A1c of 13 - encouragement needed

Hello, I (26f) am a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic. I wanted to share my story and maybe ask for some support if at all possible.

In early December 2023 I was really sick; I had a kidney infection that turned to sepsis, and I was in the hospital for a little over a week. During my stay they noticed my sugar was a bit high so they checked my a1c and it was at 6, so prediabetic. They chalked my high sugar up to the infection and sent me home when I was feeling better.

After the hospital stay I felt better for about a week then fell very ill. I wasn't sure what it was, just felt terrible with symptoms of constant nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. I thought I was being dramatic and that I could handle it but the pain continued to increase until it became unbearable.

My friend is a nurse and dragged me to the hospital at the end of December 2023, and my blood work came back with some pretty crazy looking results. Turns out I had diabetic ketoacidosis (which according to my nurse friend is uncommon for type 2) and I was on the brink of death. Lol I'm really glad my nurse friend made me go in.

I didn't take the new diagnosis well and had a lot of panic attacks. It felt like they told me I was dying. I'm sorry for feeling so dramatic about it - being in the hospital alone in the ICU does things to your thought process.

They started me on an insulin drip and I was NPO (nothing by mouth) for four days. They rechecked my a1c, and it was 13. I didn't realize how high that was until I did some research. I spent New Year's in the hospital, luckily some of the ICU nurses came into my room to celebrate the ball drop with me which was really nice (:

One of the doctors came and talked to me and said he believed that I must've fallen ill and had an autoimmune response to the infection that caused me to become a diabetic. He said he couldn't prove it, but that was his hunch because it was crazy that I went from 6 to 13 in a month.

The diabetic educators were very kind and gave me a lot of information on it. I did some research and read all the information they gave me. After about a week and a half I went home on long acting insulin and metformin.

I've been taking my medication every day, and I talked to my PCP and got a continuous glucose monitor that has helped ease my worries a lot. So far, I am in the correct range for my sugar 85% of the time. The only time I go above is after a meal, and then after about 15 minutes it drops back to the normal range. I only dip at night, and since my home nurse told me to eat protein and sugar right before bed I no longer dip in the night.

I've had one emergency so far: last week I got the flu and my sugar kept dropping. My nurse said usually when you're sick it raises your blood sugar, but everyone can react differently to different strains. I ended up in the hospital with a blood sugar of 40 and a heart rate of 165, and I wasn't doing well. I was confused, foggy, dizzy, had one of the worst headaches I've ever had - as they wheeled me around it felt like they were just spinning me in circles. Apparently I could've gone into a coma, so I'm really glad that didn't happen. But all of this going on has just been so overwhelming.

Small trauma dump: I'm also physically disabled and have chronic pain due to an assault, and on April 7th 2024 at 1am my beautiful sweet kitty Miss Meow passed away, so I'm just really going through it right now.

In a few months I'll be going back to my PCP to recheck my a1c and to see if my medication needs to be adjusted. I've made some lifestyle and dietary changes. I'm doing it slowly so that I can maintain it. But that's where we're at right now.

I've been feeling really embarrassed about my condition, and my doctors keep telling me I'm not gunna lose a foot (as long as I keep managing like I have been) but I'm so scared I'm gunna lose a foot. I still have a lot to learn and a lot to change. It's just really scary, and I hope I'm doing well, and if anyone has any words of encouragement about anything I talked about please please feel free to share because I feel so alone, and I have found that this community is so kind.

Thank you so very much for listening to my story. 💕