[vamelis@gmail.com]

I was diagnosed at 23, 4 years ago. I thought I was home sick home with the flu and ended up in a coma. My neighbor found me passed out in my room and I was rushed to the ER where I spent 7 days in the ICU. When I was taken to the hospital by ambulance, apparently it took hours to diagnose me as diabetic. I had no family symptoms and since I was unconscious they were unaware of what was wrong. Eventually a nurse shift change prompted my new nurse to check my blood sugar and voila! I had extremely low potassium which almost led to cardiac arrest and was told by everyone I was lucky to be alive. My body was shutting down.
I'll admit that I had a very hard time adjusting to the diabetic lifestyle. I've always had a major sweet tooth and found it extremely difficult to be compliant on my insulin. I had always been slim and noticed that the insulin was making me fat. I was admitted into the hospital 3 more times in a year and a half for DKA. My endocrinologist refused to continue seeing me unless I began seeing a psychologist to help me deal with my denial of my condition. I refused and began to see a different endo and was very happy. Unfortunately, 4 years later I am still not in control of my diabetes. It is a constant struggle but I am definitely determined to get my BG under control!