Misdiagnosed Not Defeated

After 8 long years of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, living with type 2 diabetes, and being treated for type 2 diabetes…it turns out that I never had type 2 diabetes. I first shared this news on my social media account on my 9-year diaversary, February 11th. I did it with the first episode of a vlog series which currently has 4 episodes and more in production. You can watch them here.

But for this post, I want to talk about the outpouring of support I received on my IG page last week when I shared this photo. It is estimated that upwards to 25% of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are in fact misdiagnosed. Some are misdiagnosed for a short time and others for years, like me. Apparently, TeamLADA is a large group. LADA Diabetes (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) is also known as type 1.5.

The comment section exploded with people telling me that they too were misdiagnosed. They too understood what it is like to have learn about type 1 after “figuring out” type 2. One woman was misdiagnosed for more than 20 years. Another person spent 13 years before she knew. While I knew I wasn’t alone (because one of my longest diabuddies Mike was misdiagnosed for 7 years), I didn’t know I was connected to so many people who shared a similar experience. My diabetes advocacy has certainly blossomed into new territory.

For 2020, I am bringing awareness to the issue of misdiagnosis by sharing my story.

I am forever thankful to my diabuddies who help me get through the fall when I found out because I was a wreck. The POCDiabetes group answered all my random questions and having a safe space to ask questions has been a saving grace. This group of 30 of the most impactful Black and Latinx diabetes advocates has been the hidden gem I hold dear. They gave me a crash course on T1 life, picking up where my diabetes educator and Endo left off.

Fortunately, I was able to meet a few of my long time diabuddies in person right after this happened and they held my hand and let me cry on their shoulders. I can’t name them all, but I will be forever grateful for the in-person support Danielle, Melanie, Rick, Cherise, Renza, Mike, Bastian, Chris, and Marcelo gave me in 2019 as I worked through some rough patches.

Stay tuned for what I have coming. 🙂