The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of me living with Diabetes 2

Hi, I'm Kelly and the team at The Diabetes Kitchen has asked me to share my journey of living with T2. Here's how it started for me. :)

The past is the past, however it leaves its mark on the present and the future, and I’ll start with a brief background prior to being diagnosed with Diabetes.  Most of my adult life I was a size 12/13, active and happy with who I was.  Unfortunately several traumatic episodes in my life, which toppled like dominos I escalated into a tumble downwards. 

Over a period of 2 years I gained a lot of weight to size 18, lack of energy (however still playing basketball), I was eating and drinking to deal with the issues that were darkening my life at this time.  It was like falling into a deep hole and trying to find a way out.  Due to two traumatic experiences one on top of the other during this period I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, it took a long time to claw my way back out of that dark deep hole.

I remember after these episodes in my life had physically ended, I needed to find ME… I decided to take up belly dancing and I’ll never forget going into the classroom and having to confront myself in a room full of mirrors…  This was the jolt I needed to start changing my life, my weight fluctuated up and down, however I made decision to heal myself with the help of a good doctor, counsellor (at work) and determination.

Several years on whilst travelling overseas for 3 months and coming home to a completely different living arrangement. I lost about 20 kilos and was starting to feel like a new me.  I was happier and living a healthier lifestyle so I was bewildered that a year or more after the weight loss and getting my life on track  I started to get symptoms that would lead to me being diagnosed with Pre Diabetes.  Honestly I was totally gutted, felt like I was sliding down that deep hole again, why now I was healthier, still a little overweight however I was a different woman.

After the various and unpleasant tests to confirm the diagnoses of Pre-Diabetes, I was dumbfounded and after many chats with my Doctor I decided I was going to do my best not to let this beat me.  However being a chocoholic and loving food and drink I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

During this period of my life, I did a lot of reading on Diabetes 2 and treatments, including alternative treatments.  I remember meeting with a Diabetic Educator and I’ll never forget how destroyed I was, how negative this Educator was towards me and my illness.  I recall leaving her office and breaking down in tears and blaming myself for allowing this disease to occur to me.  This was a backward step which took me a while to recover, especially emotionally and mentally.

I found lots of negativity and blame towards me from some aspects of the medical profession during appointments and research, however on the other side of the coin I found Medical professionals who were open-minded. I found research that supported that diabetes can be triggered by weight, trauma and stress.  I researched this because of the traumatic experiences I had lived with and my weight gain and loss and how this triggers my blood sugar levels.

I am still living with diabetes and over the coming months I will be writing about my good, bad and ugly moments.  How I struggle, how I succeed, how important it is to have good support.

Hope you're all finding fun things to do at home whilst in isolation!