Hi there! I’m Miss Diabetes and I do comics about life with diabetes!

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 13 years old. Before I was diagnosed, I was very thirsty, going to the toilet a lot.

At the same time I was experiencing these symptoms, I happened to be reading one of the Babysitters Club Book, “The Truth About Stacey” by Ann M. Martin. Stacey has type 1 diabetes and she describes the symptoms she had when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes: thirst, increased urination, weight loss and fatigue. Those are the same symptoms I have, I thought. Could I have type 1 diabetes?

I chose to believe her, because in the book Stacey needs daily injections, and the thought of doing injections for the rest of my life seemed scary.

When I started wetting the bed, my Mum thought it was best that I go for a checkup. The doctor listened to the symptoms I had and got out a glucose meter to do a blood glucose test. It showed a high blood glucose of 18.9 mmol/L / 340 mg/dL, and further tests did confirm I had type 1 diabetes.

So I asked my Mum. But she shook her head and said “Only old people get diabetes.” (Which of course, is incorrect. There are many different types of diabetes, affecting people of all ages.) She said it was most likely I had growing pains.

But deep down a tiny thought worried me. Stacey wasn’t old. She was a teenager. And she did have type 1 diabetes.

I remember having a sense of validation, that I had correctly diagnosed myself from reading The Truth About Stacey.