My family moved to the United
States when I was 4 ˝ years old. Before
this move my diet consisted of small regular balanced meals. I only drank water and unsweetened herbal
teas (such as peppermint, chamomile, and lemon verbena) as a child.
I can remember feeling tired and
sluggish after eating bread for breakfast.
Lunch had no effect (because of physical activity). Dinner always made me feel sluggish
(hyperglycemia), but I attributed this to fatigue after a long day. I do note that I would often wake up late at
night feeling weak or hungry (hyperglycemia triggering insulin release leading
to hypoglycemia).
When we moved to the USA, many
things changed. I had to adapt myself
to a new world. It was hard for me to
cope with this new life. Emotionally it
was difficult. I experienced many negative
feelings, and there were also turbulence and lack of a stable routine. Things were just changing very quickly, all
the time. My parents were working hard
to succeed and it was very difficult for them.
The changes in my diet included
more and more carbohydrates and sugars such as: bagels with cream cheese,
breakfast cereals, and orange juice for breakfast, as well as white bread,
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pasta, pizza, and cookies. I began drinking sugared soda. All of these were influences from school and
popular culture. I did not like
drinking tap water because of the chlorine taste. Purchasing bottled water was also not as widespread as it is
today. Besides soda had more appeal and
I had a sweet tooth. Eventually I was
drinking only soda. I was eating more
and more bread and cookies. I was
eating ice cream. With Halloween came
the introduction to junk foods. I spent
a lot of time watching television because my parents were busy. I learned English by watching
television. And when I watched
television I ate. I ate bread and
cookies, I ate ice cream, and I drank soda.
In 1981, during summer vacation
from school I spent most of my time watching television, eating and drinking
soda. As a foreign kid not speaking
English, I did not make many friends. I felt compelled to learn English, in
order to gain acceptance. For the
first few years I was experiencing culture shock. I was also missing my family
abroad. I was sad and I withdrew.
During that summer I became more
and more thirsty. The weather was very
hot and humid; I was not used to this.
I was drinking a 2-liter bottle of soda each day to the amazement of my
family. In September, I went to my
family doctor, he performed a urinalysis in his office, and it was
negative. Remember what I said about
the relationship between sugar, carbohydrates, and disease.
In December, I became sick with a cold-like infection
accompanied by fever and nasal congestion.
My mother did not allow me to drink soda, only hot chamomile tea. After
a week I began to feel better. Then I
began to nag my mother about allowing me to drink soda. She said O.K., but insisted that our family
doctor should have a look at me. I
began to drink soda again.
My family doctor did a urinalysis
in his office and it was positive. He
recommended that I go right to the emergency room of the local hospital. He did not prescribe antibiotics as he had
done in the past when I was sick, instead deferring my treatment to the experts
at the hospital who could better figure out what was wrong with me and
determine an appropriate corrective course.
Also I was over most of my physical symptoms at the time of examination;
it seemed that I was getting better.
The rest is stated in the record.
I was still sniffling when I was
in the hospital. A nurse noticed that.
I remember my head feeling slightly feverish for a brief period. After they gave me the bad news, which I
never believed was really that serious, I thought to myself, maybe I was still
sick. My family doctor didn’t give me
pills. Surely I would have preferred
taking pills than shots.
I became confident that the
problem was my cold and I informed the doctor responsible for my care, saying
to him:
"What about pills for my
cold?" I was trying to draw his
attention to the fact that I had a cold and to change his focus to that.
"Oh pills, no your family
doctor gave you that", he replied.
He assumed that I had seen my
family doctor just as I was coming down with the cold. The fact is that I always became carsick when
I was healthy. So when I came down with
the cold and already felt nauseated, there was no way I would get into a car to
see the family doctor, that wonderful inhumane car upholstery smell.
I believe that this endocrinologist
assumed that because my family doctor had said "virus," he must have
thought that he was observing "beta cell destruction" in
progress. This would have been a wrong
assumption and unscientific.
Each time I visited the endocrinologists for routine
check-ups, I was required to fast and take a blood test the following
morning. After the blood test I would
go up to the hospital’s pediatric endocrinology – diabetes center. There they would offer me a high
carbohydrate breakfast, either bagels or cereal and orange juice right around
the time when the “dawn effect” was naturally increasing my blood glucose. Then they would reinforce the fact that I
should not eat sugars, as if carbohydrates do not affect blood glucose, and
then blame me for my non-compliance.
The “take home” message I received was "go ahead, eat your
carbohydrates." Then I would go to
school. By noon I would be very
hyperglycemic, to the point that I would feel sick. In school I was often taught about the “Food Guide Pyramid”, that
emphasizes high carbohydrate consumption.
These messages were dishonest and very damaging to me.