A couple of months ago I went to the doctor, having insurance for the first time in recent years, and he ordered some standard blood work and was very thorough with questions about my symptoms and general health. I really didn't expect him to find anything cronic or serious wrong with me.
Well, to be perfectly honest, my optometrist had suggested that my vision was deteriorating too fast for normal and that diabetes can have an impact on vision. So, I did have that in the back of my mind.
A couple days later, my doctor called. Not a nurse or other staff, my actual doctor. When he said that my tests showed I was diabetic, it was hard to keep from crying until I hung up. I already had a follow-up visit scheduled but he had called prescriptions into the pharmacy and wanted me to start medication right away.
He told me that my A1C levels were high and started me on a pill and slow release insulin shot. In the age of the internet, I had to look up and see just how far away from normal my level was. Well, that was a bit shocking. Normal appears to be 5.7 or less and my level was over 10.
Not only was my newly discovered diabetes out of control, I was in danger of doing a lot of damage to other organs without treatment.
I started the medication, right away and also started pouring through websites looking for help in understanding, controlling diabetes.
My grandmother was diabetic. I really don't remember a lot about it except that she would have to give herself insulin shots and avoid sweets, which.. she wasn't always good at doing.
My father developped type 2 diabetes late in life and was mostly controlled by medication due to his other health issues. It was found that my brother had type 1 diabetes when he was about 45 and he was working very hard to keep his levels good and make lifestyle changes to keep his under control.
In hindsight, I should have expected that I would have diabetes.
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