I grew up in a family that had relatives with Diabetes 2, none were terribly overweight, just a few pounds here and there.
While in tech school for 2 years, I went through a health craze phase (80's) along with everyone else bent on not becoming Diabetic and for the time I ate salad with no dressing, smoked and lived on coffee, I not only lost weight but went anorexic.
After a date rape made me pregnant and after the delivery of my now 27 year old gravely disabled son, life became really hard. I was a single mom, my child was disabled with a myriad of disabilities and I was struggling trying to keep up. Then I became very depressed.
I remember walking to my Dr.'s office crying so hard I was dry heaving as I made my way there. The Dr. put me on Paxil. The medication required blood tests to get a beneficial drug level in the blood. For about 6 mos, my blood tests came back normal on ALL the panels.
Then from nowhere, I started becoming extremely ill, I couldn't see straight, was starving myself because I was nauseated, thirsty and cranky. The Dr. thought anxiety and put me on Atarax but then when that didn't improve my condition after a month or so she had a hunch, a new blood test showed that my fasting glucose level was near 400 mg/dL. I was taken off Paxil and given 1 last blood test to rule out a false positive but sadly it was confirmed when my A1C came back at 14; Triglycerides over 600 mg/dL; Cholesterol over 600 mg/dL.
I've been Diabetic 2 now since 1998 and am still struggling with insulin and diet to control my blood sugars as a Carbohydrate lover. Tried all the medications, went through the Diabetic clinics, etc, the medicines just made me sick or feeling near death.
Years ago I tried a low carb diet with success. I am back on that low carb diet now 2 years later trying to reverse Diabetes 2 and drop about 100 lbs.
Fresno, CA
