Inspiring Stories

Type 2 Rookie

I learned in June 2012 I was T2 during a visit to my new Primary Care Doctor. She was drawing blood for several tests and suddenly did a finger prick. 5 minutes later, she announced my A1c was 7.5 and I was Diabetic. I had no clue what she was saying. I weighed 275 then and since have dropped to 180, use Metformin and Lisonipril and managed to cut way down on white sugar--almost zero intake, Kids. I exercise as regularly as I can at a nearby gym. I am pursuing an acting career these days and it so far does a great job of eluding me. I am also a 14 year Hodgkins survivor. My Diabetic problem areas at this point are depression, stress and neuropathy pains--back mostly. But in April '13 a Home A1c was 5.8! I'm pretty much a stumbling fumbling failure at everything except managing my Diabetes. Honestly, it doesn't take much effort on my part. Maybe that's why I manage it so well? I must confess, I hate looking at all those pics of various fancy foods we can eat. Kids, there is much more to life and living than food! Get off your butts and LIVE!

John Lucas
Jacksonville, FL

Could it happen to me aswel?

Thursday November 11th 2010 is a day that I will never forget! I was 15, happy, full of life and doing my GCSE's, until I started to get sick. I was going through 5 to 6 litres of water a day in school and even more at home. I would get home from school at just drink straight from the tap because I was so thirsty! I thought it was just a phase and tried to ignore it. Then my eyes started getting blurry, so bad that I had to move to the front of the class, to read the board, and even then my friend had to read out what was on the board. Also came the tiredness, I would get home from school, drink loads then fall asleep until my mum would get home from work with my sister and wake me up. This went on for about a month. I had to sit down all the time, was falling asleep, and we would go out to our friends houses and my sister's friend would laugh at my and say I had a sleeping disorder which made me really self conscious.
I think deep down I knew what was wrong with me, but I just thought it can't happen to me as well; my younger sister (who is five years younger then me) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2007, and I thought that it couldn't happen to me too, could it?
I eventually realised something was really wrong when I carried 8 bottles of water up to my bedroom to study because I knew 1 would never be enough so I decided to tell my parents what was going on, and my mum took my to the doctors, I explained my symptoms and with the history with my sister they did a test and told me there and then. I remember just being numb and in denial.
2 and a half years on I am 18, on an insulin pump, happy, healthy and going off to University.
Thankyou to mum, dad and my sister for everything!

Grace
Wales, United Kingdom

Dumb Luck

I titled my story Dumb Luck because thats how I found out about my health issues.

In December 2008 while at my job I began to feel really dizzy. I went home that night and thought to myself I'll just lay down for a while and I'll feel better. When my wife came home I was still feeling dizzy and she said we're gong to the emergency room.

BP 210/137.....WOW

I was admitted and stayed for 3 days in intensive care. After being released I had a prescription for lisinopril and went on about my business.

I really didn't think about my BP all that much I took the pills until the scrip ran out and then I forgot about it.

About 2 years later I found out I had to take a physical to get a certificate for my job as a truck driver. They check BP and I knew I was going to have to go back to a doctor.

I just picked some guy out of the phone book and made an appointment. Turned out to be the best move I could have made.
Dude was totally cool hooked me up with free meds for BP and got me on a prescription for a pretty inexpensive med. (I didn't have insurance at the time)

Dumb Luck

Of course I didn't take care of myself again and had to go back. I couldn't afford the meds for BP anymore and the doc suggested I enter a drug study he was doing. I agreed and went to the first appointment.

Part of the study involved taking blood for tests. That was on a Friday.

The following Monday I get a call from the nurse doing the study.

Fasting BG 295.....WOW.....I'm diabetic

Dumb Luck

Since then I have lost a lot of weight and I take 1 to 3 shots of Novolog per day depending on my BG numbers. My current average BG number is 160 which as I understand it is tolerable according to my doc.

Don't leave it to Dumb Luck.

Take care of it!

Dan Johnson
Maple Heights, OH

My Story

hello, Okay so my name is Caitlin. I'm 16 years of age, and I was diagnosed a diabetic in February 2013. I was taken to the hospital because at the time I had a bladder infection and we thought it went to my kidneys. The doctors took me into the emergency I was in that room for about a day. The doctors gave me morphine, thinking it was a kidney infection.
Nothing seemed to be working, so the doctor was going to send me home, thinking I was fine. Before I left, I took some tests just to make sure. It turns out if I was going to go home, I would have died that night, or a few nights later. When the doctor came in, he was in such a rush. He told me I was a diabetic. From that moment, I bursted into tears. I thought that if I told people, they would make fun of me because I was so fat. That day my blood sugar was 72. I ended up staying a few nights while being connected with 3 ivs.
Currently, I still don't know if I'm type one, or two. But I do know that I will get through this and I'm not alone. Diabetes is really hard to deal with. It's exhausting, but I won't give up. I will continue to fight.

Caitlin Martens
Winnipeg, Canada

diabetes

Well....I have 3 girls ages 10-8-5 and the 10 and 5 year old are both T1s . I'm self employed so no insurance so yes life is hard but I don't kniw if ied change anything. We are involved with jdrf and Chris Jarvis at ichallengediabetes.com we do things with them that I believe we would not do if it wasn't for diabetes my girls are strong more independent and thankful then I could ever hope for. the stress at some time can be unbearable as apparent with kids with diabetes I look for support other family so I hosts events like poker night for 1 dads, fishing trip and camping events and just get togethers in general. I strongly suggest that you look up your local jdrf and get connected to the many resources they provide.

Ron
kitchener, Canada

The War on Diabetes

I have Type 2 Diabetes, and I affectionately call my life the "War on Diabetes." I refuse to sit and let Diabetes take my kidneys, my sight, my feet, cause me to have a heart attack, or any other negative. I intend to stay out of the hospital for many more years.

I am almost 53 years old, and I was diagnosed in March of 2006, seven years ago. It was really just an accident I was diagnosed at that time, although I had symptoms. I am in good physical shape from working out religiously since I was 25, and when I was diagnosed I weighed about the same as now. So, why did I develop Diabetes? It runs in my family.

I have a moderate case of Peripheral Neuropathy in my right foot and leg. My foot is numb, and my calf, is somewhat numb, too. I have learned to walk, run, and move okay. No doc will confirm this, but I developed two running induced stress fractures in my right leg over an 18 month period. I was not a lifelong runner, so I retired from running. Hopefully no more bone troubles.

Now, in addition to going to the gym to lift weights 3-4 times per week, I have become a cyclist. I'm riding up to 20 miles or so at a time, and my initial goal for mileage is 40 miles.

I write about my War on Diabetes on a social media network so I can perhaps help others to see you can live with Diabetes, and not only live a normal life, but live a life full of expectation for the accomplishment of goals. Hang in there, and take charge. Join up with me in Fighting the War on Diabetes!

Les Biffle
Welch, TX

I'm a survivor

I am a mother of three, married and this year I turn 50. Eleven years ago, while my husband was in Kuwait on active duty with the Army, i got really sick. I could not get up and even sweep the house because I would see tiny lights, get dizzy, no air in my lungs and my stomach was getting really big. My sister came to visit and got worried, so she forced me to go with her to her Dr. To make a long story short, I was operated to remove a cancerous tumor in my ovaries. It was 7 pounds and huge!! The thing is, this huge tumor was pressuring my pancreas, and my pancreas was pressuring my lounges. The thing is by my pancreas being pressured, the part that generates the insulin in my body was damaged and I was diagnosed with diabetes type I. They just told me that and gave me a prescription for insulin and that was it. For the first years, I lost weight, and when I would check my sugar levels, they were always high. I did not understand why, because I was injecting myself as instructed. Finally, I get a new Doctor, which by the way, is now our life changing family doctor, he took his time to teach me how diabetes damages your body, how to eat, and everything that, as of today, has my sugar levels under control, I have gained weight, but with daily walking, exercise and drinking my glasses of water. I do have nerve damage in my feet and hands, because of the years out of control. There is no cure for this, but I have learned to live with the situation and accept help from my family. There are things I cannot do, but the one or two I still can, like cooking ( my passion), and I enjoy it. I have everyone at home with the same diet. You should do the same and help your loved ones to a new way of life.

Carol
SAN LORENZO, PR

Emphasis On Living

I am living with diabetes. It is a constant struggle when food is an enemy, when carbs are not comforting, when sugar is not so sweet. I was diagnosed with diabetes 4 years ago. I suspect that due to my lack of insurance I had diabetes even before that but didn’t know it. Even when I was diagnosed I didn’t take it seriously. I lied about my blood sugar to my doctor, didn’t take my medicine, ate poorly, was very sedentary all the things that you should NOT do when you have diabetes. About a year and a half ago I was still in denial. About two weeks before my 41st birthday my life changed dramatically. I had two ischemic strokes in less than a week. A month later I had a very mild stroke on the way to visit my family. Five months later I ended up in the hospital for a week with a severe kidney infection and E coli poisoning, which would have killed me if I had not gone to the hospital. All of these things happened due to my diabetes. Boy oh boy, I really did it this time. I decided that I could no longer be in denial, no longer ‘skirt around’ diabetes, I had to make a change to save my life. I took some classes to help me better understand my diabetes, I changed my eating habits, became more active. I am doing better today. My blood sugar is much better and I am more active. I still struggle with my diabetes, fall off the wagon and eat poorly sometimes and can still be a bit sedentary. I was scared when all of this happened but now I see it as a blessing. I am living with diabetes, emphasis on living.

Anonymous
Garden Grove, CA

My diabetes

Hi, I'm Emma,
I'm 19 years old,
I got diagnosed with diabetes type 1, 4 months ago now,
It was a shock, even though i had every symptom for months,
You just don't expect these things to happen to you.
I got Admitted to hospital for 5 days, two of those days being
in emergancy. I seen 2 diaticians, 2 diabetes educators,
The head boss of medicine, I seen at least 15 different
People all trying to explain to me what was happening because
I had no clue on what diabetes does to you or anything.
I got out of hospital and struggled for a while with what to do,
I still now struggle as I need a little bit more information on my levels and
Things but am doing a DAFNE course in September to help me,
After finding out I had diabetes, 2 weeks later I then found out I have
Thyroid disease as well, which is another thing I didn't know a lot about.
I had probably the worst month of my life. Everything just came
Tumbling down in the matter of seconds. I felt like I was the only one
To deal with this, I felt like no one cared
Having diabetes is hard, all I worry about is if my levels are okay, &
What I can and can't eat, my levels are still all over the place,
I did want to be a chef, but being around food that some I couldn't eat
Would really frustrate me, not sure now on what I want to do as a courier.
Just wanted to share this story as, I do find it hard to live with this some days
It's frustrating & really does make me upset a lot of the time.
My hope is to get a cure one day :)

Emma
Yarrawonga, Australia

My diabetes!

I was 9 years old when I found out I had type 1 diabetes. I knew nothing about it, I found out because I constantly stayed tired, thirty, and I lost over 30 pounds over Christmas break. My doctor sent me to lexington children's hospital, where I stayed for 2 weeks. I was scared because, like I said I knew nothing about my disease. They finally released me, and reading anything about diabetes made me realize, I'm not different, I'm just not as healthy as other kids. As the years went on, to this day I am 17 years old, my body started to shut down on me, as I was on vacation, and I got sent to Tennessee's hospital. Where I was in ICU for almost a week. It scared me, I had friends and family, I couldn't be this young and die!? I prayed to god every night, and he healed me, now I take so good of my sugar and keep it under control the best way I can, of course I crave those sweets, but I think to myself. Either it's me and my health and body, or food that could kill me. I'm so thankful for my supporting family and friends to help me through all this, and never giving up on me! This is me 3 weeks later from, being out of ICU, and living life!

Gracie Mullins
Mcroberts, KY