Age: 27 Year Diagnosed: 2006 Location: Los Angeles, Ca
“I went to a very strict Catholic school in Orange County and the administration started to have problems with me because I was so sick I missed a bunch of school due to my Type 1 Diabetes and other auto-immune related issues. I was an athlete and according to a lot of the teachers I “looked healthy” and they couldn’t figure out why I was skipping school. A few of them had talked and thought I was using the disease as an excuse to skip school and that I was just a slacker - ANYWAY one day my sophomore year my blood sugar was through the roof but had to go to school because I had a geography test. Halfway though the class I raised my hand and quietly asked my teacher if I could be excused. He loudly questioned, “Why?! Why do you need to be excused!?” Which in the middle of a test, totally embarrassed me and I just stood up and blurted out, “I’m just too high to take this test right now. I’m going home.” His face went white. I walked out and went to the nurse, who explained to him what I meant. Of course, I was given a “random drug test” later that week... At the time it was horrifying, but looking back it was hilarious. It probably shook him up worse than me. “