Shari from Austell, GA shares her story about battling type 2 diabetes and how My Diabetes Home helped change her life. I lived with borderline diabetes for more than 30 years and when the flip came (to living with type 2 diabetes), it came HARD! From November 2012 to January 2013, I went from my usual blood glucose reading of 120 or so to over 500. I spent the next year using oral meds to bring it down. After a rocky first year of using just oral meds, my doctor decided I needed to see an endocrinologist. At my first visit with my endo, we tested my A1C and processed it right there in his office. It was over 14, (yes you read that correctly, I said FOURTEEN) literally off the charts. He proceeded to put me on a fairly high dose of insulin and took me off oral meds. From the start, one of the most important things my endo asked of me was to test four times a day and send a report to him twice a week. I have issues with writing from–another “disabling condition,” Degenerative Disk Disease (DDD), so I went online to find something to help. I found A LOT of sites and downloadable records, but when I found “My Diabetes Home“(MDH) I was impressed. It gave me options. No other website offered the charts and graphs or the option to fax, not just my numbers, but also the graphs–right to my doctor. I had visited a surgeon for my DDD who determined that we needed to have surgery on my cervical disks immediately, but given that my A1C was so high, surgery was not advisable until it was brought WAY down (unless it became life threatening). I was frustrated because an A1C is a three-month average and most insurance companies, including my own, will usually not pay for the test more than once a quarter. I could have gone monthly to my endo to test my A1C, but since he is considered a specialist, seeing him monthly is financially prohibitive for me. So, the ability to keep an eye on how my numbers were affecting my A1C with the A1C estimator tool on MDH offered me the ability to see if I was getting close enough to justify going in for the actual A1C test. I was able to manage my daily sugar AND food intake levels based on the information on the MDH site to the point that I finally felt in control of what was going on and had the best tools available to help me in that goal. Finally, I was close enough, (by the way, and a point of pride for me, I brought my A1C down to 7.6 in LESS than three months) to see my endo and get my A1C tested. I was indeed able to have the surgery and am now back at work and enjoying relief from symptoms. Some of which have been an issue for many years (I brushed the back of my own hair for the first time in about 2 years. As odd as it may sound, it had me teary-eyed)
I am feeling more like my old self and I am more rested. I am sleeping better and I do have more energy. I continue to live life to the best of my ability, refusing to let my medical issues be in control.
In addition to the having the best tools available to reach my goal, when my sugar levels started to rise again for no discernible reason, an article on the site about infections and raised sugar levels led me to seek confirmation and treatment even before there were any other symptoms of the infection. I cannot begin to say thank you to My Diabetes Home for all the ways the site has helped improve my life as a diabetic. I look forward to using My Diabetes Home for many more years to come.