Michelle�s 'D' Story
written by Michelle
Here in Louisiana, it's hot sometimes, and on the days you least expect it. I noticed that I was thirsty extremely often lately, but I thought it was just the heat that goes up and down, so I did not think it was anything to worry about. Then, the weather cooled down dramatically, and I was still constantly thirsty. I decided to not worry about it, though.
I am not someone to worry about my weight; I had a decent figure, so I did not care too much. However, in a period of about 2 weeks I noticed I looked dramatically thinner - even boney. I stepped on the scale and found out I lost 16 pounds. I wondered why and realized maybe I wasn't eating as much as I used to, so I started "stuffing my face", but I was still losing weight. Some of my friends noticed how much thinner I was and they commented, but still I did not know why. As I was losing weight, I was also feeling weaker, like when I ran around the track, I could no longer even run 2 1/4 mile laps without stopping, when I used to be able to run at least 8 at a steady pace. I also felt shaky at times, and I thought all the weakness and shakyness was part of my losing weight, but I thought maybe it was just stress, since I was failing 3 subjects in school and my folks were mad, so they grounded me, and because there were rumors that my boyfriend (who I was and am in love with, seriously) broke up with me for another girl, and even though that doesn't sound like much stress, it is more than you realize.
One day, I woke up and my vision was slightly blurred. I thought I was just tired because waking up at 6 isn�t always easy, especially if you go to bed at 2. So the day went by, and when I was driving home from school with my best friend, my vision became a little more blurred and I crashed into some other car, not realizing how close I was. When I got home from school, I decided maybe I would have to face reality and face the fact that maybe there was something wrong with me. I read all about stress, and no one had stress symptoms as severe as mine were, so I told my mom, and she made a worried face and took me to the doctor. So I went to the doctor and he asked me all about my symptoms, and then he gave me a blood test and said he'd call us and tell us our results.
In a little less than a week, the doctor called about a week later and said that I was a diabetic, and I was not extremely surprised, because diabetes runs in my family, even though I did not know a thing about it, because I never gave it much thought.
On my 1st week after being dx'd, I was extremely upset about it all, but then I decided that worrying will get me nowhere and I should just try to enjoy life and realize that it is something I must deal with, and as
for now (dx'd 02/01), I have diabetes pretty well under control, but I will continue to have to adjust.
Michelle