Christina’s Story

Hello readers!

I recently joined Sara at Reframe Diabetes and wanted to introduce myself to all of you! My name is Christina. Stina for short. I currently work as an interior designer and planner designing hospitals for a living. I am also in grad school and in transition to becoming a social worker and therapist. I love to sing (and occasionally play my ukulele), find happiness in the color mustard yellow, drink iced coffee all year round, was a Philly native for almost a decade, find my heart and soul in the mountains, am an avid podcast listener, find my way through writing, and all the while just so happen to be living with type 1 diabetes. Sixteen years and still going!

My diagnosis, I’m sure like many of yours, has a story. It involved months of showing symptoms, a misdiagnosis of a growth spurt, a one week long stay in the intensive care unit, and a whole bunch of transition. I was just 11 years old and rang in that New Year with diabetes by my side.

So what brought me to Reframe Diabetes exactly? What brought me to writing to you?

In the first decade of living with diabetes, I hid it. I was embarrassed. I didn’t want people knowing something was “wrong” with me. I didn’t want to come off as “needy” or a “burden.” So I brushed all of my feelings and frustrations under the rug and hid behind my cheerful personality. Transitioning into college and adulthood made managing diabetes and the emotional rollercoaster even more challenging. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be “normal.” It felt isolating and mentally exhausting.

I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was experiencing was diabetes burnout.

I dipped my toe in diabetes burnout throughout college and even in those first couple of years after graduating. After spending time in the hospital right before my 24th birthday due to DKA from burnout, I knew something had to shift. I realized that my burnout was largely stemming from me trying to hide diabetes. I needed community and I needed to feel like I wasn’t alone in all of the highs and lows of living with diabetes. So not long after, I created a page to share my experience.

The page became a way for me to come out of hiding with diabetes, a way to help me process and accept my own diagnosis. Through the page, I learned that diabetes wasn’t something to be ashamed of nor was it something that had to come packaged with positivity and a smile on your face. That it isn’t something we can get rid of, but it is something we can learn to live with. Through it, I was also able to meet other people with diabetes who encouraged and advocated alongside me. I found my own voice and began to advocate for mental health awareness, on breaking the mental health and diabetes stigma, and making the invisible, visible. All of these things led me to pursue a career in social work and to eventually become a therapist so that I could work with people like you and like me.

Is it all sunshine, rainbows, and butterflies over here yet? Absolutely not. But it is less of a battle. If you are in the middle of your battle right now, I am here to tell you: I see you. You are not alone. I am with you in the trenches and will also be waiting for you on the other side of it all. I am happy to be here, writing to you today, and I am happy to have you here reading along.

With that, I will share with you the first words I shared on my page a couple of years back. I hope they bring you some hope and comfort wherever you are in your diabetes journey:

Have you are someone you love recently been diagnosed? Are you feeling in a rut with your diabetes? Make sure to check out more articles on our blog. We’re glad you’re here and can’t wait to connect with you.