Hiding from the Truth: The Story of My Struggle to Accept Diabetes

This article was written exclusively for BattleDiabetes.com by Gershelda Harman. She discusses her shocking diabetes diagnosis as a teenager, her continued struggle with her condition in her adult years and what she finally found to be helpful.

I remember the day I was diagnosed with diabetes. I was sitting at the breakfast bar, eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes and was so dizzy I was falling off the bar stool. My Mother, who was a diabetic, checked my blood sugar. It was over 300! She called my doctor and we were seen immediately. I was 16 years old.

Teenage Rebellion

The doctor told me that if I ate right, exercised, and lost 30 pounds, I'd be okay. As a teenager, I wanted to be just like all the other teenagers, do and eat whatever I wanted. Thus began my life long battle with diabetes.

I choose to keep my secret. I didn’t even tell my best friend. I continued on being a typical teenager, eating anything I wanted. I never checked my blood sugar or went to any of my doctor appointments. Looking back, I think I felt that if I ignored it, it would go away. In the back of my mind, I knew it would not go away. I was mad and angry.

Feeling Desperate

Why was this happening to ME? I never hurt anyone. I never did anything to deserve this! I wanted to scream, shout and hit something, anything! However, I kept it all inside. I pushed it deep within my conscience so no one could ever know. I became depressed and turned to food for comfort.

Even though my Mother was a diabetic, I didn’t feel that I could talk to her about how I felt or what I was going through. In my mind, she wouldn’t understand. Yes, she had diabetes, but she didn’t have it as a teenager. She would never know how I was feeling.

Trying to Change

As a young adult, my condition would attempt to resurface, but by this time, I was great at pushing back my true feelings. Diabetes became a major problem in my life again when I became pregnant with my first child, at the age of 23.

I went on insulin and had to give myself shots 2-4 times a day. Yet, I was still in denial. I was still unable to accept that I had diabetes, and I was still angry and depressed. After I had my daughter, I, again, pushed my feelings as deep inside as I could and ate whatever I wanted.

In Part II of this article Gershelda Harman discusses her continued struggle to accept her condition, how the death of her mother, due to diabetes complications, changed her outlook on life and how she has changed her life to accommodate her diabetes.

Get a Free Diabetes Meal Plan

Get a free 7-Day Diabetes Meal Plan from Constance Brown-Riggs who is a Registered Dietitian-Certified Diabetes Educator and who is also a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Just enter in your email below to download your free Diabetes Meal Plan.

By clicking Submit, you agree to send your info to BattleDiabetes.com who, in addition to 3rd party partners, may contact you with updates, products and information and we agree to use it according to our privacy policy and terms and conditions.

More Articles

More Articles

For decades people with type-1 and advanced type-2 diabetes relied on painful and often flawed insulin injections to regulate blood sugar...

Scientists have discovered that a single gene forms a common link between type 2 diabetes and...

Natural supplements like cinnamon extract and apple cider vinegar could hold the key to lowering blood sugar levels, according to a recent...

Natural supplements like cinnamon extract and apple cider vinegar could hold the key to lowering blood sugar levels, according to a recent...

Could a person's risk for type 2 diabetes be written in their genes?

According to a study recently published in ...

Women who frequently shift around their sleeping hours could have worse metabolic health outcomes than their peers who stick with a...

The presence of the hormone leptin may hinder prenatal development, which could explain the origin of type 2 diabetes, according to...

An analysis of fossilized Native American feces shows that our ancestors ate up to sixteen times the fiber that we do today, but our...

Managing diabetes is hugely challenging for people of any age, but a new study suggests that young people may suffer all the more....

Disruptions to the gut’s ecosystem could be a future symptom facing young children who take antibiotics, which makes them more susceptible...

Breastfeeding a newborn holds many benefits for mommy and baby; it reduces the baby's risk for colds and viruses, it helps his bones (and yours)...

Fans of the Dexcom G5 Mobile have something to smile about.

At yesterday's hearing with the U.S. Food and Drug...

If you start your day with a cup of tea and end it with a glass of red wine, your blood sugar may thank you.

At least that...

As medical experts continue to debate whether or not "healthy obesity" can even exist, one new study suggests that risk for heart disease...

For years, type 1 diabetics have been anxiously waiting for that medical marvel that can stop the constant injections: the artificial...