My story: "I'm proud of the fact that I've gotten hold of my health"

When Natalie Rixon, now 33, discovered she had prediabetes soon after she'd turned 20, it was a shock and a relief all rolled into one. What she did next changed her future.

- KAREN KITTALL

It was around my 18th birthday that I started to feel really unwell. I was lethargic, I had no energy and I felt like I was always sleeping. As someone who'd been a really active, sporty kid who was always bouncing around and played basketball every day after school, it was not only really hard to take, I just couldn't work out what was going on.

"I was also putting on weight, which I just put down to my body changing due to being in my late teens. But when my period stopped I finally went to see a doctor.

"After a few tests, I was diagnosed with PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome, and was put on the Pill to help manage the symptoms. The trouble was, I didn't really feel any better.

"I saw a number of other doctors who couldn't work out what was wrong with me, until finally I found a really lovely GP who ran all the right tests and worked out that I was right on the borderline of having type 2 diabetes.

"Looking back, I guess because I wasn't particularly overweight and I was quite young, no one had suspected diabetes up until then. Plus, the focus was very much on my PCOS at the time.