About

About the Site: MevsDiabetes.com was born out of a severe hypoglycemic episode that occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, January 29, 2011.  Instead of waking up as I normally do when my blood sugar is low, my body began to seizure uncontrollably.  The whole experience culminated with an ambulance ride to the ER.  For a detailed account of this episode of severe hypoglycemia, read my very first MevsDiabetes.com post.

It felt like the right time to share my story, or at least put it into words.  I had been counting carbs, excercising and eating better, yet my type 1 diabetes still landed me in the ER.  What did I do wrong?  How can I make sure that it doesn’t happen again?  Am I doing all I can with regard to my diabetes care?  (The obvious answer is no, I’m not.)  Join me as I attempt to gain better control over the disease, exploring different treatment options, lifestyle choices, and improved technology with regard to diabetes care.   I have to be prepared, because after all, it’s Me vs. Diabetes.  Even if no one reads this blog, it will hopefully in the very least keep me on my toes with regard to my own diabetes management.

More About Me: During the summer of 2004, I began to experience the classic type 1 symptoms – extreme thirst, constant urination, altered vision and weight loss.  I lost 10 pounds over a very short period and my vision had returned to 20/20, which was albeit cool, but very strange.  I was 27-years-old and still living with my parents then.  I can remember coming downstairs one night and chugging glass after glass of milk, not realizing that I was only worsening my already elevated sugar levels.  In fact, I craved sugar.  On one occasion, I can recall sitting in a movie theater with an Icee and an assortment of candy in front of me, not realizing what was wrong with me.  I just knew that I wanted sugar, and lots of it.

Curious, I went online to WebMD.com and diagnosed myself.  I also made an appointment with my family doctor, Dr. Camper.  I explained my symptoms to him and told him that I thought that I might have diabetes.  Unimpressed with my self-diagnosis, he told me that he would run some tests, but he didn’t believe it was diabetes.  I never liked Dr. Wayne Camper very much (he had only been my family doctor for a short time).  After the tests came back positive, I never saw Dr. Camper again.  The first endocrinologist I went to was on the verge of retirement and began to treat me as if I had type 2 diabetes (I can actually remember waiting for some time in his exam room as I overheard him talk about his golf game to someone on the phone in his office, which was within earshot just down the hall).  He didn’t seem to have a care in the world, but I did.

Eventually, I found a doctor I liked, who I still see today.  My mother did everything she could to help me with my disease, and I love her very much, but I soon began to feel like I wasn’t taking responsibility for my own illness.  At the end of 2004, I moved into an apartment and made the decision to live on my own.  I joined a roller hockey league and finally bought my own pair of skis.  The web sites I owned had turned into a full-time job, as did my diabetes management.

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.” ~ Mark Twain