I was happily living in Canberra, went to Melbourne to go to a friend's wedding. These particular friends drink a lot and I seemed to be drinking more than everyone combined! I wasnt concerned about this as it was a party weekend and I decided that going to the 7-11 supermarket five or six times a day to stock up on Gatorade, Coke and anything else I could lay my hands on, was just a reaction to the alcohol! We were staying at a hotel and I guess I began to get concerned when I had drunk the entire mini bar dry, twice! I would wake up dreaming about drinking and was drinking 3 pints of milk a night, even that didnt seem to quench my thirst! I didnt care what I was drinking as long as there was fluid of some kind being drunk! I was ofcourse visiting the ladies on an alarmingly frequent basis! I also manageed to lose seven kilos in that one week! (The great diabetes diet!) The wedding outfit I had chosen began to look like a sack on me and was alarmingly loose! Just as well safety pins had been invented! The wedding came and went in a blur of more drinking and then back to Canberra I went. Having had this amazing pain in my back for most of the weekend and decided I would go and see my Doctor. The Doctor examined my back and could not find anything of any concern. My partner then piped up that I had been drinking like a fish for the past week and that I had lost a fair amount of weight. My Doctor being the clever clogs that he is, decided to take a blood reading to test for diabetes. The reading was 27.2. As I am now aware this was mighty high! The only thing I knew about diabetes was that it was something fat people got and I was confused right there and then as I haven't weighed more than 50-55 kilos all my life! Fair enough I was 47 odd kilos when I was diagnosed, although I couldn't see how I suddenly had a weight problem! The elusive pain in my back ended up having something to do with my poor kidneys trying to process such huge amounts of liquid! Anyway, I was given a referral letter, and went home to pack my bag as I was being admitted to hospital that night. Unfortunatley there were six other cases of diabetes diagnosed that same weekend! One case was a six month old baby, I felt sad, imagine having to give injections to a child that age. I was still definately in the denial stage as I thought they will work out it's something else when I get to the hospital. I waited in Accident and Emergency for seven hours until I was given a bed. Luckily, I had one nurse who tried to explain to me what was going on and what having diabetes would mean to my life. I was in and out of consciousness it was too difficult to understand what any of this meant. I was freezing one minute and boiling hot the next. I was eventually given a drip to try and re-hydrate my body. I really didn't care at this stage, I was just exhausted and kept crying as I couldn't understand what this strange disease was doing to me. Due to the huge influx of diabetes cases I was put in the respiratory ward with 6 older ladies who I swear wheezed, coughed and spluttered the entire night. I met the Endocronologist the next morning and he asked why I had spent the entire night crying. I explained that I couldnt have diabetes as I was 33 years old and not overweight and that they had made a mistake and could I please just go home? Needless to say, I ended up being admitted for four days. The hardest part of that day was actually hearing the Endocronologist telling me to "stop crying, as at least it wasn't cancer". I must admit this didn't help my frame of mind much. For the next four days I tried to accept that my lifestyle would need to change fairly drastically. I refused to admit that I had this condition and I guess I made the Diabetes Educator's job a lot harder! She spent a long time trying to explain about food and injections etc but I really didn't want to know. I also at that time had a fairly stressful job as a case manager dealing with the long term unemployed, so I couldn't see how I could possibly continue in this line of work when I was supposed to having breaks in between clients for food and injections. Also having to give up smoking , good God was there anything else? In other words, I decided to put the whole thing in the too hard basket. The only thing I was quite excited about the fact that my sight had almost returned to normal and didn't need to wear glasses anymore! This only lasted a couple of days and was only a temporary side effect. I had no choice but to return, to work and to my life and decided that perhaps this diabetes thing could be managed if I gave it time and a bit of patience. I had some major hiccups with hypos and the worst case of hives you have ever seen put me back in hospital again. I have passed out in the middle of the main street and been taken to hospital again and again. It takes time, but slowly you adjust and do get to read the signs so you can be prepared. All the things the diabetes educators taught me was invaluable, even if I didnt appreciate it at the time! I would have liked to have been able to make contact with other adult Type 1 diabetics as I felt alone, isloated and sometimes just plain dumb as to what to do next! Its now been two years and I am still not out of my "Honeymoon" stage. I am now on four injections a day as I was only on two to begin with. I must admit this whole diabetes thing has just become part of my life. I do carry jellybeans and am sensible with what I eat and when. I tell the people I work with what signs to look for and for the most part people are supportive. To be honest, there are some days I forget that I even have diabetes and other more difficult days when I wish I didn't! 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