My Drug Overdose and Shocking Diagnosis
I was always a pretty unhealthy girl with terrible partying habits and a real love for junk food before my diagnosis with type 1 diabetes. I took comfort in binge drinking and late nights that ended in devouring pizza with my college friends. It was pretty comfortable, but I don’t necessarily remember being happy. However, I was not going to change my lifestyle. Something really significant had to slap me in the face and subject me to reality, and that was a diagnosis with type 1 diabetes.
A little over a year ago, I was brought to a hospital in Montreal after my good friend called the paramedics. They brought me there after I started having convulsions and seizing on the sidewalk right outside a bar. My friend was panicked as she thought I drank too much, but there were two problems working against me that night: 1) I was having a drug overdose and 2) I was an undiagnosed person with type 1 diabetes. It turns out that someone I knew for years slipped drugs in my drink that night, which made my body go into a sort of “survival” mode. As a person with type 1 diabetes, this meant my blood sugar rose to very dangerous levels. The medics performed several tests and discovered my crazy high blood sugars.
Following my admittance to the hospital, I woke up not remembering anything or where I was and to the doctor telling me how incredibly lucky I was to be alive. I had a lot of time to think during my week-long stay at the hospital, and I also took the time to hear my friend’s recollection of what happened that night. What really struck me was that she told the others who were there what was happening to me, and they tried to convince her not to call 911 because they had drugs on them. Instead, they insisted that she put me in a cab and send me home. That was pretty hard for me to grasp.
My friend also told me that while I was seizing, a med student happened to walk by. She told my panicked friend that I seemed to be having a drug overdose and advised her to call 911 right away. I have no idea who this med student is, but I really do owe her my life and I feel like the luckiest girl.
Being in the hospital for that week was quite tough because the doctors couldn’t really tell me what was wrong. There was a lot of uncertainty because they weren’t sure if it was type 1 diabetes, type 2, or simply a weird response to the drugs that had been slipped in my drink. Despite having symptoms of type 1 diabetes for months leading up to the incident, I never thought to go get it checked out. Eventually, at the end of my stay at the hospital, the doctors concluded that I was in fact a type 1 diabetic. They told me that my life of partying and unhealthy eating would have to end, so it did.
I decided that I would take the opportunity to become my best self. I started exercising every day and I learned to cook healthy and delicious meals. It allowed me to start fueling my body, enjoying an active life, working hard in school and nurturing caring relationships in my life. In the past year of being a person with type 1 diabetes, I have done things I never would have seen myself doing before my diagnosis. I ran a half marathon last October, and my second one in Iceland in August 2016. Since then, I have also graduated from university.
I never would have thought that having a near death experience would actually save me in many ways, but it did! My “accidental” diagnosis of type 1 diabetes pushed me to become my best self and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. It has motivated me to strive for things I never thought possible. Had I not been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I probably would have been hanging out with the same toxic people and engaging in the same toxic behavior. I truly believe that being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes has healed me rather than held me back.
