Type 2 at 22 | My Diabetes Story
As my 23rd birthday is quickly approaching, I wanted to share my story about my new diagnosis and how I found out I was diabetic. It has not been an easy journey and there have been a lot of bad days, but I'm still learning more about this chronic disease and I have faith that I can maintain a healthier lifestyle. I find that I am at an age where I should be at my prime, but instead, I feel that my health is declining at such a young age. I hope this inspires people to remember to take care of themselves, and that their health and well-being should come first. School, work, bills, etc. and more can always wait, but your health won't. It is better to be proactive than reactive and that is something I truly regret, but it's ok, because it is never too late to start taking care of yourself.
Let's take it back to my Spring 2016 semester.
There were days where I would not get out of bed for anything. I could sleep for 12 hours, wake up, and still be tired and I never understood why. I never attended my classes, and it is a miracle that I even managed to pass them. Being constantly lethargic really affected my productivity, my motivation, my social life, and even my relationship. I started to question if I was going through something, I started to think that I was depressed. Towards the end of the semester, I was over everything.
Summer 2016
I was happy that summer was approaching and I could sleep in all I wanted. I took summer courses so I stayed at my apartment and apart from those classes, I just slept. I didn't go out, I didn't see friends, I basically did not have a summer. The only person I really saw was my boyfriend and looking back on that whole summer, I realized we didn't really do much. There was a day when we went to our favorite park for a walk (and play Pokemon haha) and I stopped in my tracks and started breathing very heavily and my chest started pounding. I couldn't breathe and I joked "Wow, I am really out of shape". I thought nothing of it, but my boyfriend was really worried because he pointed out that it wasn't the first time I would start breathing like that.
When I did go home for some time, my parents were really concerned about me and was worried that something was wrong. They kept encouraging me to go to the doctors and get bloodwork done, but I was really stubborn about it. Eventually, they held a ceremony at my house to ward away evil spirits and ask for protection from our ancestors (Yes, kind of dramatic). And to help our family and they even sprinkled in a little prayer for me.
There was a night when I was alone in my apartment and I was laying down, and suddenly, my heart was pounding out of my chest. It felt like I was having the worst anxiety attack ever. It literally felt like my heart was going to explode. But, yet again, I failed to really do anything about it because I was caught up in figuring out my fall schedule. I told myself that I didn't have time for this, I have to focus on school!
Fall 2016
School was starting and all of my focus was on just that. I still haven't been feeling well, constant hot flashes, lethargic, dizziness, and my chest pains, but I brushed all of that aside. I even started developing weird shoulder and back pains, which was constant and painful. I would ask my boyfriend for a massage every night before bed.
Fast forward to October 3rd, I got my period.
As if periods aren't already hell.... Along with the usual period problems, I felt pain in my abdomen, was bloated and was constantly peeing and urinating was painful...I never had one before, but now I understand. UTIs are the WORST. I never ever had a UTI before in my life, and I was SHOOK. It was so annoying, and because I didn't know how to deal with it, it took over my whole day. I ended up taking some cranberry pills and juice as I hear that it helps. Along with that, I drank lots of water. That night, my UTI felt like it was getting better and some of the symptoms went away.
October 4th was the day I woke up feeling absolutely CRAZY.
I did not attend any of my classes that day because I woke up feeling worse than before. I was bloated, was having hot flashes, and I was having some serious back pain. It was Taco Tuesday and my roommates, some friends, and I wanted to go out to drink, eat, and have some fun. Not wanting to be left out, I joined them. We ended up at Chilis and they all noticed that I was chugging waters left and right and we all joked about it. My back pain was persisting, but I didn't want to be the Debbie Downer. When I came home, I did some googling because I just did not feel right. I was having pains on the side of my back, and after some research, I found out that it is called Flank Pain, which is more serious, and that I should go see a doctor. I suspected that it was simply a UTI turned Kidney Infection, which can be fixed with some form of antibiotic. I was hunched over my bed in so much pain, so my sister drove me to the Emergency Room. Upon arrival, I was given a urine test, and explained everything to the doctor on call. I even did a CT scan and an ultrasound because the pain was near my kidneys.
We were there for so long that it was now October 5th.
I was chillin with my IV fluid bags when the doctor came to talk to me.
Doctor:
"Everything looks normal, but after running some tests, we noticed that your blood sugar was 400."
Me:
"..ok"
Doctor:
"Basically, even if a person were to eat an entire cake and check their blood sugar after, it wouldn't even be that high. You should be in a coma right now"
Me:
"...........oh......"
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Normal blood glucose numbers
Normal blood glucose numbers
Fasting
Normal for person without diabetes: 70–99 mg/dl
Official ADA recommendation for someone with diabetes: 80–130 mg/dl
2 hours after meals
Normal for person without diabetes: Less than 140 mg/dl
Official ADA recommendation for someone with diabetes: Less than 180 mg/dl
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Through the blood work, they found that my Hemoglobin A1c was 10.6 (should be under 7.00%)
Meaning that my blood sugar averaged about 258 for the past three months.
I really did not know how I was supposed to react or feel. My dad and my maternal grandmother has diabetes, but I didn't really think much of it until then. Everything made sense from there. It explained how I was feeling the past couple of months and it was a lot to take in. Even other doctors that I have been seeing were shocked to see that someone my age (22) developed Type 2 diabetes. Usually, in young people, Type 1 is more prominent. One of the doctors said to me,
"If someone told me a 22-year-old developed type 2, I would think that person is morbidly obese!"
I am 5'2 weighing about 150 lbs. I am a bit overweight for my height, but I am not obese!
Since then, I've been in and out of doctors, seeing my primary physician on campus, my endocrinologist, and going to diabetes education with my nutritionist/dietician. I will be writing another blog about the medication that I am taking, my new diet, and workout routine. This is just a post about the events that led up to my diagnosis, but it was quite the journey reevaluating everything. I never really thought about how serious diabetes was, it is, after all, a chronic disease, but I am learning more about it and how it affects me and how I will have to manage it for the rest of my life.
There is no cure for diabetes, but it is manageable. You make the conscious decision of what you put into your body and how you take care of it. You can live a normal life as long as you manage it well. That is one thing I am glad for. It has forced me to be mindful of the foods I eat and to be one with my own body. I now know what it feels like to have a low or high blood sugar and I can differentiate the signs and be proactive to it. I've had blood sugars close to 500, and blood sugars as low as 50. I am learning to understand my body and reacting to when I don't feel well. I am learning to put myself first and to take care of me. I hope this post was helpful and gave you some inspiration to take care of yourself first!
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