Mental Illness and a Chronic Illness

Okay, so I have a bit of a problem, which I am here to write about today.

On top of having OCD, EDNOS, BPD, and ADHD, I also have IDDM — Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Basically, I’m a type 1 juvenile diabetic. And the mental health care system isn’t equipped to deal with that, so every time I go into the hospital, I come back with diabetic ketoacidosis.

Fun.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself here, that’s another story. This, right here, is my diagnosis story. We all have diagnosis stories, but I believe mine is a bit more traumatic than some, because I was a 13 year old kid, and I legitimately thought I was going to die. I knew nothing about diabetes before I was diagnosed, and I didn’t know if I would die or not.

I was 13, it was Thursday, October 1, 2010, and I was watching Mark Hoppus’ show on the fuse channel. Okay, we all had guilty pleasures when we were 13, mine happened to be Blink-182. Anyway, it went on commercial and my grandmother came home. She had type 2 diabetes, adult onset, and the symptoms were pretty much the same for both types. Drinking a lot, urinating a lot, irritability, stomach pain, lethargy, and sometimes vomiting. So I went downstairs to greet her, and she gave me a kiss and noticed my breath smelled like pennies. I told her it was from drinking gatorade, because I didn’t want to be sick. She checked my blood sugar, and it was 566! For reference, my range is 70-150. 566 is dangerously high. My mom and aunt rushed me to the hospital, where i was transferred to a children’s hospital, and there I was educated about my illness.

Okay, I’m not a very good writer, so I have literally no idea how to end this, and also, I’ve had a hard week. So I’ll end it like this.

Editor’s note: you’re a better writer than you think! 

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