Hey there, my name is Miah but I’m mostly known as the Chocolate Diabetic on Instagram. The name was created when I first began to discover the type 1 community on Instagram. I kept asking myself “what is something that resonates and highlights me?” Throughout my whole life I have always been complemented on the smooth chocolatiness of my skin. I’ve always been so proud to be Rich dark chocolate. I later became very comfortable and proud of how far I had come as a diabetic. So that’s when the name was born. The Chocolate Diabetic. Of Course, the pun in regards to chocolate and diabetes stereotype I also found profoundly fitting.
Enough about my name, I want to highlight the struggles and positive moments I have experienced while being diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. If you watched my takeover with diabetics doing things, I explained my diagnosis story and how bizarre it must be in comparison to others who were diagnosed either a while ago, or outside of the global pandemic.
It was April 21ST and I woke up that morning feeling rough. Extremely nauseous, could barely stand without feeling as if I was to faint. At this point I had been experiencing signs of severe hyperglycemia but hadn’t made any connection To diabetes. I called my GP at the time and explained everything I was feeling. At the height of the pandemic doctors appointments were kept to a minimum and at most over the phone consultations. However, by me describing exactly what I was experiencing, my doctor thought it best I come into the practice (doctor’s office) to be seen. I was already anxious about my symptoms. Then to be told it’s best I come in, I knew something was up. There’s no way a doctor would risk asking Anyone to come in for a face to face consultation if weren’t serious.
At the GP, my doctor started to check all my vitals and began to check my blood sugar. She had also taken a urine sample to check for ketones. At this point in time, all of these words sounded like medical jargon. Her concern increased when she saw my blood sugars at 27+ mmols and my ketones at 3+. I still had no clue what she was on about. I was asked what my usual weight was. As a gym and fitness enthusiast I was sure that my weight stayed on the region of 67-71kg. When I weighed myself in the doctor’s office, I was 62kg. It was clear that it was getting more serious though, as she asked my to go straight to hospital or I risk putting myself through a much more damaging situation. I had lost 6-7kg in a short 3-4week span and it was noticeable.
Rushed to hospital, I was quickly seen by a consultant who saw how dehydrated I was and issued for fluids to be administered straight away. I was then put on another drip of insulin to bring my blood sayer down and then reality hit. I was only in the hospital about 3 hours when I was introduced to a diabetes specialist nurse who told me all about my new diagnosis and what that would mean moving on with my life. Due to coronavirus, the nurse was not keen on the idea of having me stay in for a night or two. So she gave me a quick 4o minute diabetes crash course. It was a crammed session of needles, science, insulin, bolus, hypo’s, hypers, health risks, how to inject.. you name it, we quickly covered it.
I was sent home and booked in for another consultation to meet a dietician and get more blood tests done the following day. From copious amounts of research, I saw that many people newly diagnosed would have been put down to have diabetes education, linked to a core group and had regular appointments. That was very different for me. I had calls bi-weekly going over numbers, and much of my management was down to research and emails. Had it not been for the instagram community, I do not think I would be where I am in regards to my management, my knowledge, my positivity and my acceptance.
