Former EastEnders actress Nina Wadia opened up about her son’s health issues, which often results in sleepless nights.

The actress, who is best known for playing Zainab Masood on the soap, shared that her 17-year-old son Aidan, who has Type 1 diabetes, revealed that she worries about her son’s well being.

‘Our lives changed dramatically straight after diagnosis,’ she said.

‘In the first couple of years I barely slept, worried that he might hypo during the night so severely that he could die.’

She added to Daily Star: ‘The level of worry is relentless and miserable. On an every day level, things we didn’t have to think twice about became so complicated.’

Type 1 diabetes – also known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes – is an autoimmune condition that occurs when the body mistakenly attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Following her EastEnders departure in 2013, Nadia went on to land the role of Mrs Hussein in the BBC sitcom Still Open All Hours, alongside Sir David Jason.

In 2014, she also made appearances in Adil Ray’s sitcom Citizen Khan, as well as Holby City one year later.

Previously speaking about her role as Zainab, she told the Loose Women panel:

‘It was fun. I loved my time on EastEnders, loved it. I would go back in a heartbeat.’

‘It was one of those shows that when I was in it, I absolutely did enjoy it,’ she continued. Towards the end… I think I’m one of those actors that needs to be doing different things.

‘There’s a time where you just go, okay I need to do something else, I’m getting a bit bored, the storylines are going over the same ground.’

Nina added: ‘I thought maybe I’d go back into comedy, but Zainab Masood ruined my career for a year because no casting director touched me.’