No More Needles

Photo by David McDaniel / VOX Staff

By LaShay Jackson / VOX Staff

When I was a kid, I loved to eat all kinds of foods, from French fries to pizza, from Starburst candies to sweet potato pie. But when I was in the 7th grade, just 13 years old, I found out that I couldn’t eat these things anymore.

I was diagnosed with diabetes.

My body couldn’t properly produce the insulin needed to convert all the sugar and starches in my body into energy. When diabetes goes unchecked, the extra sugars in your blood can lead to many problems, including heart disease, strokes, blindness, nerve damage, kidney problems and even death. In fact, diabetes is the fifth deadliest disease in the United States, according to the American Diabetes Association. Nearly 21 million U.S. children and adults suffer from diabetes, an amazing 7 percent of the population. And most of them (6.2 million) aren’t even aware they have the disease.

However, diabetes can be controlled by medicine, specifically insulin injections or pills. And luckily, as I found out, it’s even possible for people who have diabetes to get off medication altogether.

Diagnosis and Prognosis
The road to my diagnosis started when I just wasn’t feeling my usual self. It seemed like I was always thirsty and sleepy. After school, all I could do was go to sleep. And even after I woke up, I was still tired. The only place I wanted to be was in my bed. My mom was concerned about me, and she finally took me to see the doctor. In his office, my mother and I sat nervously waiting with nothing to look at but four sterile walls and some old magazines. After about 20 minutes, the doctor came in, looked at me, asked a few questions, and said that he suspected I was a diabetic, but he would need to take some blood tests to make sure. He could pretty much tell what was wrong with me by the symptoms that I described — dehydration, frequent urination and fatigue. Another thing which led him to believe I was a diabetic was that my dad, grandmother and grandfather all had diabetes, too. Diabetes is often hereditary, which basically means that you can inherit it from a relative . You can live your life right and still get sick. The blood tests came back confirming that I did indeed have diabetes.

My mother and I reacted somewhat differently to the news. My mother said she pretty much knew what was wrong with me before I even went to the doctor because of our family history with the disease, and the fact that she was older and wiser than me. As for me, I really never showed my feelings so I just kept them to myself. I acted like nothing had changed in my life.

But behind the strong front I put up, I was scared and confused. I was scared because I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. Thoughts of dying at a young age raced through my mind, of going into a diabetic coma and being hospitalized, of suffering a stroke or losing a limb. And deep down I knew from that day forward that my life would have to change. I could no longer eat what I wanted to. I could no longer avoid exercising.

A Trip to the Hospital
Even scarier was that my diabetes was so out of control my doctor sent me straight to the hospital. I had never been in the hospital before, and I didn’t know what to expect. I thought, Oh my God, what is going to happen to me? I didn’t know what to do or how to feel.

I feared my experience in the hospital was going to be terrible and painful, but it turned out to be not all that bad. I had a room to myself and a TV, which I watched all the time to take my mind off of what was going on. Meanwhile, the doctors and nurses struggled to get my blood sugar under control. I was put on insulin immediately. As my blood sugar went up and down, the nurses gave me as many as four to five shots a day to bring them to normal. Getting stuck in the arm, stomach and leg wasn’t much fun. I grew to hate the smell of insulin — it has a strong chemical odor that made me sick to my stomach. Later, insulin shots would become a part of my everyday life so I eventually got used to the smell.

I was in the hospital for about three days, including my mom’s birthday. Then I had to adapt to the reality of living with diabetes.

Adapting to my Disease
Not only did I have to stay on insulin, but I had to give myself the shots twice a day. At first, it hurt a little. But the needles weren’t very big, so it really wasn’t that scary or painful. Most times I didn’t even feel a sting. I had to rotate where I gave myself shots between my arm and my stomach because if I gave myself shots in the same place, I’d get little bumps on my skin and it would get tender. There were a lot of times when I definitely didn’t want to take the insulin, but I knew I had to because my life depended on it.

Much more difficult than the shots, I had to change the way I ate and exercised. It was hard because I had never really watched what I ate, and I didn’t exercise as much as I needed to. I ate foods that were baked and broiled. I only ate out every other weekend, and that was only if I went two weeks staying away from the foods I wasn’t supposed to eat — candy, cookies, desserts and fried foods. Also, I joined a gym and worked out almost every day. I walked on the treadmill and lifted weights, doing both cardiovascular exercise and working my muscles. I also had to take two different pills, Glucophage and Avandia, to help manage my blood sugar and curb my appetite so that I wouldn’t eat as much.

I went to the doctor regularly for check-ups. By changing my diet and exercising, there was a big difference. During nine months, I lost about 30 pounds, and my blood-sugar levels lowered significantly.

One day I went in to the doctor, had my blood drawn, and he came in to tell me that I could stop taking the insulin. My blood sugar levels were back to normal. I was so relieved that I wouldn’t have to give myself shots anymore. A huge burden — and a huge fear — were taken off my shoulders. My family was also thrilled. I still had to take my pills for awhile, but that was easy to do.

Returning to a Normal Life
When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I thought I would be on insulin and medication forever. I thought I’d never be able to live the “normal” life that most people have. But today, at age 18, I am not taking insulin or any diabetic medication. There is no cure for diabetes, so I consider it a miracle and a blessing that somehow I can control my blood sugar without medication. I have to watch what I eat and try to exercise regularly. Even people who don’t have diabetes should do this. It’s one way you can reduce your risk of suffering from many different diseases.

After I was diagnosed, I used to ask myself, Why does all this have to happen to me? I never knew exactly why, but as I got older and started to mature, I realized that everything happens for a reason. Out of this bad experience, something good did come out of the situation. By dealing with diabetes, I’ve learned to appreciate life more and not take things for granted.

LaShay is a freshman at Georgia State.