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The Young and the Reckless
I'm about to tell you a secret that I've kept for 15 years. I know that we all make mistakes with our diabetes, but the one I made back then was literally a wake-up call. While I cringe at telling this unflattering story, I hope that it will help others realize how scary things can get quickly if you ignore your diabetes. Thankfully, the scenario that unfolded all those years ago helped bring me out of my reckless state and showed me the way to a better life with diabetes.
At the time, everyone thought I was just fine. I had a job as a 911 dispatcher and looked perfectly healthy on the outside, but I wasn't taking my diabetes seriously enough. When my roommate told me that he had an extra room at a posh resort in Mexico, I eagerly accompanied him to a week-long vacation in Cancun.
Although I usually didn't drink very often, from the time we landed in paradise I drank heavily nearly every day. I figured that it was vacation, so I sipped pina coladas on the beach at lunch, knocked back glasses of wine at dinner, and drank shots late into the night. I was young and thought that I was having fun. The week went by quickly and my insulin became less and less effective due to the intense heat. I knew my blood sugars were high, but I thought I'd be okay because we'd be home soon. I figured that I'd deal with my diabetes then.
Once home, I stopped at the store to have some photos developed and get my new insulin. I had about twenty minutes to kill before everything was ready. Suddenly, as I was paging through a magazine, everything went dark and I fell, hitting my head on the magazine rack and again on the hard tile floor. I was bruised, unconscious, and alone. A fellow shopper called the paramedics and watched over me until they arrived.
I woke up in the emergency room confused and disoriented. I couldn't recall anything after looking at the magazine. The doctor asked me if I knew why I was there, and I responded that my blood sugar must have gone low. He replied that my sugars had been quite high when they found me and that it must have been something else.
I was forbidden to drive until medical staff figured out what had caused me to lose consciousness. They didn't want me operating a vehicle on the chance that I could black out behind the wheel. I had a frenzy of tests, including a brain MRI and an EKG. My brain, although clearly stubborn, was fine. In fact, they couldn't find anything wrong. That's when I had to come clean with the neurologist about my behavior leading up to the blackout. After I'd confessed the embarrassing details about my carelessness with my diabetes, he agreed that it was probably the cause of my blackout.
Diabetes is dangerous and unforgiving if you choose to ignore it. Waking up in that cold emergency room made me wake up to my responsibility to keep my body healthy. Although the bruising on my face healed quickly, the memories are still there. Young people with diabetes don't think that anything will ever happen to them. I learned never to turn my back on diabetes again.
Categories: Blood Sugar, Blood Sugar Basics, Blood Sugar Highs and Lows, Blood Sugar Level, Blood Sugars, Diabetes, Diabetes Health, Insulin
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Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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Comments
Thanks for your honesty and guts in telling your story! I too have had diabetes for so long and hope other people can learn from my mistakes. I enjoy reading your perspective:-)
I, too, very much appreciate your honesty and hearing your experiences.
I have an almost 17 year old son with Type 1. I am so scared and worried. He frequently tests only once a day, often skips insulin, and certainly doesn't want any advice from me, his mom. He has occasional good days when he takes good care of himself, but mostly not. I just don't know how to help him. I wonder how long he can go without doing serious damage.
Thanks for sharing that. It often seems that one of harder aspects of having diabetes is actually accepting that you have it. With insulin or meds it's tempting to just carry on with a "normal" life, especially when you're young and bullet-proof. Thanks for the reality check!
Are you T1 or T2? How high was your blood sugar? Is that what caused you to black out?
Thank you for your story. I'm still learning about my Type 1 diabetes.
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