January 1995. I had returned to my off campus home for my final semester of college and was catching up on all the mail that had accumulated from winter break including my beloved magazines. I've always been into fashion so I had all of the subscriptions - Glamour, Cosmo, Allure, Redbook, etc. One of them had a section where readers could send in questions for medical professionals - I usually glossed over this section because nothing usually applied to me until this very special issue landed in my lap.
A woman wrote in about some symptoms she was having. I had the same ones:
Constant thirst (which led to many bathroom breaks)
Weight loss (even though I was eating a lot )
Vision problems (20/20 vision to thick glasses)
Hunger (which was normal for me since I was very active all of my life)
Low energy (thought I was sad/depressed about a breakup)
The doctor replied saying that she should go to her doctor to be tested for Type 1 diabetes so I knew I needed to do the same thing.
I remember being pretty chill about it, I was probably glad to know there was a reason that I felt awful most of the time. I called home and my dad answered. "Dad, I think I have Type 1 diabetes". He said, "Okay, why don't you drive home tomorrow and we'll go to the clinic". So I did and sure enough, they confirmed my diagnosis. I am sure I was in shock and I remember worrying about not being able to eat sweets. I was assured that I could still eat sweets but would have to take insulin to keep my blood sugars in line. I was never afraid of needles and it didn't seem like a big deal. Not sure why I was so calm about everything.
So, in a short time, my life and routines completely changed. I started insulin and honestly felt so much better that I was pretty happy about things. This was before smartphones and email was just used for school stuff. Sometimes I think having less information was better - I did the best I could with what I had. I had no idea what I was in for.
Comments