Today I'm going to tell you all a story about myself. It was January 7, 2010 and I was driving home from work when I noticed that the world looked weird. There were halos around every street light and the headlights coming at me were blurry and unfocused. Getting home to my apartment I noticed the same thing- everything looked blurry, the way it does in the morning before I put my contacts in. Trouble was, I was wearing my contacts.
Next morning the opthamologist had no availability so I made the next available appointment for Monday morning and headed to America's Best Eyeglasses- I figured I could at least some better contacts to get me through the weekend. They did the eye exam and found that my vision was roughly twice as bad as it had been- that's when I started freaking out. Why was this happening? What would cause your vision to decline that badly in such a short period of time? I mentioned, just as an FYI, that I had a family history of diabetes but they paid no attention since at the time I was thinner than I am now. They suggested I follow up with the opthamologist as planned on Monday.
That weekend my parents-in-law came over to Dave's house to celebrate his birthday which had just passed. My mother-in-law, as usual, over did it on the food and I, as usual, over ate. They hadn't even departed the house that night before I got violently ill, emptying my stomach of all that delicious food. The rest of that night was like a series of dominoes falling.
Dave, who was needless to say very concerned, took to the internet to see what these symptoms were and asked me what else was going on. Was this the first time I had gotten sick like this? Well, no- now that you mention it I got got sick on Christmas eve (when I had again over-eaten), too. And hey, haven't you been really thirsty lately? For a few days I'd been making comments about being dehydrated which I related to the dry winter air and thought nothing of. What about peeing? Oh yeah, in the bathroom all the time.
By the time I walked into the doctor's office on Monday morning Dave and I had already concluded that I was about to be diagnosed with Diabetes so that's what I told her- in addition the the blurry vision I listed off my other symptoms. But she looked at me the same way that the people at America's Best had- a skinny girl who was just paranoid. She ordered the blood tests just to rule it out but advised me to buy a new contact solution to clean my lenses better thinking that would solve it (her thoughts about the other symptoms I couldn't tell you).
I just got back from Quest when my doctor- who I'd called first thing that morning to tell of the weekends events- returned my call and asked what happened. He ordered even more tests which sent me back to Quest. The rest of that day was spent with me in front of the tv desperately trying to distract myself from the catastrophic thoughts bouncing around my head.
By the time the doctor called on Wednesday to inform me of the test results I was already certain I knew what I had, he just confirmed my (and Dave's, and my parents') suspicions. My A1C was 9.3 (The A1C test measures your average blood glucose for the past 2 to 3 months. Diabetes is diagnosed at an A1C of greater than or equal to 6.5) and my blood glucose was 234 (Diabetes is diagnosed at fasting blood glucose of greater than or equal to 126 mg/dl.)
I'd always said, in a morbid joke sort-of way, that I was going to end up diabetic because my father and just about everyone else on his side of the family has it. But I never dreamed that at age 27 with a perfectly normal BMI and weight I'd be receiving the diagnosis.
If you have a family history of this disease make sure that every professional on your healthcare team knows it and get yourself tested (the most common/easiest diagnostic test is the A1C). If you've been told that you are pre-diabetic (an A1C in a higher than average range which suggests the disease may develop) then make the changes you need to make to your diet and exercise level. I've known quite a lot of people who upon being told they were prediabetic massively overhauled their diet and are now fit and healthy.
The good news with all this is that the changes you need to make are the same changes that support good health overall- diabetes, heart disease, and several cancers are all linked to same the unhealthy lifestyle which means that if you get healthy you slash your chances of developing any of those issues. If you'd like further information on early screening please visit www.diabetes.org or take their test to determine if you may be at risk.
Please visit the other healthy hoppers to learn more about health and early detection!
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