Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum. My name is Shannon, and I'm 25 years old. I'm married and the mother of two wonderful girls, ages 4 and 6 months. I quit my job as a Chiropractic Assistant at the beginning of March to stay home with my kids. My 4 year old was really missing me and having some issues surrounding that, and I'm breastfeeding my baby and found that as time went on, my work was less and less supportive of me pumping or having to take time off for sick kids/no babysitter. So I threw in the towel! Over the following week, I started losing weight (well, I'm nursing, it's baby weight, and not eating out for lunch every day anymore, why not?). I started getting really thirsty, especially at night (again, I'm nursing and I was consciously trying to add more water into my day, so why not?). I was up peeing 3-5 times a night (but I was drinking so much water!). I was exhausted (well, yeah, 2 kids is tiring and I haven't slept through the night in years!). My eyesight, over a period of days, went from not bad to not being able to read anything or drive. That's when I decided I needed to get those checked. How strange of myopia to show up at this stage in my life, but I guessed I probably needed glasses. I went to my PCP first because I was uncertain of what kind of vision coverage I have through my health insurance. My doctor looked me over, said she didn't detect anything, set me up with an eye doctor who asked her to check my blood sugar on the way out the door. Thank goodness they did! The only thing I had eaten in nearly 18 hours was a small bowl of Cheerios. My blood sugar was 425.
Fast forward two weeks: I'm on 4 daily insulin injections, my endocrinologist says I'm Type 1 (even though I begged him to reconsider - blood work, however, doesn't lie and is a bit more solid than professional opinion). I'm still making a little insulin but it's on it's way out apparently. Tweaking my insulin requirements is scary, I have a hypoglycemic episode nearly every day, with yesterday's being the worst. Not to forget the unexplained highs approaching 300 on the same days... it's very confusing and frustrating. I feel deprived and angry. I wish someone would hold my hand throughout this entire process, not just say "You have an incurable autoimmune disease, here are some needles, here's how you use them, see you in a month."
Anyways, there's a lot more to my story, as there is to everyone's story. But I've rambled on for too long and my daughter is going to be late for preschool (my eyes have gotten better and I can drive again, don't worry!). That's my diagnosis in a nutshell (albeit a large shell!).
Shannon
Fast forward two weeks: I'm on 4 daily insulin injections, my endocrinologist says I'm Type 1 (even though I begged him to reconsider - blood work, however, doesn't lie and is a bit more solid than professional opinion). I'm still making a little insulin but it's on it's way out apparently. Tweaking my insulin requirements is scary, I have a hypoglycemic episode nearly every day, with yesterday's being the worst. Not to forget the unexplained highs approaching 300 on the same days... it's very confusing and frustrating. I feel deprived and angry. I wish someone would hold my hand throughout this entire process, not just say "You have an incurable autoimmune disease, here are some needles, here's how you use them, see you in a month."
Anyways, there's a lot more to my story, as there is to everyone's story. But I've rambled on for too long and my daughter is going to be late for preschool (my eyes have gotten better and I can drive again, don't worry!). That's my diagnosis in a nutshell (albeit a large shell!).
Shannon
