'Vision blurred, lost weight': Wasim Akram reveals how he played with diabetes - Watch

Wasim Akram, one of Pakistan’s greatest cricketers, has opened up about how he managed his career while living with diabetes. Diagnosed in 1997 at the peak of his playing days, Akram admitted the condition was initially a major challenge, both physically and mentally. “I started losing weight. My vision was a bit blurred. I was thirsty all the time. I was urinating a lot, and my dad came up to me and I explained, ‘This is happening and I'm just not feeling better.’ He said, ‘Have your blood sugar test,’” Akram recalled. At the time, awareness of diabetes was limited. “I said, ‘What the heck is blood sugar?’ Those days in the ’90s, there was no awareness of diabetes at all. And then I went, had my blood test done. Usually, your diabetes normal like you guys is 100 and 110. Mine was 450. So obviously, I went to the specialist and he said, ‘You have to be on insulin straight away.’” The transition was not easy. “In those days, there weren’t disposable pens like we have now. You couldn’t just measure a thing, stick it, and walk on. Back then you had to carry vials with you and then big syringes on the side. So it was tough. The first two, three years were tough. It did affect my game mentally and physically.” Akram said the support of his late wife, who was a psychologist, proved invaluable. “I said I have to ask the doctor only one thing. I said, ‘Look, will I be able to play cricket?’ He said, ‘Yes, if you control your levels.’ And it's very difficult to control your levels when you're traveling, and when you don’t have any awareness of what to eat, what not to eat, what to drink.” Adjusting to the demands of international cricket required constant management. “When I went to South Africa, I think when I joined the Pakistan team after being diagnosed, the first three, four weeks were very tough. Your sugar level drops as well when you're diabetic, and you can feel it.” Over time, Akram developed coping methods with the help of his teammates and match officials. “The whole team at the time helped. I used to give sweets to umpires just in case my sugar level dropped. A couple of tablets, get on with it. Usually it takes 15–20 minutes to recover, but I just got used to it.” Now, more than two decades later, Akram says he has learned to live with the condition.