I woke up one morning with a thirst that could not be tamed and regardless of how much I drank – it remained the same. My tongue was incredibly dry and the only thing to bring me any relief was sucking on an ice-cube. This continued over a few days 
and finally I managed to get it all under control, or so I thought…
With in a few weeks I became unbelievably tired. This had happened before but never like I experienced this time. I could not stay awake and when I say this, I really mean it. I would be half way through a conversation, eating tea, having a coffee, a smoke and then I would be asleep. No warning, no yawn – just asleep. It was much like a blanket of darkness had swallowed me and when I woke up, sometimes hours later – I would be confused like you couldn’t believe. Like I said, I had this happen before and it was put down to me being under stress and grieving. I was told this was due to my body shutting down when I couldn’t cope. Ok, well…stranger things have happened to me before….
I was barely living and I was not functioning like a mother should either. The fact that I was given a cause of this happening stopped me or anyone else from questioning this any further and most around me accepted that I was just not handling the death of my husband. I was crying a lot and was not adjusting too well, so it all made perfect sense.That was until I began doing strange things. My kids would be scared out of their mind as I would fall asleep and take a deep breath and sigh in a way they described as deathly. I’d walk the streets in the middle of the night but not having any memory of doing so. Standing outside in the rain and waking up in strange surroundings. You name, I did it. Then the thirst came back, my vision started going, I pee’d like I was 9 months pregnant and I just couldn’t take anymore.
I should have gone to the doctor sooner, however, I really wasn’t in any mental state to work that out for myself – well not until this particular day anyway. I decided to see my GP and he requested a glucose test for a blood sugar reading. So I fasted and went back the next day to do the test.
The nurse began by doing a simple test by pricking my finger; afterwards I was supposed to have a glucose drink and then after a log wait a blood test. The prick on the finger however, changed everything. They could not proceed any further with me.
I remember the nurse looking at me strangely and then back at the little machine. I had a reading of 28.9; it was only suppose to be around 6 – 8. The glucose drink could not be given as it could have easily tipped me over the edge and I was only just standing there as it was. Long story short I was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and I was/am insulin dependent. Everything that was going on with me was diabetes related. The doctor explained things to me by simply stating that the high content of sugar my body was producing was literally frying my brain. Hence the weird stuff going on.
I was going into little comas and was dangerously close to events I don’t even want to begin to describe. To this day it scares me to think how this went on for so long without diagnosis. I could have died in the reality of it all.
I was devastated when I discovered that I had to inject myself with insulin, let alone 4 times a day. I have such issues with needles and this was pretty big for me. Fact is if you wanna live, take this insulin…
Being wrongly diagnosed made matters worst for me. Doctors were happy enough to believe I had a ‘mental condition’ due to the death of my husband. That, I guess, was less time consuming for them. It was easier to say ‘crazy lady’ then it was to write out a bunch of tests.
Thinking back now all the symptoms were there, I was like a walking advertisement for them for god’s sake and yet no-one picked it up.
Symptoms
- Passing lots of urine
- Dry mouth
- Excessive thirst
- Blurred vision
- Tiredness
If you have any or all of the symptoms I can’t urge you enough to take control and demand to have a little test done. Even if it comes back fine, you will have eliminated an extremely deadly but common problem. Demand to be taken seriously as despite the increase and awareness of diabetes, I am living proof that you can be wrongly diagnosed, overlooked and pushed aside from it being a possibility.
10 minutes or less of your time is nothing and it is worth the peace of mind….
Cheers
Lavinia
(January 2007) (
's Hayley
