Guest Post by Emma Maher, 20-year Diabetic
How I learned to be my own health advocate! I was diagnosed as having Type 1 Diabetes (juvenile diabetes) at the age of 10. As a child, I just did what I was told by my doctors. However, as I got older, I quickly knew that I wasn’t a textbook diabetic. I was taking 3x the amount of insulin a typical diabetic should take and still wasn’t able to control my blood sugars. It took several years, several doctors and a lot of advocating for myself. By the time I figured out how to best care for myself, I had many complications from being an “uncontrolled diabetic”…things that can’t be reversed. My body was going through the silent destruction that’s caused by diabetes.
I was in and out of doctors because I wasn’t healthy. Therefore, I pushed for more testing and found that I’m not Type 1, I’m MODY III, maturity-onset diabetes of the young. After getting the proper identification for the type of diabetes I had, I was still prescribed insulin. After doing my own research, I begged my doctor to let me try 6 weeks on an oral diabetes medication. He really didn’t want to let me but he did. My A1C of 13.8 went down to 8.6. I had never been that low. I then fired him for not listening to me sooner!
Here’s what I learned…
- What it means to be your own advocate
- It’s okay to fire your doctor if they don’t listen to you
- Know that feeling like shit every day doesn’t have to be a thing
- It’s your right to fight for knowledge about your health
Navigating my health has given me a passion to help others. Moreover, It’s given me a voice that I’m not sure I would’ve had had I not been through some hard times courtesy of diabetes. Better yet, it’s taught me to not judge others. (Just because somebody doesn’t look sick, doesn’t mean they aren’t struggling with a silent illness) It prepared me to be the momma that I am. So while it hasn’t been easy, it’s all been worth it.
Knowledge is power. Due to genetic testing, I can now have my daughter tested and will be better prepared to help her no matter the results. That’s huge!
I hear all the time…you don’t look a diabetic (or insert any other silent illness I have). For the longest time, I took offense to that. What does a diabetic even look like? And this one…What does Gastroparesis look like? Or, What does chronic pain look like? Now I welcome the questions! Because, I’m always learning and growing in my health; and, I seek to help others.
In conclusion, I want you to know that you know yourself best and you don’t have to feel like shit every day.