LYD1A KERR

Like many diabetic diagnosis stories, mine is a bit of a wild one. To add a bit of drama, this happened in May 2020, peak Covid lockdown, with no travel or hospital visits allowed.

Let’s set the scene

I was living and working in Houston, Texas for my university placement year. For the whole month of May, I was incredibly thirsty, buying all the Gatorade, yet nothing was quenching my thirst. It was like my tongue and mouth were permanently dry.

I became really tired, I’ve always been a fan of a nap, but this was different. It was a full body fatigue, which is so different to just feeling “tired”, and is hard to understand until it happens to you. Despite this, I was waking up multiple times every night busting to pee.

I passed this all off as dehydration living in Texas heat. I was losing weight, but also took up running, swam often, and really got into yoga, so genuinely thought that exercise was really effective all of a sudden…

My appetite increased a loooot and I was eating constantly, mostly carbohydrates. While I thought nothing of it at the time, I’ve learnt since being diagnosed that this happened because my body couldn’t access the carbs due to my pancreas producing no insulin, so my brain was literally crying out for carbs. Queue me happily listening to the signals and probably causing my blood sugar levels to be off the scale.

I also had horrible leg cramps, and took into using a foam roller for the first time in my life, but that done nothing to help.

Oddly, my eye sight became more blurry than usual, and my eyes constantly felt like there was something in them, like a hair or fluff.

Alarm bells started ringing

It wasn’t until I was sleeping 16 hour nights, throwing up a strange colour, and googling “how to breathe” in the middle of the night, did I realise I was extremely ill and needed medical assistance ASAP.

Thankfully, my housemates came to the rescue and drove me to the nearest emergency room where I was seen immediately. Despite them reassuring my housemate that it couldn’t be Covid because it doesn’t present like this, I was surrounded with lots of people in HAZMAT suits, who refused my begs for water (re: extreme dry mouth).

After all the blood, covid, flu, pregnancy and urine tests, my blood sugar was above 500mg/ml (28mmol), and I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

Hour by hour survival

My type 1 diabetic housemate stood in shock, as she was told by the doctors that my chances of surviving were going to be monitored on an “hour by hour” basis as my blood was acidic and I was in severe DKA.

Diabetic ketoacidiosis (DKA) occurs due to a lack of insulin produced by the pancreas. This means that glucose/sugar in the bloodstream isn’t being converted to energy.

In order to try and create energy, the body converts the sugar to ketones instead. This is dangerous because it makes the blood acidic, which damages organs and other bodily functions.

Not being able to breathe was a sign that my body was trying to expel ketones via my lungs – something that is pretty much impossible but God loves a trier x

The rest is a bit blurry

Once they gave me the “anti anti anxiety” medication the rest is a blur, although I managed a thumbs up, and distinctly remember telling them it was the year 2021 and laughing (it was 2020).

They then whipped me off to the nearest hospital in an ambulance where I was wheeled into ICU and hooked to multiple IV’s including insulin, potassium, and a glucose solution to help me get out of my diabetic ketoacidiosis state.

And then to top it all off, a doctor came in and casually told me that I also had an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). The only thing I remember her saying is “you must have noticed the symptoms like weight gain..” and I was like … no? But just nodded anyway. In hindsight that is such a bizarre thing to say!

$20k later

As you can imagine, having to experience the reality of American healthcare and paying those bills was not high on my bucket list, but that’s also a whole other issue!

I’m so grateful for my housemates who came to my rescue and saved my life! I was especially lucky that one was type 1 diabetic herself, and showed me all the ropes once I got home with a mass of prescription needles, insulin, and glucose monitoring kits.

I do feel for my family and friends back in the UK though, having to receive the news, as due to Covid lockdowns, no one was even allowed into the hospital/ICU to visit. Let alone allowed to fly out to America.

Everything works out in the end <333

I know it’s a concerning experience to look back on, but I don’t recall ever feeling scared while it was all happening. If anything, I felt immense relief that whatever they were treating me with was working, and I was starting to feel better. Having the ability to breathe again being a major benefit.

Overall, I’m extremely thankful to be alive! I continue to live my best life, despite type 1, and intend to keep doing so for a loongggg time.

Thank you so much for reading!

Love, Lydia x