BloodSugarSelfie just saved my life

A woman with diabetes has revealed how the #BloodSugarSelfie initiative helped prevent her from suffering potentially fatal consequences from her high blood sugar levels.
Rachel Barnes joined in the online diabetes awareness campaign this week, posting a picture of herself with her blood glucose meter on her Twitter page.
People with diabetes are advised to keep their blood sugar levels between 4 and 7 mmol/L (before meals) and under 9 mmol/L (2 hours after eating). But the blood glucose value displayed on her meter was a dangerously high 32.6 mmol/L.
Rachel’s selfie was accompanied by a £3 donation to diabetes charity JDRF and a message explaining that seeing other people’s blood sugar selfies on Facebook and Twitter encouraged her to check her blood glucose and take action to reduce it to prevent dangerous complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis from developing.
“#BloodSugarSelfie actually just saved my life as I wasn’t going to do my sugars as I felt fine. Awful result,” she tweeted.
The #BloodSugarSelfie initiative was launched last weekend to highlight the struggles people with diabetes go through every day and to help raise money for vital research into the treatment and prevention of diabetes.
More than 800 fantastic selfies have been posted on social network sites over the past five days, highlighting real people with real numbers in the diabetes community. Despite people’s best efforts, the blood sugar levels of diabetic individuals are not always perfect and episodes of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia do occur.
1.2 million people have seen the bloodsugarselfie hashtag on Facebook, the selfies have received 45,000 likes in total and been shared over 3000 times, and more than 80,000 people on Twitter have joined in or been reached by the campaign.
As well as increasing diabetes awareness, the selfies have also helped raise more than £3200 for JDRF, the world’s leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research.
To join the #BloodSugarSelfie movement, send your selfie to the team at www.diabetes.co.uk by posting it on the DCUK Facebook wall or sending it via private message. Photos can be posted on Twitter @Diabetescouk with the #BloodSugarSelfie hashtag.
Donations to the JDRF can be made by texting DCUK14 £5 to 70070. The £5 can be changed to anything between £1 and £10.