‘We accidentally posted a video about diabetes, and it went viral’

When Ellen and Beth posted a TikTok video before they went out for the night, little did they know it would go viral by morning.

The students from Northern Ireland happened to leave their blood sugar monitors in shot. They are fixed to their arms and help them manage their type 1 diabetes, and the world wanted to know more.

Now the two women from Belfast create TikTok videos as the Diabetic Duo - often just a few seconds long - to show what life with type 1 diabetes is really like, but in a light-hearted way - like the weirdest locations they’ve stopped to inject insulin into themselves (think a cheerleading human pyramid) and what to do if your blood sugar levels drop at exactly the same time.

The Diabetic Duo reveal what its like to become social media stars overnight and how unusual it is that two best friends would both be diagnosed as type 1 diabetics, a predisposed condition not affected by lifestyle and less common than the type 2 variety - type one only affects 8% of all diabetics.

If you have diabetes, please consult a health care professional before drinking alcohol.

Presented by Kate Monaghan and Simon Minty.

Read the full transcript.

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