Diagnosed with Type 2 Without Experiencing the Typical Symptoms
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Antionette Blake is a multi-award winning blogger from Delaware and the owner of ABlake Enterprises, a social media management & consulting company. Antionette was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in January 2019 without experiencing the typical symptoms. Read more of Antionette’s story below.
When were you diagnosed with type 2 diabetes? Did you experience any symptoms, if any?
I received the official diagnosis of having type 2 diabetes on January 30, 2019, after being informed that I had prediabetes. The first result came months earlier after an in-home exam from a life insurance company.
After that, I decided to have a full exam with my primary physician and she and I were a little taken aback as I didn’t have any symptoms, nor did I have a family history of diabetes. Though later on, I found out it did indeed run in my family. My first reaction, was “okay, so what’s next”. My doctor instructed me to increase my physical activity, change my diet and then have another blood test in three months. Now, I am doing just that and have already lost 13 lbs.
However, as I look back and think, perhaps I did have a few symptoms such as being tired and loss of hair, however, I attributed that to being stress; natural aging and a three-hour round trip daily commute to a job that I didn’t like for more than eight years. I didn’t have any excessive thirst or constant urination which are supposed to be tell-tale signs.
What is your diet like? Did you make any major changes to it after your diagnosis?
Oh my yes, I have given up all alcohol—no beer or wine. This was weird for me because I used to drink every day, not drink to get drunk but to hydrate my body. Prior to my diagnosis, I had only drunk coffee and beer or wine on a daily but now it’s black tea and water. I never really ate sweets, but it does take me longer to grocery shop because I am reading the sugar and carbohydrate content in everything I buy, knowing that there are certain things that I need to avoid. I cut out all sugars and carbs, and am exercising daily and am not on medication. I also posted a few videos on drinking water and snacking on YouTube.
Tell us how you found out diabetes ran in your family.
I was raised by my grandmother who lived to be 98 and she never experienced any ailments other than arthritis. It wasn’t until after my diagnosis and after I wrote a blog post on it that a cousin from my father’s side with type 2 diabetes contacted me. She read the blog post entitled, “Diagnosed with Diabetes—What’s Next,” in which I stated that diabetes didn’t run in the family. She wanted to inform me that diabetes ran through my father’s side and his mother went blind, one of his brothers died from complications and another brother lost a leg.
Many years ago, my father had a fatal heart attack sitting quietly in a library and I assumed undiagnosed diabetes may have been a contributing factor. My cousin said she wished someone taught her to eat better. Now, she and I are on this journey together and I hope that my blog will bring us together in support and success of beating diabetes’s butt!
Do you receive a lot of support from family in your diabetes management?
Yes, my husband of 28 years has been very supportive. He was diagnosed with colon cancer over five years ago, so we changed up our diet back then. He’s helping me with my workout routines and making sure we eat right and both drink plenty of water.
Tell us about your blog, Delblogger, and your podcast. How are you using them to talk about your diabetes experiences?
I use DelBlogger.com to focus more on themed posts about healthy eating and living with diabetes such as “Wellness Wednesday” and “Food & Fitness Friday,” in hopes that I, along with a community of others, can connect to share information, education and recipes!
I’m also scheduling more podcast interviews with guests who have reached out to me since my diagnosis to offer support and advice and I am looking forward to having you on the DelBlogger Podcast in June to talk about your journey as well as eating healthy for the holidays, more specifically at 4th of July cookouts!
Since you were just diagnosed a couple of months ago, what have you learned about diabetes from a physical and/or mental and emotional perspective? What do you hope to learn?
I am still adjusting to the diagnosis, but have been reading more about diabetes and posting information on my blog. Diabetes is a diagnosis, not a death sentence so I will not allow it to control me—I will control it! I hope to learn the appropriate measures to keep it controlled with the ultimate goal of eliminating the diagnosis altogether.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about type 2 diabetes?
I truly thought it only affected people who had bad diets, those who ate too many fatty and sugary foods, however, I have learned that is not the case. I learned it can be family genetics or simply environmental factors.
How do you live powerfully with type 2 diabetes?
It’s a diagnosis and not a death sentence, therefore, I will adjust my eating and lifestyle habits to ensure I remain healthy and stress-free. I’m taking each day as a blessing because “every day that you wake up looking up, everything else is gravy baby!”
Tell our audience where they can connect with you.
Please subscribe and follow along on my blog, https://delblogger.com, find and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest @DelBlogger, on Twitter @DelawareBlogger and my website for A.Blake Enterprises is www.ablakeenterprises.com—Also, please feel free to connect with me at [email protected]. My DelBlogger Podcast is live every Sunday evening at 6 PM EST on Blog Talk Radio.
