Lived To Tell The Tale

I was travelling in Portugal, eating what I wanted and not giving a care about my health, let alone even PACKING any insulin. I ended up needing an ambulance 12 hours into my trip: I had double pneumonia, my kidneys were failing, and I was in such severe DKA that I needed go be in their ICU for the first 4 days. I have no recollection of this, but it happened. Since it was a public hospital I had to share a room with 3 other women once I was released into a regular ward. They all died, and I realized that by some miracle I had been given a second chance. In addition to that, I didn't see a single mirror for the 3 weeks that I was there - I didn't have to wear tight clothes at all either. That helped me the most in dealing with the initial edema. Though I had been to ED treatment a few times before, I knew that I didn't want help then. All the support of people who knew I was ill there (but not knowing about my ED, just that I was having diabetes problems and pneumonia), the lack of mirrors, and the fact that I didn't have to wear tight clothes helped me kick diabulimia and I'm so happy I lived to tell the tale.

​Submitted by DBH Client, RL