Managing Multiple health issues can be daunting.

Turning forty was a huge mental and psychical challenge for me, I had been managing my life this way so long, I did not know any other way to live.

When I was twenty, I was feeling vibrant and looking forward to finally becoming a "real adult," I was full of energy and positivity, I had an incredible lust for life, tons of friends and a great career. It seemed as if the world was waiting just for me.

By the time thirty rolled around,I had become one massive ball of negative energy that had little life left in it. It felt as if someone or something had slowly and painfully drained the energy out of me.

It was not until I turned forty, that I began to realize; if I did not get help soon, I was going to self destruct. Self-destruct is exactly what happened and it did not take ten years, it took literally a few months.

The pain that I had been coping with for over twenty years had finally begun to take its' toll; both mentally and physically. I could barely move, let alone clean the house or go to work, but I did. Each and every day, I would get up, shake off the pain and manage to get myself to work.

While I was at work, I would get involved in what I was doing and forget about the pain, but it was always there lurking in the background. When I actually made the effort to clean the house, it took two days to recover so I often paid a housekeeper or would clean on long weekends.

I am not sure when I first realized it, but I knew in my heart that something was seriously wrong with me, because a new symptom seemed to appear literally ove
ight. It began one day while reading the back of the Tylenol bottle, I could no longer read it. I remember feeling terrified because I knew that I had read it not but a few days earlier. When I brought this up to my doctor, he simply said, “It is part of getting older.” I reluctantly replied; “I knew that you could lose your sight as you get older, but I did not think it happened ove
ight.” He chuckled, brushed it off and well so did I.

I figured at this point there was no point mentioning to him that getting out of bed every morning takes every ounce of energy that I have because every inch of my body is killing me. Thinking this was also "just part of getting older," I decided to keep it to myself. I thought nothing more of it, until the other symptoms began to appear.

At work, I began to fall asleep in the afte
oon and had to literally work to keep my eyes open so no one else would notice, I only got away with it because everyone left the office long before I did. I would fall asleep in cars, on the bus and just about anywhere I could. Staying awake was harder than falling asleep.

I was not living,I was managing, simply managing to get on with each day, or so I thought. I managed to live this way for a few more months until one day my body simply shut down. It felt as if I was in a tunnel and everything around me was spinning. Unfortunately, I was driving at that moment and I could not see the lights up ahead. I could tell that they were green and red but they were blurry, it was the scariest moment of my life. It was time for me to make a life threatening decision, up ahead was a local hospital, I decided it was safer to drive into the driveway than to attempt to get off the road and have to cross over three lanes. I sat up straight concentrated hard and drove down the street to the hospital.

It was a good thing I did, my sugar was at an extremely dangerous level and I needed emergency medical help.

This was the day I found out that I had not just one serious thing wrong with me, I had three. Not only did I have diabetes,I had a thyroid problem and was deep in a state of depression. I remember when I returned home a few days later, laughing by myself thinking, “I went into the hospital drug free, I came out with five different medications, a needle and a gigantic bottle of pain killers," and now I am managing my life, how ironic is that? It was the first time I had laughed in awhile. I knew I would be fine.

Do not let symptoms go unchecked. Be digilent to tell your doctors everything that is going on with your body. One symptom may mean nothing, but combined they can indicate a serious underlying health issue s). Managing your life the way I did, is not managing it, it is simply hiding the truth. The truth was, I knew something was wrong, I was just too scared or proud to tell my family and my doctor. I did not want to face the truth, until truth gave me no choice. It nearly killed me that day on the highway, and to be honest, I could have killed someone else. It scares me to realize that. I hope my lessons in life will inspire you to take care of yours.