Diagnosed at age 24

by Brandon Goad
(Boston, MA)

In December 2008, I was diagnosed with Type "1.5" diabetes. My body still produces very trace amounts of effective insulin, but I do take injections. I had zero risk factors for type 2. However, I had been living with diabetes unchecked for six months. I lost roughly 60 pounds, going from 215 to 152 at my lightest. I am six feet tall with a muscular build, so 152 looked absolutely sickly. The last couple of months, I was physically incapable of sleeping more than 1.5 hours at a time as I had to urinate every 45 minutes to an hour. 1.5 hours was a rather long sleep cycle for me. My vision was perpetually blurry. Just so much that I couldn't read a book, emails, or my phone. When I was finally able to get in to a doctor (because my symptoms weren't "emergency," I couldn't be seen by a doctor for six months), my fasting blood sugar level was 550 mg/dL and my A1C at diagnosis was 19.9. I'm sure at times during the previous six months my sugar level was over 1000 mg/dL, and the only reason I am alive is that my job was extremely active and I spent an hour a day at the gym six days a week. Six months after diagnosis, having attacked my disease very aggressively, my A1C was 7.5 and it has remained consistent at 7.25 since then. I'm striving for 6.5, but can't completely sacrifice the occasional dessert.