What's your story?

[Pavlos]

What happened leading up to your diagnosis and just after?

For me it was rapid weight loss and an even more rapid drop in my grades. I was 13 years old sitting in class wanting to go to the bathroom for the third time in 45 minutes when I realized that nobody else had gone even once. During those days I was jugging water like a cactus in the Sahara everyday and had visited the schools bathrooms so many times that I could recite all the graffiti on the walls on demand.

I never said anything about it to anyone until I went to see Braveheart in the movie theatre with my mother. I started the movie with a large Coke and 15 minutes later I was in the bathrooms. On the way back I got another coke and repeated the whole process. After the fifth time my mother said she had enough and was scheduling an appointment for me with the doctor the next morning.

After the doc took blood she said that there were two possibilities: 1. Anxiety due to grades, 2. Diabetes. She said that option number 2 though was most likely out of the question since I had no family history of Diabetes.

I forgot all about the blood work after a while and decided it was in fact nerves. I remember telling my best friend about it while I sat and ate a whole allowance worth of Lila Pause (a French chocolate bar with a strawberry filling, my all time favorite). On March 7 my parents gave me tickets to go see my favorite basketball team play against some other team (can’t remember which team the played) which was completely out of the ordinary for them (sporting events in Greece can get quite violent with the fans). I took the tickets and went with my best friend. My parents also told me that I should only drink water, nothing with sugar because it would make me want to go to the bathroom more and I would miss the game. The added that if I feel weak, faint, or funny in any way I should immediately drink a soda and return home.

When the game was over and I went home I was stunned to see my Dad there (they were divorced). I realized it was my brother’s Birthday that day which I had forgotten all about because nobody had mentioned anything about it, and so I figured he was there for that.

We all sat down together as a family for the first time since I can even remember and my dad started telling me that sometimes life throws something in our way that we don’t like but we must deal with. He said that some people for example must take shots everyday for the rest of their life. I had no idea what he was talking about and said that I would rather die than have to do that (I was deathly afraid of needles at the time). The rest of the conversation has left me but I remember my mother kept saying that it feels like we have been hit by a truck.

The next morning I checked into the hospital where I stayed for two weeks while they taught me all about Diabetes (what it is, how it works, how to deal with it etc). Most of those memories are gone too except for a few that have stayed with perfect clarity.

The first is that the cook would always leave my dinner in the hospital’s kitchen oven with a note that read for diabetes patient X13. Every time my mother went to get it for me the gypsies had beaten her to it. After multiple complaints the hospital discovered how they were getting in and my dinner was finally safe.

The second memory is of the motorcycle doctor (can’t remember his name but he always came in with a helmet around his elbow) who showed up for the first time a week into my stay there. He introduced me to my first ever lancet device for testing my sugar. I loved him for it and in a moment of high blood sugar insanity (at least that’s what I like to blame it on) I turned to the room full of nurses that had spent that first week pricking my fingers manually and uttered such profanities to them that would make a sailor blush.

Third memory is of the Coca-Cola company putting up a billboard add in front of the hospital advertising Coca Cola Light (Diet Coke) which was still a pretty new thing in Greece. That meant that I could drink something other than water for the rest of my life, hurray!

Fourth memory is when my dad became convinced that our diabetic educator (this was shortly after I was released from the hospital) was completely stupid and decided to test her. He feigned ignorance and asked her why do we have fill the vial of insulin with air prior to extracting the insulin. She took a moment and then replied that it was so we could remember how many units of insulin we were planning on extracting. He gave her one more chance to get it right but she insisted on her initial answer. My dad said and I will quote this (translated of course) “I don’t need my Ph.D from the London School of Economics to know that you are a complete moron.” The next day we met our new educator who got the answer right.

My final memory is from the Juvenile Diabetes Center where I had to go every two weeks for the first two years for testing, advice, counseling, or anything else I needed or wanted. I got severely scolded one day because my A1C was the highest they had ever seen in a 14 year old. They kept repeating the word “ever.” Oddly enough I was quite proud of that achievement and boasted about it for months.

That’s my story if you cared to read it. I’d love to read yours.

[Domo]

I’m feeling kinda weird, but part me believes this is normal
When you’re on your feet all day working, your supposed to be tired
Tired when you wake up, tired in the afternoon, tired before you go to bed
Your supposed to be thirsty, drink water, and use the bathroom more
Even if it’s every hour, and who cares if i drink soda to quench the thirst
I’m not feeling hungry, but i want to eat healthy, i’ll eat some salad, or maybe nothing at all
I’m losing weight fast, but i don’t really notice, must be all the water i’m downing
I go to the bar because i just turned 21, but after one drink i only crave one thing
water water water, add some mountain dew with grenadine, oh so yum
My friends want to stay out late, i just want to go to bed
My work wants me to come in, my energy is zapped even after a nap

My friend points out blankly that i might have diabetes, what’s that??
I don’t know what’s wrong to me, i thought this was apart of growing up
Working hard, being tired, losing your self in the world around you
To the doc i went, she checked my sugar and said it was 500
The number meant nothing to me, must’ve been that moutain dew i drank
she prescribed some pills, and shot me with some lantus
the prescription got tossed with the mail, i’ll fill it when i have time

FINALLY A DAY OFF, i get to sleep in, horray! I deserve this day
Why is my mouth dry? When’s the last time i ate? Why are my eyelids so heavy?
I can’t breath, my chest feels heavy, i lay in bed just to fall back to sleep
My boyfriend freaks out and makes me hamburgers and salad
He read somewhere that carbs were bad, and so was sugar
The phone rings, but i’m in a another world, my frantic friend tells me to GO GO GO
To tired to fight, or worry about my lack of insurance, i go to the ER
Why do they call it a triage? There are no trees? My mouth is getting drier, it’s actually peeling
The nurse asks me some questions, i honestly can’t remember the rest,
I keep on falling asleep and waking back up, the nice nurse tells me to breath through my nose
It’s to hard for me to do, can’t i just go back to sleep, i cry?
They whisper around me, if she hadn’t come sooner she would’ve died of DKA
I guess i have diabetes, whatever that is, but for right now i’m hooked up to this iv
When i finally do wake up, i feel safe in my hospital bed with the tv droning in the background
They said i can have as much jello as i want, but i gotta get my potassium up
The nurses laughter tinkles in the background, despite the painful pokes, i feel relaxed and safe.

I shoot an orange, i go to surgery for my MRSA, i drink grape flavored potassium, my friends visit, my work visits, diabetes educator comes, the billing department leaves me papers
The whole time i just kinda set in the background, innocent and naive to this whole diabetes thing. They leave me brochures for carb counting. I’m not really scared, maybe this is an early denial of some sorts but i actually think this is conquerable. Honestly i was glad to have answer to all the madness, it’s time to live my life as a brand spanking new diabetic. If only i knew how hard it was really going to be. They kicked me out that hospital door, leaving me to feel even more alone then before.

[Domo]

does my story suck or what, nobody has been on this forum

[Robyn1]

Domo, your story was very well wriiten if I may say so…My story is not that interesting. Went into DKA, severe…1 hr. later if not hospitalized…dead.
Lots of emotional stuff and alot of physical damage I had to overcome.

I am glad I survived…grateful.
Glad you did too!!!

[sugarrbabie]

click here for my story
click here for my diagnosis through my mother’s eyes

[Gerri]

Pavlos,

I really like your father!

I was feeling out of it for a couple of weeks & stupidly paid no attention to the fact that my eyesight one day was strange. Unbearable hunger & unquenchable thirst. I went to the supermarket & bought quarts of juice of every flavor & downed them in record time. Peeing constantly to where I was anxious about leaving the house in case I couldn’t find a bathrooom close by. Then physical exhaustion set in. Ok, I have the flu. Maybe it’s pneumonia again because I felt tired like I did when I had that years before. My husband: go to the doctor. Me: leave me alone, I’m tired. I just need rest. I’ll be ok tomorrow.

I was not ok tomorrow, or the next day. Everything I drank I vomited, which at the time was a desire for gallons of grape juice. Grape juice is not pretty coming back up. Despite my protests & cursing, my husband carried me down the stairs & drove me to ER breaking all speeding laws. I don’t remember anything of the drive there. I vaguely remember being asked questions in an ER exam room. I couldn’t answer most of them. I passed out. BG 809, DKA. Woke up briefly in ICU with tubes, monitors. Didn’t know why I was there, or how long it had been. I felt so bad that I didn’t even care to ask. Let me sleep, leave me alone to die. Begging for something to eat or drink. No food, no drink. One sweet nurse give me about a teaspoon of ice chips. Got the diagnosis from the nurse. Diabetes–huh?! You’ve made a mistake. I’m thin, active, healthy as a horse, eat very well, never get sick, am too old to be a juvenile diabetic. No diabetics of either type in my family. Go do your tests again. Days in ICU. I was hallucinating, really, but didn’t tell anyone because I was afraid they’d put me in the psych ward:) Later, I realized this was from sleep deprivation because they were doing finger sticks every 30 minutes around the clock & who could sleep being awakened every 30 minutes for two days & having blood drawn from my arm every 4 hours. The clock on the wall was moving very slowly.

When I was moved to a regular ward, the medical team visits began. An unending parade of annoying, overly cheerful people leaving me hand-outs & each one confusing me further. Leave me alone. Take the IV out, take the blood pressure cuff off & let me sleep. I wouldn’t eat the hospital food & kept telling them I was a vegetarian. Got reprimanded by the nurses for not eating the mashed potatoes & all the other starchy awful things they put in front of me. I didn’t understand how the meals were diabetic & the nurse would point out the sugar-free pudding.

I didn’t have a denial stage & jumped straight to anger. Anger & then sadness. Grief for the part of my life that was taken away & grief for what I had lost.

[Carrie_J]

I lost some weight but I was working 6 days a week, sometimes 12 days on, 1 off, 12 on, so I didn’t notice but my brother-in-law did. Plus, I had been a little thick in the thighs so I didn’t mind, though now weighing 118lbs and being 5’8" was a little much but people said I looked good so…

I was always tired but I was working 6 days a week…Plus, getting up to pee in the middle of the night would make anyone tired.

I was irritable but I was working 6 days a week…

I couldn’t see 10 feet in front of me, my stupid glasses stopped working.

Why did I get an ear infection? I haven’t had one since I was 7. Stupid headset I have to wear at work.

Ice. I need to eat some ice. Why am I so thirsty?

Ugh. Another headache. It must be the dust here, I never used to get them.

Fast forward 2 months, I finally decided that I needed to quit smoking after 22 years and off I went to the doctors to get some prescription help. He called me later that day and told me I was a diabetic, my BG was 550 and my A1C was 12.1%

I cried and asked if I needed to eat cardboard.

[MelissaM]

i was DX when i was 4 the day after christmas, i don’t really remember much. i do however remember going into the hospital i guess it was the ER waiting room and there was a nurses desk at one side and all i wanted to do was go to sleep i remember walking over to the hallway and leaning against the wall and falling to the ground and throwing up. the next thing i remember was laying in my hospital bed waiting for my dad to get there because i guess he was at work or something. i remember asking my mom weakly to call my dad. then i guess a couple days later i was back to my hyper active self. i don’t really remember not having diabetes, i wish i could tell you how i felt being diagnosed, but i can’t because i have had it for so long for me that is.

[Sophie1]

I had the typical symptoms of losing alot of weight in a short amount of time, lost appetite, very thirsty and going to the toilet alot.
I was 9 and it was a week after my actualy birthday that i got diagnosed, i remember not even being allowed to eat my own birthday cake because the doctors had their suspicions that i could have been a diabetic.
I remember standing in the doctors surgery and being told that i had an a1c of 15, that i was a diabetic and that i needed to go to the hospital immediately. That night we drove the 7 and a half hours to the only childrens hospital in western australia and i was admitted and had to stay there for 2 weeks. I had to share a room with around 5 other kids of all different ages…i remember one was a cancer patient, another had asthma and the others were in there for various reasons. It was a really hard time on my family having to see me struggling with the nurses and refusing to have my insulin injections, i have a solid memory of seeing both my parents crying because i was so obviously upset. From there on in i decided that i would just build a bridge and toughen up. I started injecting myself with the needles after the first week and the nurses were ‘so proud’ becaues i was so young and apparently taking it on so well.
I left hospital, went back to school, had to tell my friends that i wasnt contagious and all that. went through a period of rebellion for a couple yaers and now im back on track and doing pretty okay!
no where near as interesting as your story pavlos

[Marps]

I started seeing symptoms that something was wrong when I was 11. I was in elementary school and we were in the middle of a class. I had been really tired lately, but thought it was just because of “growing pains”, my mom called them. While standing in class, I started to feel really light headed and then my vision blacked out completely. These little racing “stars” went before my eyes, and that’s all that I could see. I was terrified, thinking I was going blind, so I asked the teacher if I could go to the nurse’s office. I remember the cool brick of the walls, the sweat on the palms of my hands.

In the nurse’s office, she had me lay down while she called my mom to come and pick me up. After a few hours, my vision came back and I felt a little better. I slept for days. I went to see the doctor a little while later and he diagnosed me with hypoglycemia. (that’s right, the low blood sugar) and told me to drink 1% milk and to drink OJ if I felt like I was going to pass out. He never drew blood and he never even suggested diabetes. It didn’t run in my family- I had nothing to worry about, right?

I managed to survive off of his suggestions for two years, until I hit 13. At 13, I was eating everything. I was always starving. Sometimes I’d eat three burgers in one sitting, and still was hungry. I had a thirst that could never be quenched. I would drink 2 two-liter bottles of soda in one day, and still be thirsty. I drank so much that I didn’t even bother to pour it in the glass- swallowing right from the jug. I would get up in the middle of the night to pee at least three times. During those bathroom trips, I’d be so thirsty that I’d duck my head into the sink and drink water straight from the faucet. Sometimes I’d drink so much that I’d throw up, but still be thirsty afterward.

Then, at 13 and 1/2, my menstrual cycle stopped. I had only been getting it for a few months prior, but it stopping suddenly caused for some fright. Not only that, but I was getting these severe Ph balance infections in places that I wasn’t even sure existed at the time. It was suggested that I had cysts on my ovaries. My family has dealt with a few very rare cases in health, and it was assumed I was going to be another rare diagnosis for our family. They had no idea how right they were.

So, at the gynecologist, at 14 years old, I peed into a cup and noticed it was tinted green. Uh-oh, that can’t be normal. The gynecologist drew about six tubes of blood I went home that night at 118 lbs and 5’ 8". I was smaller than a size 1 pant. My mother begged me to tell her if I was bulimic. I was an honest and sweet child, but there was no other explanation about my emaciated frame, every bone sticking out, when I was still eating everything in sight.

The next day, after she talked on the phone with a doctor, we went for a walk, and she asked me if I turned out to be diabetic, would I be able to handle it? My mind immediately went to Julia Roberts in Stell Magnolias, and I said that I would eat nothing except fruits and vegetables for the rest of my life, if it meant that I wouldn’t need to take shots. I was terrified of medications and needles.

Well, the next day, we went to the children’s hospital and I heartd the diagnosis. I felt so out of place in the children’s wing, because I was nearing on adulthood at 14, while everyone else around me were still just children, around 2 or 5 years old.

After they diagnosed me, at 5’8" 112 lbs, 17.1% A1c, 800 BS level, I was an “out patient” for weeks so that I could see nutritionists and learn to give myself shots.

I hated every second of it and was ashamed.

I am now nearing 25, and I am just now learning to love my entire body, including all the parts that don’t work.

[Pavlos]

I know what you mean about being in a children’s hospital when you are at that age. I did the same thing and shared a room (where they took us to test BG, take insulin shots etc) with the cutest little kids you have ever seen. They all looked at me like “what are you doing here?” and I looked at them and thought if they can do it at that age I have no right to complain.

There’s something too wrong, though, seeing an infant hooked up to an IV crying it’s eyes out and not understanding why they are hurting her like that. Now that I have an 8 month old daughter just thinking about those babies like that makes me tear up.

[Marps]

I know… There’s a give and take. It used to be unbearable to me to see little children with T1, getting shots and stuff. It’s unfair and it’s not nice.
But at the same time, there’s also another way to look at it- they don’t know the difference. They knowt hat it hurts, but they have never experienced anything different than life with T1.

T1s that are diagnosed later in life, 10 years old, 14 years old, 20 years old, those are the ones who kind of get a hard blow to life- because those are the ones who can remember what it was like to be “normal”. Those T1s are the diabetics who know what life without shots and medications is like. They remember what they’re missing.

[Ryan5]

My story starts in may of 2006, I was a junior in college and was a bit overweight. I decided to start losing weight so I began an exercise regimen, cut almost all carbs out of my diet and starting drinking alot of water. I remember that my hands would sometimes go numb and tingle for days during that summer but i thought nothing of it. I was losing weight fast. I went from 280lbs to about 190lbs in maybe 8 months. I decided that I was skinny enough and cut back on the exercise and was eating normally again…but I soon realized that I was always thirsty and I continued to lose weight. I ended up in August of 2007 at 142lbs barely able to walk and my feet were completely numb, my grades were a mess and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t want to admit it. I’m from an irish/italian family…the kind where you just tough it out and you only go to the doctor if you’re dying. Which the day after christmas I found out I was.
It was a huge shock. But I was strangely relieved by it. At least i knew what to do now. Fast forward two years and here I am, type-1, peripheral neuropathy in both feet. I take alot of meds but I’m back up to 190lbs and I still dominate tennis

[Amanda17]

i agree. i was 9. most people can’t really remember their lives before the age of 10 so i don’t remember what it was like without diabetes. i’m actually thankful i got it at an early age instead of later in life. i’ve never gone through denile because what am i missing?? it’s like brushing my teeth and taking a shower, it’s just something you do.

luckly with my diagnosis i was only sick for about two weeks before my mom and dad took me to the er. my dad’s sister who is 10 years younger than him also has type one diabetes so he saw her go through her diagnosis and pretty much told the doctors at the hospital what to test me for.

i remember that night pretty sharply…dad made cheeseburgers on the grill. i sat at the dinner table staring at my food but without any sort of appitite whatsoever. i asked if i could take my plate into the living room to eat while i watched tv. at this point i had lost about 20lbs in two weeks. i was weak. i drank like a fish. i was always throwing up. i took one bite of that burger and sat my plate on the floor and just layed there in a daze staring off into nowhere. i remember everything looking hazy (probably because i was so high…540ish). i could hear my mom and dad talking. next thing you know my dad came over to me and said “you’re going to the hosiptal”. one tear rolled down my cheek as he carried me to the car. i don’t remember the car ride and i vagely remember laying in my dad’s lap in the er waiting room. i do however remember the extremely bright white room they took me to. i remember the doctors. i remember being stabbed what felt like hundreds of times until they found a vein for the iv…i was severely dehydrated. i remember the doctors telling my mom and dad over and over again that they weren’t sure what was wrong and i remember my dad sternfully telling them several times to test me for diabetes, that that is what i have.

he was right.

i don’t remember the following days, maybe two or three of them. once i came about i remembered everything about my stay. i was in the room myself, in fact i was the only patient in the peds the whole week i was there!! i was treated like a queen!! i always had access to the video games and i could walk around the department at my own free will. it was one patient to 3-4 nurses and i was spoiled haha. it was confusing to me, only being 9, so my wonderful mom took the responsibility of making sure everything was going ok and making sure she understood the disease for me, so she could slowly teach me as i was ready. she did and i met many type one’s my age which helped a lot. with skipping everything in between, here i am now

[Jonathan]

I read all of these stories and cannot think how lucky I was with my diagnosis.

Sophmore year in college, in February, I got bronchitis. Shortly after that, I noticed I was always peeing and always thirsty. I could not sit through a 75 minute class without my bladder wanting to burst. I was always the first out the door when class was dismissed and in dire straights if there was a line in the men’s room. I also was waking up 3 times every night to go. I went to the school health clinic and was told it was a kidney infection (no urine or blood test), and put on penicillin.

When I went home for spring break, my parents saw all the weight I had lost – about 25% of my total weight – and sent me to their doctor. The first thing he did was a urine test and told me “You’re 4+ urine sugar.” I asked what that meant and he told me I was diabetic. Then he started looking for a specialist for me to see, sent me off to see him. My parents met me there and I had some blood taken, more urine was tested and I was given my first insulin injection (5 units of regular). He gave me a stack of menus for my new diet and a handful of prescriptions (plus one for my mother). We spent about two hours talking and I went back to see him a week later.

I was never told what my blood sugar was at diagnosis, nor was I told anything about dka. I also did not have to be hospitalized.

Until that doctor passed away and I moved on to different doctors, I never really got to understand how to take care of myself or anything about carb counting. It took a long time, but I am almost smart enough now.

Like I said, my diagnosis story seems a lot easier than what so many others went through. I’m pretty lucky in that respect (and a bunch of others, too).

[karole_terry]

oh Pavlos your story sounds a lot like my own.
It all came crashing down on my eighth birthday. For months I had been drinking and peeing and losing weight and looking pale and frail and smelling bad too. My mother had had family with diabetes and was sure I had it. At the doctors office bloodwork was done and my bg was very high. The doctor didnt like being told by my mother what was wrong and insisted she was overreacting. But she was very much right. That night I was rushed in an ambulance to a major hospital and all I recall of that was hours and hours of needles and tests.
I remember hating the diagnosis. Why me? No way.
One day they took me to a room where I was to learn insulin injection. I practiced that day on an orange. A young couple brought in their new-born child to learn how to inject him. Even at only eight years old, I then realized how truly lucky I was. I would rather have the disease than be either the baby or his parents.
I was a truly awful diabetic growing up. I used to put water into my urine before testing or use my friends’ urine when I could. My mother would find chocolate bare wrappers under my bed. I skipped insulin shots. I used to inject them into the couch on the other side while my mother sat next to me. I landed in hospital due to long-term high sugars… I was in a coma for a couple of days.
I spent my life in denial.
I’m fine. None of THOSE things will happen to me.
Now I am 42 and on kidney dialysis, awaiting pancrease/kidney transplantation. I have had lazer work on both eyes; I would be blind otherwise. I have had the flesh-eating disease… not caused by diabetes directly, but apparently there is a propensity toward it. I have increased sensitivity in my feet and lower legs. I cannot have children.
There are a lot of things I would have done differently… should have done differently.
Despite all this crap… I still see that I am very lucky.
I have friends and family who love me and doctors who are unbelievably forgiving and understanding. And my life goes on. That’s the best part of it all. My life goes on.

We should always appreciate the things that we have.

[NyJonesy26_Ken]

Starting somewhere in late February this year, half gallons of juice lasted a day, maybe two If I could restrain myself. Classic symptoms that people on here describe started creeping up, but I had no idea what it meant. Eventually, my family started to notice that I was getting horribly skinny. My appetite was gone for the most part, so I felt no need to eat that much.

Finally, at around my sister’s 21st birthday, we decided to have a mini pre-birthday party at a family friend’s apartment. This person is a type 2, and recognized the symptoms immediately. After dinner, he decided to test my sugar on his meter, and it read 354. The whole room was silent and my mother was in tears. We were originally going to go to the hospital the next day, but 2 hours after dinner, that changed. It was around 560, so we went that night. Sure enough, I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. My sister and her friend stayed in my room all night to talk and keep me company. I only stayed one night, since we caught it early enough, so I guess I’m lucky in that regard.

I didn’t want to leave the next day, but they thought I could handle it. I went to an educator and she showed me how to do the basics (shots and finger pricks), and about halfway through, my sister and mother started crying, which almost made me cry. When we left to go get my prescriptions, we were shocked to find out how expensive the pens were. We decided to get the vials and some syringes until we were able to get some.

My sister’s birthday present this year was a diabetic brother in the hospital.

[Gerri]

Jonesy,

You have a good sister. Bet she felt her birthday present was having her sweet brother leave the hospital.

My doctor gave me a free pen & a coupon for another free one with his Rx to take to the pharmacy. I bet you could get a freebie from yours, if you want pens. I actually like syringes a lot better.

[Mark_Hagen]

Well, reading everyone else’s stories I am glad I had quick onset. I was 11 and on a canoe trip for week, everything was normal. I came home on Saturday and left that afternoon for a week’s vacation at Grandma’s. Of course she gave us anything sugary we wanted. But I was drinking everything and eating everything and lost 30 of my 80 pounds in 2 days. She worked at the hospital and my late Grandpa had been diabetic, so she knew what was happening.

Off to the doctor, a few humilitating tests later. A rectal for one, unpleasant at that age. And off to the hospital. Last I heard I still hold the record for the highest BG at intake while still walking, about 960. 2 weeks in the hospital and I went home. I didn’t really get an education and had to figure things out on my own. I learned the idea of accounting for what you planned on eating or doing while still on single shots per day. A year later at diabetic camp, finally someone helped me understand some of the back ground and details.

The only I remeber about what to eat was absolutely no sugar, except while playing sports. And I had to limit my calories to 1200. We bought a book to figure out how to calculate calories.

30 years later I am still walking so something went right.

[Mattie]

I was actually just diagnosed three weeks ago, so this is all still very new to me. Last october I went on a diet, because I wanted to be in good shape since my husband and I were ready to start a family. I gave up sugars and caffeine and really started watching what i was eating. I started swimming, and I was so proud of myself that the weight was finally coming off. Since October I’ve lost nearly 70 pounds. You would think that would be a clue for me that something was wrong, but I just thought that i was doing a really great job at dieting and working out. I thought that my anxiety issues were starting to get out of control, because I was so thrirsty all the time, which I put down to dry mouth from stress. I’m something of a workaholic, so being tired all the time was the norm for me. About two weeks before my diagnosis a case of the flu was going around my office, and i thought that I caught the worst of it. People were joking that they thought I had swine flu! After two weeks of throwing up off and on, I got to the point where I couldn’t walk 20 feet without needing to sit down and rest. So I made a doctors appointment… At my appointment my BG was 487 and that was after fasting for 16 hours!! I was sent to the emergency room and admitted to the ICU to be treated for DKA, and spent the rest of the week in the hospital trying to get the sugars under control and learn about diabetes. My A1C is a little over 15, which the endocrinologist tells me means that for the previous three months my BG was on average 500 a day… now that i know what that really means I’m so shocked at how long I lived with it being that high. Thankfully the swimming and dieting made it easier on me, and gave my body a break every once and a while

I was shocked that everything could change for me so suddenly, and this wasn’t something that I ever expected to deal with, since there’s no history of diabetes in my family. So now I"m 25 and restarting my life as a type 1 diabetic. It changes our future plans, and makes us see what the priorities really are in life but we’re learning. The two weeks ups to my diagnosis are hazy, but what I remember most is being so relieved to feel spit in my mouth again, and to be able to swallow. It was so nice to NOT be thirsty that I didn’t drink anything because I didn’t have to.

It’s nice to read other peoples stories, it helps to make me feel like these thoughts and feelings are a normal part of diabetes, that I"m not alone in what’s going on.