Accepting Diabetes

Darius: I'm Darius and I'm living with diabetes. Darius: I started feeling a little bit sluggish. I kept using the bathroom all the time. I had dry mouth. And one day, I'm taking the bus and I actually passed out. Michelle: I had an abscess and so I finally went to the emergency room. Their treatment was to lance it. In the process of doing it, I kept interrupting to use the bathroom. Phoebe: I started throwing up one night and I was throwing up every two hours like clockwork. I ended up becoming more and more sick. Darius: I looked like a skeleton, my eyes were sunken back. The doctor said, "You're lucky to be alive, because you came in here with a sugar of 1800. You should have died three times over." Michelle: So he asked me, he said, "Are you diabetic?" And I said, "No," So all of the sudden, I hear a nurse screaming in the hall, "Doctors, oh my god, oh my god, she is, she is." Phoebe: So I was in the ICU for two days, pretty out of it, kind of in and out of consciousness. And then I finally came around and was told I was diabetic. Michelle: I knew nothing about diabetes. Darius: I was a little mad at the world, feeling down on myself for getting diabetes. Phoebe: But once I started living with the disease, I realized that it was manageable. I started going to diabetic summer camps and being around a lot of other diabetics. Michelle: I think that's where a lot of diabetics make the mistake, is they let the disease control them and say, "Oh, I have this, there's nothing I can do about it." But that's not true. Darius: As a diabetic, it's honestly just helped me lead a much healthier lifestyle. I work out every day. I still box. I still play football and basketball. Michelle: Assure the people that you're going to take care of your body. You're going to take care of your health. You're not going to be ignorant and let the disease take you.