Don't Be Afraid To Do Your Own Research

When 46-year-old Mel Davis was told she had type 2 diabetes, she had no way of knowing it was only the beginning of a journey to convince her doctors they had gotten it wrong. This is her story

“I found out I had diabetes in July 2018, as part of a routine blood test I was having every three months to keep an eye on a thyroid condition I’d been diagnosed with the year before. In the same doctor’s appointment, I was also told I had an abnormal pap smear result that required treatment, so it was a lot to take in.

“To be honest, I was more devastated about the diabetes diagnosis than anything else. While I knew cervical cancer could be dealt with, I also knew that if I didn’t look after myself, diabetes could mean I’d be facing some serious complications, like going blind or losing a limb, further down the track.

“But I also struggled to accept I had diabetes at all. There was no family history and I was otherwise pretty fit and healthy.

“I asked my doctor for a blood glucose test kit so I could keep an eye on my levels, but he said I didn’t need to worry about doing that, and that I’d be able to manage my diabetes simply by watching what I ate. I left with a simple instruction to steer clear of sugar, so that’s what I did.”

TAKING A TURN FOR THE WORSE

“A year later the flu was going around work and I caught it. I didn’t suffer too much, but at the tail end of it I started to lose weight quite rapidly. I was also struggling with my vision and had a constant need to go to the bathroom, but I didn’t link anything together or think too much about it.