My Story

Hello! My name is Elizabeth Valcourt and I was just recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
I'm 19 years old and I am currently a sophomore in college.

At the end of freshman year, I noticed that I was getting very thirsty and tired during finals. I thought that is was nothing and that I just needed to get home and rest. But over the summer things didn't get better. I went in for a doctor's check up and I had lost over 20 pounds over the last year. My doctor thought it was nothing and so I left that day still oblivious. One of my mom's friends told her that I should go to the doctor's again, but this time to a female doctor. This friend's daughter also had Type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed after the first year of college as well.
So my mom took me to the doctor's again.

At the beginning of the school year I was 110 lbs. When I was diagnosed, I was 84 lbs.
I was tired.
I was thirsty.
I was miserable, but I didn't even know how unhappy I was.

After all of my tests, my blood sugar was too high to even register.
I didn't end up going to the ER, but I did go right to the diabetes educator.
I was so afraid of needles at that point. The thought of giving myself multiple shots every day terrified me.

The first week was awful.
But things have changed now. I'm in a much better place mentally when it comes to my diabetes.

I hope to tell you more about:
Being diagnosed
My summer learning about T1D
How I've changed how I think about diabetes
Updates on living with T1D in college

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!