I’ve been struggling a little the last few weeks, but thankfully not with diabetes. With migraines and jaw pain. I’m seriously considering getting a new jaw, because my current jaw is being kind of a jerk. It’s been better since I saw my dentist the other day.
the point is, i realized how much better I feel since I was diagnosed. I feel healthy, I have energy. I don’t sleep for-dang-ever and wake up exhausted. It’s fantastic!
Everyone has their story of how they came to be diagnosed…this is mine:
I had lost a little weight because we were renovating the house and doing much of the work ourselves. It really wasn’t anything to worry about or to make me think I was sick. Later that month I was having pains in my side. I had done all this once before and eventually went to the emergency room, I was ok this time but they did blood work and said they needed me to come back the next day and take another blood test to make sure all was well. I did so and a week later saw the e.r. doc during her clinic hours and specifically asked her how my blood work was, she said it was brilliant. Face to face…she said it was exactly what you’d want. So I went home happy that it was over. But then I started to feel strange… I was tired all the time and didn’t know why, Over the next 3 months I lost a ton of weight without really trying (but i was still working hard so I just assumed that was why),I was always hungry and had moments where I felt dizzy and shaky. I felt fine sometimes and then just plain rotten… Rotten enough to be annoyed about it but not enough to really think something was actually wrong with me. I just thought I was running myself ragged with all the work. (that’s not unusual for me.) Then (again about 3 months after my e.r. visit) I came down with strep and went to the clinic and while there I mentioned that I was massively thirsty all the time, to a point that I found it very annoying and feeling more exhausted than usual. The doctor I saw said she was going to do a blood work up just in case and that I could get the results in a week. About a week later my mom had an appointment and decided while she was there to go get my blood results. The doctor looked me up in the computer and stated with wide eyes “bring your daughter here right away, she has dangerously high blood sugar and needs immediate treatment.” Then she began asking my mom “isn’t she on insulin, don’t you know she’s a diabetic, why aren’t you giving her treatment?” Like we knew this all along but didn’t do anything about it or my family was withholding treatment. When I finally got to the clinic, I saw a new doctor who ordered a stat blood test and when the result came back higher than what had caused the concern they admitted me to the hospital. Every medical staff member questioned us about why I wasn’t on treatment, how could we not know I was diabetic, my blood test from 3 months before clearly showed high blood sugar. Turns out it was there all along…in my file. Had the e.r. doc done her job (2 different times!) it would have been diagnosed sooner, had the doc at the clinic (the clinic is in the same hospital as the e.r. they all have the same file on me.) looked at my last blood test it would have been diagnosed sooner. It took quite a few days to get a definitive diagnoses because i don’t seem to fit into either category of T1 or tT2. they said it was more likely I was type 1 but they couldn’t understand how I could go so long with such high bs and not be “gravely ill”. But in the end all the blood tests came back as exactly that and shortly thereafter I was told I also have hashimoto’s. stupid bum immune system!
So that’s my story. Not a big deal, kind of sucky but it’s been all right so far.
Note: I did make a complaint with the hospital in hopes that it wouldn’t happen to someone else with a far worse outcome. I have since received and apology from the hospital. (and they are really careful about giving my test results now, hahahaha! oh well, i’m sorry it took a complaint and investigation, but I hope it has done some good for others.)