It has been such a long time since I have posted that I’m struggling to find the words to continue my story.
Where was I, indeed? Ah, the not diabetic area, this is where!
A few days after my big discovery, I’ve scheduled an appointment with my GP. You might ask why wait a few days – a perfectly valid question. Sadly, it was during the public holidays that I found out that my blood sugars were all over the place so I had nothing better to do but wait. I have been told that I’d need to wait another week for the appointment once I finally managed to call the practice.
My GP was very nice and sympathetic and was very keen to listen to my story. When I mentioned to her that I might be T2 diabetic, she just laughed and said that I can’t be because I’m so skinny! Skinny-shaming much, LOL!
Anyway, upon hearing about my high blood sugar levels, she referred me to do a comprehensive blood test straight away – which I was happy to comply with.
My lab results confirmed high blood sugar levels, as well as high HbA1C (100mmol/mol). The doctor scheduled a follow-up appointment the following day to discuss the results.
A full day of waiting – and I get a call at the scheduled time.
“I hate to break the news but it looks like you have a Type 1 diabetes. Your blood sugars are very high, you also tested positive for T1DM antibodies and it looks like your C-Peptide levels are lower than the normal range.”
When asked if there was any other possible diagnosis, she said no.
“We are going to put you on insulin straight away, please come back to the practice on Monday, and the nurse will show you all the how-to’s.”
She sounded very sympathetic and I think it made it worse that I was choking on silent tears, trying to stay positive and not break down in the middle of the conversation.
“At this stage, doctors are not sure what causes this type of diabetes. It is an autoimmune condition and the possible causes are infections, environmental toxins or something else entirely – but nobody knows for sure.”
“Is there any other known treatment for this?”
“I’m afraid no.”
I thanked my doctor and put the phone down. Then I fell on to the floor and broke down into tears.
You might be asking – what’s the big deal, it’s just insulin! You inject a dose every day and get on with your life.
I guess, for some people, this would be their reaction to this diagnosis, which is perfectly fine. Me, I’ve always been a follower of an alternative/holistic medicine approach and have never taken any medication except for some painkillers / antibiotics.
Realising that from that minute on my whole life depended on an external medicine was quite depressing news.
I shared the news with my husband once he got home that day, and spent another 15 minutes crying uncontrollably. Depressing, I know.
Still, the optimist in me gathered the facts and tried to come up with a solution – even if just a short-term, experimental one.
- Fact: I still had 3 days until my appointment with the diabetes nurse.
- Fact: I don’t have to start injecting insulin until then.
- Fact: I don’t have to start injecting insulin until then.
The optimist in me came up with a plan to do keto diet, combined with OMAD (one meal a day), accompanied by some heavy lifting. Extreme, I know – a lot of people would probably moan at me right now for this approach being too radical – but I needed a radical approach if I wanted to get radical results!
With 3 days to go, my glucose experiment started…