Living With Diabetes... How I Chose Not to be my Diagnosis

"Type 1 is like being hit by lightening. It happens sometimes, and it's not anybody's fault." says Steven Griffen, MD, and Vice President for JDRF (formally called the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) 

Yes, I was hit by that lightening bolt 2 years ago, after being told I too had type 1 diabetes! Excuse my language, but my first thought was how in the hell do I have diabetes!?

In 2016, I made huge diet changes, started working out non-stop, and lost 38 pounds. I felt the best I had felt in years. 

I continued the lifestyle changes, good eating habits and consistently was at the gym no less than 3 days a week. Life was still stressful, but I was making sure to take the mental self help steps to heal and be healthy and balanced. I felt physically healthy, and mentally healthy, more so than I had since high school. 

Then the bolt of lightening strikes out of the blue, extreme fatigue, thirst, dizziness, a numb feeling all over. I was really scared. I had never had health issues in my life and this hit me hard. One day, at work, I was walking down the hallway and my vision became so blurry and I felt heavy, like I couldn't walk. I knew something had to be done, so we ran the typical lab work to check blood sugar. One year before, my blood sugar was a perfect 88. This year it was 168 while fasting (normal should be around 100). 

I was caught completely off guard. I started treating it naturally by being really strict with my diet, absolutely no carbs or sugar, but still my levels were elevated. 

Thank you to Shelby for being my guiding light through this craziness. Without her I would have been lost. She pointed me in direction of a specialist, who would soon tell me the shocking news... I did not want to believe I had type 1 diabetes at 48 years young. It was not what I was planning on hearing, but that's what it was, and that is what I live with, day in and day out. 

But I have chosen to accept this as my new me and the old me didn't walk out of the doctors office that day. I have to accept and live with checking my blood sugar multiple times during the day and sometimes at night too. Then there's insulin dosing long term, daily shots and insulin dosing at meal times too. Diabetes is a lot more than just giving yourself shots. It can rule your world if you let it... I chose not to. 

I continue to take the supplements to support my pancreas and endocrine system. I truly believe this is the saving grace to not having to take large amounts of insulin to stay in range. 

I live a very active lifestyle. I still go to the gym, work outside in the yard, hunt and fish with my husband, go to various sporting events supporting my family. I pretty much demand that my life doesn't change, only when I can't help the lows and have to take a break to regulate again. 

I can't tell you what caused this in my life and I don't look for an explanation from anyone. What I can tell you is never take your health for granted. It can change as fast as lightening, like mine did. How you let it rule you, or how you rule it, determines how you become or don't become your diagnosis. 

Working at the West Clinic, I have huge health guard dogs to make sure I can be the best me possible, everyday. If we have rough days, health wise, all you can do is get up and try a little harder.

Thank you to my family and friends for all of your support! I couldn't do it without you!

-Love Jodi