National Diabetes Month: The Story of Justin Lowe
Over 23 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with diabetes, and Justin Lowe, my husband, is one of them. He was diagnosed at age 17 with type-1 diabetes, a form of diabetes caused by autoimmune response, and he can’t survive without insulin.
In 1998, Justin was a graduating senior at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, Calif. At the time, his high school required all seniors to complete a class project that consisted of selecting a topic, researching that topic and creating a product that demonstrated their knowledge of the topic. Justin, who stood 6-feet-2-inches tall and weighed 275 pounds, decided to use his class project to lose weight.
“I went about it all wrong,” he said. “I went on a bit of a crash diet which consisted of potatoes, rice and tuna fish. Eventually, I started losing weight faster and faster, but when I tried to stop losing weight, it kept dropping off. That’s when I started feeling extremely exhausted — I had no energy. For someone who was supposed to be trying to do something healthy, I ended up feeling completely awful.”
His parents took him to a doctor that misdiagnosed his condition as constipation, but even after taking the medication they prescribed him, he still wasn’t feeling better. “It wasn’t until my dad was going through one of those home remedy textbooks that he realized that all the symptoms pointed to diabetes,” Justin said, “so we contacted a different doctor and told them we think it might be diabetes.”
His second doctor took blood and sent him home. Later that night, his parents got a frightening call: The doctor told them to get Justin to the hospital immediately. They did just that, and Justin was hospitalized for a week.
“Normal blood sugar ranges from 70 to 150 milligrams per deciliter,” he said. “Mine was closer to 800 and it had been like this for quite a while. My feet were totally numb… I almost went into cardiac arrest twice the first night I was hospitalized.”
Justin later found out that his pancreas had stopped producing insulin, and his condition would never improve. His doctors told him he would be dependent on insulin shots for the rest of his life. “It’s definitely a humbling feeling to know that my life rests in a tiny little bottle of clear liquid,” he said.
He said that his condition didn’t feel like a death sentence, though. “I was so sick, when they told me I had diabetes, I was thrilled because that meant they knew what was wrong with me and I would start feeling better,” he said.
Justin wants anyone going through a similar situation to know that having diabetes isn’t as terrible as it might sound. “Yes, your life has just changed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s changed for the worst,” he said. “All of the things that come along with diabetes, such as eating healthy and exercising, are things that people should be doing in their everyday lives. Also, they should know that they’re not alone.”
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