® Show. 

Therese Cameron: That's pleasure.

Teisha Rose: We'll get into all that you're gonna share with us today in relation to diabetes. That's what I've actually got you on the show for.

We quickly met, up in Sydney at a festival, and we were both. Yeah. So, and when I, I noted down your name, and a festival that sounds like it was a music festival. It was actually, Australian Healthcare Week, up in Sydney that I attended for Hurdle2Hope®. And we had [00:04:00] a chat, and I wrote your name down because I thought diabetes is such an issue for people now, whether it's we'll learn more type one or type two diabetes, and it's something I don't know a lot about. So I thought if I don't know a lot about it, uh, about it, lots listening, won't as well. But before we get into that, just give us a little bit of insight. Where are you joining us from today and outside of work what do you love to do? 

Therese Cameron: I'm joining from Sydney, which is a beautiful sunny day here in winter at the moment, and it's just absolutely gorgeous today. What I like to do outside my sort of work time as, we just discussed before the show I do things like Qigong. I like to go around the beach areas.

I just love the water. And, um, I also look after my daughter, uh, she's. I've got some, some, um, disabilities. So I'm a carer for her.

Teisha Rose: Well, that's [00:05:00] a full life. Yeah. You know, that's, um, and that's certainly, uh, I'll get you back on, um, to talk about that because being in that role of carer does take up a lot of emotional space and actual physical time as well.

Can you just give us a, a basic 1 0 1 to start with about what diabetes is and why it matters to all of us knowing you know more about it. 

Therese Cameron: So, yeah, there's two different types of diabetes and there's a lot of confusion between the two. And then you've got a, a type that people don't know a lot about, which is mature onset type one diabetes.

So type one diabetes is really completely different to type two. They're very different. Not only there, very different sort of entities you might call them, but even some of the outcomes in research is different. So type one diabetics might be more prone to one thing, whereas type two to another, and they've gone right down the [00:06:00] sort of, um, like in to the cellular level and shown different things, it's like, wow. So these scientists really get right into it and have a little look at why it's different. So for type one, the average age of onset they used to say was 13. It's uh, an autoimmune disease. You, um, and I don't like to use the word disease. I've avoid trying to avoid that, but it's an autoimmune condition.

And what appears to happen is that the body, gets a virus. The body tries to attack the virus, but instead of attacking the virus, it attacks the beta cells in the pancreas. And kills off the active beta cells. So, and that happens over, say, a six month period. Nobody's been able to isolate the, the virus.

I know Greg Hunt gave, New South Wales University a lot of money to try to isolate the virus and get a vaccine. But I said, when I told doctors they burst out laughing this, how do you [00:07:00] find somebody six months before they get a diagnosis to then isolate a virus. I mean, it's, it's, yeah, it wasn't happen.

Doesn't make sense. Yeah. Yeah. And now you're sort of hearing things like, oh, well, it's not really a virus. Well, sorry, but it, it, we were taught that previously. Um, I'm finding this Yeah. That a lot of that's. When I go to look it up now, it's like, well where's that information? 'cause that's what we were taught.

And they have actually antibodies that the doctors endocrinologists know that they can test for. And about 80% of the type people with type one diabetes have those antibodies. And then you've got this whole other issue for mature onset type one diabetes. And I know of a brother of a doctor. And he was diagnosed with the type one and the brother was going, no, no, it can't be, but they looked at all the pathology and they could see that he'd had something called a glucose tolerance test every year they could see all the results were normal and they could see he was antibody positive for this particular [00:08:00] virus. And he had developed really, really profound, issues with his blood glucose that were not type, really not a, a type two diabetes type condition.

So type two is really quite easy to manage. Type one can be more challenging and that's where it. It gets sort of the bad reputation. If people with type one diabetes don't manage it, then they, they can have some significant problems. But it's the same with with anyone. If you just don't, if you don't look after yourself, then you will get issues. So learning how to cheat the system is what I call it, is fantastic. And I remember years ago meeting a, an athlete and he had learn how to cheat the system. He was type one diabetic. He was doing things that the doctors were saying, no, no, no, you know, don't do that, that's terrible. But he'd go to the, the start line of the race, he'd bolus himself with an I inject injection [00:09:00] of one or two units of the, um, of the insulin and then he'd do his race. Well now we've got these continuous glucose monitors that, or continuous glucose pumps and everything that do all of that and they're taught how to do this. So, um, what he was doing years ago, uh initially was told no, that's not something to do. Eventually the insulin companies had him design an actual, website and they had him doing an, lots of education internationally, and I can't remember the name of that actual website unfortunately. Um, but yeah,, his advice came in very handy when they started to transition from what we call the basal bolus type of insulin doses to this whole insulin pump for the type one diabetic. So that was, you know, it was really interesting. So, so listening to, to people and listening to what they say is so important and the medical professional, we have a lot to learn [00:10:00] from people.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, absolutely. And I think some of that, because a couple of things there in terms of what you do associate with diabetes one is in relation to injections. Um, so, you know, having that pump, how does that work? So they just regularly, do they still have to do their injections with the pump or how does it work?

Therese Cameron: They shouldn't have to do their injections. No, they put the pump in, all the lines last hopefully for about seven days, ideally. And the pump, they can put insulin into the actual pump and it pumps insulin into them on a continuous basis. Yeah. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. Okay. So it's inserted. That's incredible. Yeah.

That's incredible. I imagine that would have a huge, huge impact, of freeing people up, of having to yeah all of a sudden stop for an injection. And I injected myself every day for 10 years, and I used to always think of people with diabetes having to do it a lot, and you run outta spots [00:11:00] to do it.

Therese Cameron: Mm mm Yeah. And the number, I remember a patient coming back, I'm so laughing, but she came into the casualty and I went down to see her and say hello and I didn't inject, talk to her how to do the injections. And she was a type two diabetic on insulin. Uh, 'cause they, a lot of them end up on insulin anyhow.

She had a whole lot of dots on her tummy because she was slightly allergic to the latex and they were all on the right side. I'm thinking, did I not teach her properly? Oh my gosh. So she, she, she, all the dots were exactly where she'd been injecting on the same spot. And just what people do. Yeah, 

Teisha Rose: yeah.

Yeah. That's where you can reach and where you can find, yeah. 

Yeah. 

I, I get that. Um, and so with type one diabetes, so if someone has that, what impact does that have on their life in terms of, I mean, you've got someone which is amazing doing running, but I'm assuming [00:12:00] Yeah. Are people thinking they can't do something like that or that. Yeah what's the impact? 

Therese Cameron: Hmm. Type one diabetes is, is very profound impact. You can't have a holiday from type one diabetes type two you sort of can, but there's, we really, it would be great to support and they're getting good support, people with type one diabetes, but it would be great that they had even better support, um, you know retreats or somewhere where they could go, where someone else could look after it for them. Literally. I mean they, it's, it's tough because there's no downtime. You can't go today, I'm not diabetic and I'm just gonna do nothing because that has bad ramifications. If you keep doing that for even four or five days, you can start to become what's called ketotic. If the levels go too high, you can get something called diabetic ketoacidosis and end up in hospital. And, um, that does happen. Um, so what happens there? I, I know of a teenager who [00:13:00] ran away from home and went into hospital in far West New South Wales somewhere and didn't tell them he was type one diabetic and he had abdominal pain.

So they took out like appendix or something. They discharged him without knowing that he had type one diabetes, I can't believe it, without picking up the type one diabetes. Um, the abdominal pain was just a side effect of high sugars, so he didn't really get away. And if they do it for too long, unfortunately blindness can be one of the side effects.

And I even know of a doctor who nobody picked up that she had type one diabetes. Nobody thought she was a student doing medicine and she had eyesight implications because it took them so long to figure out what was causing her illness. Losing weight, fatigued and this type of thing. It is sometimes we just, it, it's not as easy.

Should be easier to diagnose. Um, but, but [00:14:00] sometimes it does get missed. So it, it's profound because it can cause loss of limbs. It can unfortunately cause a loss of vision. Um, it, it affects people's lives in that I know of people who've gone for jobs and as soon as they've said their type one diabetic, no, no, they're not.

No, they don't get the job. Uh, difficult to get a job as a pilot, you wouldn't really, yeah. 

Teisha Rose: Wow. Wow. I hadn't thought of that. Because it is such an invisible disease, really um, to have an impact on career choices. That's, yeah that, that's hard. And you're saying it's difficult to diagnose, so are there symptoms that someone could be aware of that, you know, that could be an indicator?

Therese Cameron: Yeah, so one of them is the butterfly cheeks. So they'll have these sort of red cheeks, drinking lots of fluid. I know of one fellow who, started drinking lemonade because he felt like he needed glucose, which was the worst thing he could've done, but he didn't know [00:15:00] that. Weight loss is classic. So just sudden profound weight loss.

And then they can go into this diabetic ketoacidosis, which usually is when it is picked up. 'cause that's one of the things they do check for in hospitals. They're mostly quite diligent, mostly, other than the fellow that had, the appendix taken out. 

Teisha Rose: Um, 

Therese Cameron: so yeah, so. There's some of the symptoms. So your butterfly cheeks, drinking a lot, weight loss, blurred vision there's another classic one. Your fatigue, 

Teisha Rose: and hereditary in terms of is there links often? Is there a family? Yeah, 

Therese Cameron: the, the hereditary part, and this is then different from type two diabetes. The hereditary part is the autoimmune link. So if you are from a family that has propensity to have autoimmune disorders, then that's felt to be the link, which then links back to this whole causative factor of, [00:16:00] um, more than likely they've looked at it being a, a, a virus and an autoimmune response.

Yeah. 

Teisha Rose: Okay, so then with type two diabetes, how does that differ from type one? 

Therese Cameron: The type two and why it's getting bigger and bigger is 'cause we are all getting bigger and bigger era. So basically with type two diabetes, it's much more of a lifestyle. So, um, they found out, for example, in Japan years ago, they did research and just putting on one extra sort of centimeter, I think it was literally around the waist with the Japanese women, increased their risk of type two diabetes.

So it's, it's quite different. So from a clinical point of view, you've eaten your food, it's gone into the stomach, it's ab absorbed by the bloodstream, and the glucose is supposed to. Or at least the insulin is supposed to get the glucose into the cells. But if there's a little [00:17:00] bit of, um, little bit too much fat, or you're not doing enough exercise, then you get something called insulin resistance where the insulin isn't working properly.

Um, so that's quite different to type one diabetes where they've got no insulin. 

Teisha Rose: Okay. 

Therese Cameron: Yeah. So some of the people with type two in diabetes also have less insulin, so they'll have insulin insufficiency and there's. Other causes as well. 

Teisha Rose: Um, yeah, so I'm guessing then if it's a little bit environmental in terms of what we're doing to our bodies.

The good news is, and the flip side of that is I'm assuming then we can be proactive. Um, so not to get a diagnosis, but then if we do get a diagnosis and there's something we can do about that more. 

Therese Cameron: Absolutely. So it's being mindful of the foods that you're eating. So certain foods will really go quickly and into the bloodstream and raise the, the [00:18:00] sugar really quickly.

So, for example, short grain rice, as opposed to long grain rice. There's something called the glycemic index, which they found here in Australia, at Sydney University. So, yeah, so when I first started as a diabetes educator, people would say to me, oh, if I have this breed, it doesn't shoot my sugar up.

But if I have that, it does. Sort of go, oh, that's weird, isn't it? Um, well what they found at Sydney University was, and I think it was the lady's name, was Brand Miller. They found that some foods have got low glycemic index and some high, so your jasmine rice that we all, you know, love was in almost as fast as glucose.

Teisha Rose: Wow. Okay. 

Therese Cameron: Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's a matter of making good, better, best choices. Um, and then limiting the things that are too sugary. Like for [00:19:00] example, people I spoke to, if they have that, um, sweet and sour, whatever that you buy that can shoot their sugars up so fast. Wow. So you just don't choose those things.

Teisha Rose: Yeah. Yeah. Um. 

Therese Cameron: Most people still have that sort of sweet tooth thing, but maybe you'll have, if you get a cake, you might have half now half later, you know, really space it out. And a good example of localized semic index was in the United Kingdom. They didn't know about. GI glycemic Index, but they, the, the porridge, particularly the old fashioned porridge, what they were finding, they said it cured diabetes for type two diabetes.

They didn't quite understand at the time. Um, but what happened was with porridge, it's absorbed so very slowly, not this one minute porridge, the old fashioned one, that it wasn't showing up as glucose in the urine. Um, 'cause we only tested in the [00:20:00] urine previously. Uh, so we tested looking at, um. Well, we, we would put the G glue per person's urine into a test tube.

We'd get a, we, I'm laughing, I can't believe we did this. We had a bunsen burner in the treatment room, and then we put, we put a tablet in and if it was high glucose, I think it went, it went green or orange was the other color. I'd have to talk to my colleagues, which color it went. You, you had to be careful not to boil it too hard so the urine didn't go over your finger. With a bunsen burner, trying to figure out if there was sugar in there. And I can remember diagnosing somebody with diabetes based on this bunsen burner thing, and even recently. It's crazy. Um, it wasn't long after that that they, um, invented some of the, the, um, finger frick testing and, and the dipstick and things, but that's how we used to do it. So in the United Kingdom, [00:21:00] they found that there was very low, um, sort of transition into the urine. So they thought cur. HQ is diabetes.

Teisha Rose: But that's really interesting. And that's some of the things, and I, I'm smiling because we, I. Each night I put like oats and all in a saucepan and put boiled water over it. And that's our breakfast next morning, heat it up and put blueberries in it and I'm very good. So that's a tick. But then Andrew likes those soft, really nice white rolls so I'll be saying to him, yeah, that's high GI, so we'll stick to the porridge. Um, yeah, so that's interesting. But that's something we can all do, to make sure and lifestyle choices, because I think sometimes with these illnesses is when you feel out of control, like you can't have an impact on your experience with that.

Therese Cameron: Exactly. And what the insulin pumps have done for [00:22:00] people with type one diabetes is give them enormous, like a, a control that they never really had before. Um, and the pumps are getting smaller and smaller. We've got continuous glucose monitors as well. They're still trying to do, I think some of them have got the maths where the monitor, the continuous glucose monitor can talk to the meter and , it like self gives the insulin.

Like 

that's amazing. The technology is changing literally in the last two or three years. It's changing so rapidly. That's been something they've been talking about for years. Uh, but it looks like they might have got it. The complicating factor is that most people think it's simple. In fact, you need somebody with a good understanding of maths to know, okay, that person's insulin requirements is this.

They've got this level of, um. What's called, you know, say the insulin resistance or insulin needs, 'cause their body, you know, they're six foot and they weigh, 120 kilos, and this person [00:23:00] who's only five foot, it's a completely different mathematical equation. Yeah. And you, you need to understand those equations and need to understand if the equation changes as well.

So there's a lot of knowledge. There that people need to have, and some people wanna just put the pump on and take off. And we've had cases where people have arrived. Um, I think a German girl arrived one time at, St. Vincent's at Darlinghurst, and she had no idea she and the casualty once they took the pump off she didn't know anything about how to manage her diabetes. They had to ring back to Germany and go, what are we doing here? 

Teisha Rose: Um, yeah. Okay. And that sort of leads nicely into, because you've set up, um, the diabetes alliance and that's about education. Is that right? What you're doing there?

Yeah. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about your business. 

Therese Cameron: Yeah, so for, for many, many years what I have been doing is [00:24:00] going into organizations and educating, um, say the, the telehealth staff, or going to pharmacies and sort of raising awareness with diabetes. Um, and there's been contracts that I've been having where I've got gone into GP surgeries, I've now transitioned to the health coaching type area.

'cause what's happening is there's not enough diabetes educators out there. And I probably need to educate you on what the different types are. Uh, even when I, you know, I had a placement at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital when they had a low staff and I was still working part-time at my other other hospital I was working at and with, with the gestation diabetes, they would have like 60 people in a room.

And I was shocked. 'cause in my clinics we did one-on-ones with our gestation diabetes medication 'cause we were a private hospital. And here in the public. You know, the best hospital in Sydney is what I [00:25:00] believe, you know, certainly is a very good hospital. They were doing massive large group education and the issue, yeah, your issue is that everybody's different.

. And the cultures, we've got so many different cultures as well. Uh, so if you talk to, and God bless the lovely Indian ladies, they come in and they have their dinner at like 10 o'clock at night because they work, they go home, they cook a full proper curry meal like mum used to. They eat late and the sugars are all over the place 'cause they're not eating more like six o'clock. Yeah, so the group education is an issue. And then I've spoken to people, um, I believe that it's Dubbo. I don't think they have any diabetes nurse educators there at the hospitals anymore, which I'm really shocked. People think, oh, we've got a dietician, it's okay. But, and I love the dieticians and many of them are fully credentialed, but, it's quite a different. Um, specialty to diabetes nurse educators, um, [00:26:00] or, you know, podiatrists or, yeah, so it's, it would be good sort of chat today about what the differences are? 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, absolutely. I'll, I'll leave it to you to educate us. 

Therese Cameron: Yeah. Yeah. So basically if you go somewhere like, um, say Royal Prince Alfred or some of the big hospitals for a diabetes clinic, that clinic often they, when I was there, they had like 12 diabetes nurse educators.

And just one portal type one dietician, and that was it. But that gives you the medical understanding of where the doctors place their needs, particularly with newly diagnosed di people with diabetes. So with dieticians that's more like, say, I wouldn't say a plumber, but it's the person that what, what food's going in, what, you know, it's the, well, may, maybe electrician you might say.

So they're the person that helps sort of fire up the body. And there are credential diabetes educators, dieticians. So let, let's just say they're in charge of [00:27:00] electricity system. You've got your podiatrists that are part of the team and they're like the foundation people. They make sure that the, the feet are still there because foot loss and leg limb loss used to be a big thing. Mm-hmm. Prior to the better education we've got now. Um, and then you've got your, the people that test the eyes, so the optometrists and ophthalmologists. And so they'd be like the people putting the windows on the houses, you know, making sure you can see out, which is pretty important.

Um, so, so, so that's part of the team for the, um, the, the endocrinologist, they're sort of, you know. The whole sort of roof. They're like the, the brain of the system. They, they do the diag, you know, the full, what medications you need and the GPs as well. They do, you need this medication or that, or this insulin.

Or that insulin. So they're like the doing the overseeing. But for the diabetes nurse educator, it's more like the foreman or forewomen. So that's that the foreman of, of a construction site. So [00:28:00] the, the person comes in. And you say, okay, you need to see a podiatrist. You need to see a dietician for sure. Um, you, you need to see an exercise physiologist, so it's um, which is another specialty as well. So that the diabetes nurse educator goes through with all of those types of, which thing do you need to see? And you mightn't want to see a , like an exercise physiologist, and then you need to assess, okay, that's fine, that's, you know, what are your goals there?

It's important to know what's appropriate. If somebody's really skin skinny and they're really, really fit, why would you send them to an exercise physiologist if they're eating properly and know everything already, you don't need, you know, so, so the diabetes nurse educator was like literally the foreman. So they, they look at everything. They have the knowledge and understanding, and because they're covered with AHPRA and because they're covered, um, with the Poisons Act, they can actually a, a little bit adjust the insulins if they're credentialed diabetes [00:29:00] educator to some extent, and, um, implement the doctor's orders.

They can start the insulin pumps legally, which the dieticians can't, um mm-hmm. Or start insulin. So, so to me it's more of a, a foreman type of position. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah, that's really well explained. That's good. Um, because you're right. And if you don't have that, then someone goes, again, not putting down like you've explained that perfectly, but someone goes to a dietician, that's great.

That's one part of it. But you've got the absolute overview. Um, and that's the holistic approach, whether it's. Whatever condition you have to be able to have someone educate you on all the aspects of what you can do to manage that and keep well, like that's so important. 

And so with, um, diabetes Alliance, are you educated in chatting to like the. The dietician or the medical practitioner [00:30:00] or, uh, is it also for, individuals with the diabetes. 

Therese Cameron: Yeah. So with, with Diabetes Alliance, we are focusing at this point more on health coaching, so mm-hmm. Which is, which is completely different. So I was very lucky at one point I worked for Medibank Private and I was working in a health coaching role as a health coach, so. I would go into the GP surgeries, the patients would come in and we would set goals for the patient as a health coach.

Um, that kindly gave me training on that as well. So, you know, and there people come in and you want to set the goal that they can do it more exercise, but they don't want that goal. So, so you need to work with the person and figure out, okay, well what is your goal? You know, is there this goal of that goal?

Can you know how can we meet those goals to then get your outcome? It was so liberating for the person 'cause it's not my, my goal. No, [00:31:00] I, I'm not a very big woman yet. You did meet me. Um, yes. Very little, very bossy, little bossy person. And, um, I wouldn't have said that you weren't bossing me. I try not to be, but you know, I'm the eldest of five girls, so, you know.

Yeah, yeah. And nurses in the past have been extremely dictatorial. It's how we are taught. Yeah, where, where we were taught this whole thing of empowerment. I remember when it first started in the first conference we had in Canberra where somebody talked about this empowerment thing and oh my God, how dare they, how dare people wanna self adjust their own insulin?

People were, and I remember, and I won't name her, I still remember, she was lovely. And um, and she's deceased. So what she was doing is she would get all of her patients to ring every morning to. To the hospital, and this was the, um, was actually, yeah, one of the big Sydney hospitals that they would ring and she would help adjust their insulin every [00:32:00] day.

Well, you can't keep doing that. The numbers of patients so huge. You know, it's enormous. So when I first started. Even at the hospital, I was up at Sydney Venice Hospital, we would have like, I got excited if we got 15 patients. By the time I left, there was like three times, four times that in the hospital every day.

So you cannot be self like adjusting people's insulin for them. 

Teisha Rose: That's no, 

Therese Cameron: no, it's not practical. You have to do self-empowerment and with self-empowerment and self goals comes a much bigger ability then to manage your disease. Your, I won't use that word, disease. , You know, any conditions, that you have, uh.

Teisha Rose: Yeah, absolutely. And then that enables you, if all of a sudden you can't be in contact with someone, you know what to do. And that's empowering and it just makes you a bit freer too, um, to do things and not be scared. [00:33:00] 

Therese Cameron: Yeah, yeah. Like that athlete that, was running around and self bolusing before races.

Yeah. He, he knew what to do before they ever invented these pump things with the basal bolus. He was doing all sorts of things in the background and not telling people, and I found that was not unusual. And because I was a mum and maybe I'm, maybe I'm a little less bossy than I think or open, people would tell me, oh, such and such a hospital.

They told me that I have to, I was laughing still. There was a nurse who had no children. Okay, God bless everybody. Um, but she had no children and she told all the mothers, you have to give this particular insulin 30 minutes before the meal. Can you imagine? Yeah. So what you do is you give the insulin 30 minutes before the meal and the kid sits there going.

Chocolate chocolate's looking good. I'm not eating.

So what happened was we [00:34:00] got in a new insulin that you could give with the meal, but they're still teaching them no, before the meal. Well, the kids are lovely, but you know, they are naughty. And so what the parents were doing for this, and it was one of the biggest, I will not name it, it was one of the biggest hospitals in Sydney, uh, for children.

Yep. All the mothers behind the back were telling one another. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. They knew it wasn't gonna happen 

Therese Cameron: even after the meal or after the thing. And I tried to tell the educator and she me off, oh no, they're not doing that. Thinking. Well, they're, because I'm in the, I'm in the playground of a school listening to the woman you've got on your video is your main one of your main moms. But so the reality is if you give a kid insulin 30 minutes before they, and they don't wanna eat that meal, well they're not going to, and then you have to give them. ... so they [00:35:00] don't go hype, 

Teisha Rose: which they know. But that's good. You're, you're keeping it real, which is good because you've gotta, you've gotta fit the environment, don't you?

Exactly. As well. And actually, I'm just gonna take it back just one step because I've actually got a friend who works with, um, in, now that we're talking about moms, it just triggered my thought with women who are pregnant, who have, um, diabetes. So that's the thing as well. 

Therese Cameron: That's a thing as well. And um, with the youngest daughter that I had, I definitely had that, , the gestational diabetes.

And it certainly is a thing and it's becoming more and more common because as the age group of women are getting older, plus if we're carrying more weight, yeah. If you are much more likely. So, , gestational diabetes is quite common and that, that, that was the education group where I was seeing they had like 60 women in one room.

I mean, how did you [00:36:00] educate, , you know, any mother's gonna be anxious. How do you educate a, a woman who may or may not be anxious because she's got gestational diabetes and a group of 60 people and Yeah. And make it individual for them. 

Teisha Rose: And you're right there. There could be an 18-year-old in that group and a 38-year-old, you know, so it's all very different.

I'm sure their body and their response as well. So then once they've had their baby, um, is that then. They've got then type two diabetes or does it disappear or what happens? 

Therese Cameron: There's, um, a five year transition where there's a high transition rate to getting type two diabetes. Okay. Um, some people say it's 50%, others say less.

It can be quite a high transition. There are cases where it never goes away, but that is unusual. Normally, as soon as you have the baby, 99% of the time, plus the baby is delivered, diabetes is gone. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. [00:37:00] Okay. Okay. That will keep her happy if she's listening that I, I didn't forget what they're doing, so that's good.

Um, and what I also like, and when I was reading, um, your information on LinkedIn, and I didn't know this and I've written it down before because I didn't wanna, um, pronounce it incorrectly, but you also, uh, have an interest in and practice Qi Gong. Is it Qi Gong? Is that that right?

Therese Cameron: Yeah. Yeah. I practice Sheng Zhen Qi Gong and I've run classes in the past and if people would like me to come and run classes, I'm here in Sydney at any of their clinics or you know, any, any place. I'm happy to do that. It's amazing. So what happened for me, and I noticed you also mentioned cancer. I was diagnosed with cancer and I, I needed something that would distract me from mm-hmm that diagnosis. 'cause it can be all encompassing when you go through the, that [00:38:00] process. And so I started doing the Qi Gong and it was just so liberating for me.

And then a couple of weeks or so after doing it, I, I noticed this thing that they call chi and I just sort of noticed it accidentally. So what happened was, I was outside. I had all the lights off. I was sitting on a seat 'cause you can do the one that I do, either sitting or standing. So I was doing the sitting and just doing some of the Qi Gong movements and what I thought was, you know, busy doing the movements and I thought that there were mosquitoes around, 'cause my fingers some sort of tingling.

I thought, oh, oh, you know, put the lights on, looking around, there's nothing there. I'm thinking, oh my gosh, it's this chi that they talk about. And it was so amazing. And then you are hooked because then you understand there is chi once you've begun to feel it, that it does exist and, [00:39:00] and you can feel the QI energy.

And from there it was, you know, I was living in the Chatswood region, so I was able to meet up with various people who are practitioners of the Qi Gong and um., It's been very liberating. The people who practice that are just lovely. It helped to, reduce the focus on the whole cancer thing.

And also I've met doctors and the doctor I did meet is now in Queensland, so I have not seen his research, but he was doing research on his particular type of Qi Gong and um they found it reduced blood glucose because I suppose, yeah, it must have something to do with maybe relaxation or something, but doing the class once a week reduced HbA1c.

So it doesn't just reduce your blood glucose like that, 

that and porridge. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 

I had a man who came to me going, oh, I did yoga and it didn't work. No, [00:40:00] no, no, no, no, no. You know, you've gotta be so careful and nothing here i'm saying today is medical advice okay. Nothing, because this guy did one session and he wasn't cured.

He wasn't, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And Qi Gong isn't gonna a whole lot cake of cakes. And then, oh, the jiggle didn't reduce me.

So this doctor was looking at the three monthly averages. He was looking at HbA1c. average. Uh, and he had a test group and another GR group up in Queensland University. I believe he is up there now. So, um. There's a lot of variables, including humans. 

Teisha Rose: Yes, yes, true, true. But I love that, that you're exploring other things.

And that's what I always say. You know, educate yourself about whatever condition you're being diagnosed with. Surround yourself with a medical team that you feel connected with, and use that. But if you are doing [00:41:00] practices like that, you're gonna connect. You're in a better head space to connect to the right people and make the right choices in your life.

Therese Cameron: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. It was so, yeah, it was lovely and I'm still very much, and it's 10 plus years down the track and I'm still in contact, constant contact with those people that I met at that time with the Qi Gong, and it was just nice to be focused on something completely different to, to the whole cancer business and, all of that.

Teisha Rose: Yes. Because that, that can get consuming. Oh, it's a whole new world, isn't it? I had no idea what that world was about until you're thrown into it. 

Therese Cameron: Uh, exactly. Yeah. It's not a fun world at all. And this took me out of there. I was able to go away for weekends. I've done like seven day and 10 day, um, retreats with it.

And I must say it's you, you just feel so much better [00:42:00] after doing the retreats and, and even somebody who was behind me one time with one of the retreats we're at, and she said she was watching me throughout the day and I have got a bit of scoliosis in the back for some old back injury, this good old nursing back injury.

And, um, she said she watched my spine straighten up during the day. Wow. Yeah. As we're doing the particular form that we were doing, um, that was assisting my spine to, to become straighter, which, yeah. Wow. 

Teisha Rose: Yeah. That's incredible. It does have an impact and it doesn't matter. Lots of people, yeah, I mean, I just say have an open mind.

You know, don't go through something to try and test it out after one session, whether all of a sudden your, you know, PET scan comes out clear, but just have an open mind as to how that supports you through whatever you're going through. So that's really interesting. I'm gonna look into it as well, because sitting down that, that could be good for [00:43:00] me because standing up and trying to balance and all I can't do MS wise. 

Therese Cameron: yeah, the sitting one was fantastic. , Now I'm doing the standing one, but when I, yeah, when I was going through all the treatments, I did the sitting one a lot.

Yeah. And it, it still can be, you know, very, very good to do that. Just slowly. And it's, they call it a like a form of meditation because by the time you're so busy going like this, yeah, the body's not thinking, oh my, you know, whatever that thought is, it's too busy going, oh, we're not doing this. Right. But you know, it can be just, you can actually empty your mind when you're doing these things and Sheng Zhen the particular form that I practice is actually called Unconditional Love, which is beautiful. And our master master, um, Lee, I can send you some of the links. He is lovely. That'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I'm happy to teach people and give people an introduction. If you're in Sydney, uh, and maybe I should start doing some of the ones on podcast or so a [00:44:00] little bit.

Yeah. Because it was, yeah. It's been so helpful for me. Yeah. Um. Just to have that little extra thing and then it inspires other people. And I find people have gone and taken on what I do and just run with it and doing all sorts of things and it's, it's inspiring then to realize that you've helped people to improve their own health.

Teisha Rose: Yeah. 

Therese Cameron: With just this simple practice. It's not difficult, it doesn't have to be hours a day. Like I, you know, you can just do a little bit in the morning each time and just do some of the movements. And it really helps. And even apparently doing, I saw something this week where you're lifting your arms up somehow that has a really big effect on the health that they've seen, which is like, oh yeah, yeah.

So it's like, wow, I, I only saw that this week. I thought, what's that about? And how, how can that, why would that even affect. Your [00:45:00] health. Yeah. I was very surprised to see, see that. But I thought, oh, I suppose it makes sense, doesn't it? That might be why. It's part of the whole Chile thing. Which 

Teisha Rose: They're onto it.

They're onto it. Yeah. Yeah. 

Therese Cameron: No, they've been doing for centuries. 

Teisha Rose: That's right. And that's right. And that's what I think too, is people not trying to. Not debunk myth, but you know, when people haven't got an open mind and a bit critical of things and oh, as if putting your hands up above your head is gonna have any sort of impact, how do we know?

You know? And if you feel it and it feels better for your body, that's what you've gotta go with. And even for you, if someone said, yeah, you can feel the the chi and you can feel the energy and thinking, oh, that's ridiculous. But if you can. You can actually think mosquitoes are biting your hand and you think, yeah, I can feel this, then that's what's happening.

So yeah, I just think that's really powerful. Um, so thank you so much. We've chatted about a lot. I've learned a [00:46:00] lot, but I'd really like, um, finishing on that, about us having an impact on whatever health condition there is. So just quickly, what's ahead for you? You're mentioning your health coaching, which is great, so we can, how can people get in contact with you?

We can put some links onto the show notes and on my website as well. 

Therese Cameron: So I do have a, a website, diabetesalliance.net. So I'll be, I've been updating that this week and hoping, yeah, to learn how to put in like all this technology, , to put in sort of booking tools so to do it that way rather than through the phone calls for the health coaching that I'm doing and it's goal setting.

So it's similar to what I did at Medibank Private, which is, uh, slightly different to, to diabetes education. It, it's more goal setting and you don't have to actually be diabetic for the goal setting. It can be more, you know, the counseling, if that's what you're looking at. Just, um, what are your goals and where would [00:47:00] you like to go, um, yeah. With those goals. Yeah. So just getting people to sort of helping people not getting 

Teisha Rose: That's right. 

Therese Cameron: Yeah. Yeah. And just figuring it out. And look, sometimes, you know, say with pregnant women, it's really confronting to be diagnosed with this gestation diabetes, and I know what it was like.

, You know, I went right through it and I was very good at something called cheating.

So we can set, what goals would, would they, are they looking at, at, at doing, and is it, is it around food or is it around giving themselves more relaxation or doing something more like this Qi Gong.

Teisha Rose: Lots you can do so we'll definitely put that in and yeah, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed our chat. This is the first time I've, I've only just started doing, knowing it's gonna be on YouTube and also I've done a few interviews, but this is the first one I've forgotten that it's recording and I'm just like smiling and giggling along. So this is [00:48:00] what we want. It is just that natural banter, um, and really getting to know different things that people have their lives interrupted with. And diabetes is a hundred percent one of those. I know we all probably know someone. We're either worried that, you know, a parent might have it thinking we might get type two diabetes as well, but we can definitely have an impact.

Environmentally as to whether that will be our reality. So thank you so much, Therese. I really appreciate it. 

Therese Cameron: That's okay. Thank you for interviewing me today. You're 

Teisha Rose: welcome. Bye 

Therese Cameron: bye. 

Speaker: Okay, so hopefully you enjoyed that episode and learned a lot about diabetes.

All of the contact details for Therese Cameron, and Diabetes Alliance there in the show notes. For those of you looking on, um, up in the sky, I've just had a quick look. So the background, is now of clouds. And I look like I'm sitting on top of a paddock. So, yeah. Um, [00:49:00] have it check it out on YouTube.

And these videos, actually, I've just recorded the background ones for a new mini course. You can check that out, hurdle2hope.com/elements. And that mini course is about resetting your mindset in nature. So earlier in the intro I talk about, that was actually the water element. This is the air element.

So I share how I use Daisy Hill. And the four elements to heal. So we're talking about, and I'll get them right, we're talking about, um, grounding through the earth element. Then it's the air element and then water element, then fire. So, so many people, you know, when I am doing some of these speaking engagements, uh, so.

Envious, I guess, about me living on the land and living off the grid and how that's helped my healing. [00:50:00] So as I'm doing with these introductions and YouTube with The Hurdle2Hope Show, I'm bringing a little bit of Daisy Heal to you. So you can also see how I've used Daisy Hill and nature to reset my mindset and to really impact my healing with MS and with cancer. So enjoy your week. As I mentioned, go to the show notes for details from Therese. Otherwise also, um, go to hurdle2hope.com with Hurdle2Hope with number 2 / elements. And the mini course is free at the moment. Download it, connect and yeah, learn a bit more about me, my world in Daisy Hill.

Have a great week and we will chat. Next week. Bye. [00:51:00]