At 14 years old Miss Black USA 2007 Kalilah Allen-Harris was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and will always remember February 10, 1999 as the day her life changed.
In our busy world, living our hectic lives, it’s common to rush through the day without caring for our health and bodies as we should.
We wake-up late after going to sleep late, drive too fast to work, rush through office or school responsibilities, eat lunch while surfing emails, drive too fast back home too late in the late, eat unhealthy, processed meals, watch too many television shows, spend little time with family, and once again, fall asleep later then planned.
However, today is different. Not only is today Friday, the day so many people are glad to say, “Tomorrow I don’t have to go to work,” but even more importantly, World Diabetes Day.
Ironically, I’ve recently been monitoring my own blood glucose levels. Already considering the less than one minute test an inconvenience to my day, I have new respect for people living with diabetes.
Kalilah is just one of millions living with diabetes. However, unlike my once-a-day blood sugar test, this young woman will monitor her levels and eat a balanced diet everyday for the rest of her life.
Though she recognizes the challenges of the initial changes she faced with the disease, she has learned even more from the experience.
As she said in an email, “It’s helped me to mature and learn a lot about myself. And it taught me organization and the importance of time management and being responsible.”
Type 1 diabetes, most often appearing in childhood, occurs when “the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar (glucose) into energy,” says the Mayo Clinic.
“A chronic, progressive disease,” Dr. Barbara Anderson, a member of the DAWN (Diabetes, Attitudes, Wishes, and Needs) Youth advisory board, says that unlike pneumonia or influenza, “[diabetes] is a lot of work and it’s hard because you can never take a vacation day. You can never say, this weekend I’m going to keep my diabetes at home.”
With 23.6 million diabetic American in 2007, according to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, and many undiagnosed individuals living with type 2 diabetes, a balanced, healthy lifestyle is necessary to maintain in keeping a healthy body.
With a normal blood glucose range at 70 to 100 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood (mg/dL), says the Mayo Clinic, I have learned that just hours after eating my own blood glucose levels drop to the low 70s.
Below 70mg/dL is considered a hypoglycemic state, or low blood sugar. With this information and symptoms that include excessive tiredness, headaches, light-headedness, and feeling shaky or trebly, I have unofficially self-diagnosed myself as having reactive hypoglycemia.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Reactive Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar that occurs after a meal – usually one to three hours after eating.”
Additionally, the Indiana University Health Center Website states, “Reactive Hypoglycemia occurs in about 2-3 out of every 10 young women . . . [and] does not lead to more severe conditions.”
In my case, the treatment for reactive hypoglycemia is to eat nutritionally balanced meals, consume more frequent, smaller meals, exercise, and continue not smoking.
However, for Kalilah and others with true forms of erratic blood sugar levels, the treatments become more complicated.
While most people with type 2 diabetes take oral medications, those like Kalilah are forced to take either multiple insulin injections per day or use an insulin pump to provide the amount the body needs.
Kalilah’s treatment of choice was the pump. As she says, “I am using the pump because it allows me to live the closest thing to a stress-free life. I can eat when I want, sleep when I want. It’s pretty flexible like I need it to be, so I can appreciate that I have the ability to choose when I want to do. I choose the pump. I’ll never go back.”
While Kalilah is defiant in her choice, Dr. Anderson explains, “The pump is only as smart as the person using it and programming it.”
She continued on to say; the pump does not test a person’s blood sugar and administer insulin automatically and the notion that a pump is easier than giving insulin injections is a myth.
Before someone can efficiently use the pump they should be able to give injections, test their blood sugar levels, and count carbohydrates. These are the gateway tools to successful pump use she says.
A diabetes diagnosis is not easily absorbed by patients no matter what their age. As Dr. Anderson says, “It’s a shock because most people don’t know anything about it.”
Kalilah agrees saying, “At first, yes. There’s the denial. You think, why me? This doesn’t run in my family.”
In fact, Dr. Anderson says 90 percent of patients with a type 1 diabetes diagnosis do not have a family member with the condition, but genetics is “one of the strongest risk factors” for type 2 diabetes, states the American Diabetes Association.
Now 23 years old, Kalilah is working toward a degree in orthopedic surgery, but says she will always remain involved in the search for a cure and awareness.
“I will always be an advocate for diabetes research and education through events like the World Diabetes Day.”
Whether living with chronic diabetes or a hectic, I-don’t-have-enough-time life, nutritional and emotional balance are the keys to maintaining your health.
To learn more about Kalilah's experience with type 1 diabetes read this exclusive EmpowHer interview:
https://www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2008/11/14/shannon-koehle-qa-miss-black-usa-2007-and-diabetes-advocate-kalilah-allen