Let’s Talk Diabetes: The Diagnosis
If you read my intro blog, you saw that fear was my most prevalent emotion upon being diagnosed with type 
1 diabetes at 13. Though I found a way to keep smiling (pictured right), I also felt anxiety, stress, confusion, sadness, and anger.
It was February and I was finishing up my 8th grade basketball season. Within two weeks leading up to my diagnosis I began to have a number of symptoms. It started with an extreme thirst. I felt I could chug water all day and never quench my thirst. In response, I was going to the bathroom more, which later became uncontrollable. I wet the bed and peed my pants more than once and was mortified. I’m 13 years old, why am I wetting the bed? One day at school I found myself extremely exhausted. My mother being the school counselor, I went in her office to lie down. I fell asleep almost instantly and it took her physically shaking me to wake me after hours of sleeping. I stayed home the next day where I slept almost all day. The biggest red flag was that I had lost 15 pounds in a week’s time. With symptoms accumulating, we knew a doctor’s visit was necessary.
Having no idea why I felt the way I did, I was anxious to hear the test results. When the doctor walked in and said, “You have type 1 diabetes,” all I could think was: diabetes? I don’t even know what that is! Fear is what drove me to learn what I know about the disease today. Just know if you have felt these emotions in response to a diagnosis; you aren’t alone and it’s the normal response! sy
