Anastasia Moragiannis opens up on stigma around Type 1 diabetes in Greek community

·

Melbourne local, Anastasia Moragiannis, 50, was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at six years old. It was a particularly hard time for the family and especially her Greek parents.

Anastasia’s dad didn’t believe there wasn’t a cure for the autoimmune disease and tried everything he could to find one, even though there was limited information on the topic back in 1978 and especially information in the Greek language.

In the end, Anastasia’s then-15-year-old sister interpreted the diagnosis to their parents and would translate for medical appointments. Anastasia’s sister was also taught to give her injections when her dad was at work.

Anastasia was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at six years old.

“The 70s were crazy compared to now—they measured things differently and my injections were huge,” Anastasia tells The Greek Herald, while explaining there was also a stigma around sugar as the cause of Type 1 diabetes.

“So sugar was barred in our house growing up. But now, as I am older and have lived with the disease and have learned about it, it’s not sugar based. We actually work on carbs to figure out how much insulin we give ourselves.

“They even still say on TV shows when people eat all this cake, ‘oh, I’m going to get diabetes.’ No, that’s not how you get Type 1 diabetes.”

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the pancreas no longer works and the body is insulin dependent. Type 2 diabetes is when people are insulin resistant, the pancreas works and they can produce insulin, but the body doesn’t know how to utilise it.

For 43 years, Anastasia was on multiple daily injections (MDI). They varied, starting with one, changing to two or three, and then whenever she ate or consumed carbohydrates.

“In my teens, there was an incident when my sister bit my toe because I was wriggling around as she was trying to give me an injection,” Anastasia laughs. “From then on I learned to give them to myself.”

That was until the Omnipod came along.

The Omnipod has been inserted into Anastasia’s upper arm and releases insulin throughout the day, meaning she no longer gives herself injections.

“I put it on, and I have never looked back—it’s changed my life,” she says.

“When I eat, I tell it how many carbs I am going to have and it works out how much insulin it’s going to give me, on top of what it’s already giving me.”

This helps to balance her blood sugar.

“I no longer feel like a diabetic. I just wear mechanical things on my body. My friend calls me ‘The Terminator’,” Anastasia laughs.

“I’d rather be called ‘The Terminator’ than inject myself a number of times a day.”

Sugar stigma and the Greek community

Anastasia says it can be upsetting when people claim those with Type 1 diabetes can’t eat sugar.

“The Greeks will say, ‘you can’t eat that!’ but we can as long as we give ourselves enough insulin so the blood sugar doesn’t spike, so it remains level like a person without diabetes,” she explains.

The Melburnian adds that people need to educated and encouraged to ask questions “before making a statement to someone.”

“I was on a plane to visit my cousins and my Omnipod was in… so you could see it. I’m not shy, I am happy for people to see it,” Anastasia says.

“This man was looking at me, then would look at the pod, then look back to me… and I was waiting and waiting, and he never asked me the question.”

Anastasia says it is more than okay to ask questions.

“Ask: What is that? Do you have diabetes? Is that an insulin pump? Ask the question. If you don’t know, there are plenty of resources out there to learn about it,” she says.

“But don’t make assumptions that I am not allowed to eat sugar. It’s not like that at all. I love pastitsio, my favourite, and we all know spaghetti is high in carbs.

“Type 1 diabetes hasn’t stopped me from living my life. I live my life normal.”

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

How Maih Porfyri’s career pivot took her from fashion to the Paralympics

Maih Porfyri had only been in her job for a few months before she was whisked away on a trip to Paris to cover the Paralympic Games.

My partner doesn’t speak Greek – Can we still raise bilingual kids?

You can absolutely raise bilingual children, even if only one parent speaks Greek. Across the world, countless families do so successfully.

Joint bank accounts: Who gets the money?

All people named in a joint account are privy to the money by Law. Most of us have opened accounts at various bank branches.

Vergina considered among the world’s most mysterious destinations

Featured alongside global wonders, Vergina earns its place through a mystery that has eluded scholars for centuries.

Gender in Modern Greek: Dr Angeliki Alvanoudi to give online seminar

The aim of the seminar is to examine the role of Greek gendered terms in sustaining social gender ideologies that reinforce sexism.

You May Also Like

Tom Koutsantonis MP tests positive to COVID-19

Tom Koutsantonis MP has announced he has tested positive to COVID-19 and is currently isolating at home with his family.

Greece closes schools, theaters and cinemas in Achaea, Zante and Elis following coronavirus outbreak

Greece’s Health authorities announced preventive emergency measures against the coronavirus for the prefectures of Achaia and Ilia, in Peloponnese, as well as for the island of Zakynthos.

Shootout victory sees South Melbourne take glory against rivals Melbourne Knights in FFA Cup

South Melbourne FC secured the victory spoils against long-time rivals Melbourne Knights after a nail-biting 4-1 penalty shootout victory.