14 Feb 2025
Katie Nauman's Type 1 diabetes symptoms started early, at just 11 years old. She remembers losing a lot of weight, feeling thirsty all the time and always needing to use the bathroom. She was even wetting the bed at times.
“My mom knew something was wrong, so she took me to the hospital,” says Katie. “They tested my blood sugar over and over, but they initially said I didn’t have diabetes.”
However, shortly after that first hospital visit, Katie was attending a birthday party at school when her mom showed up in tears. She told her they needed to go back to the hospital for more testing; that’s when she was officially diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“I spent three days in the hospital, and then they sent me on my way with very little knowledge about diabetes—basically, whatever you can learn in about 48 hours,” says Katie.
For a condition that requires lifelong management, three days is a short amount of time to learn everything there is to know about living with Type 1 diabetes. As Katie would soon realize firsthand, managing Type 1 diabetes is an all-consuming responsibility.
“It didn’t affect me as much then as it does now,” she says.
A mother’s dedication: Managing childhood diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition that happens when the pancreas stops making insulin, a hormone that helps regulate glucose (blood sugar) levels in the body. This causes blood sugar to build up in the bloodstream, raising the risk of serious health problems like kidney issues, nerve damage and other complications.
Family history of Type 1 diabetes can raise your risk of developing the condition; for Katie, her maternal grandfather had Type 1 diabetes and passed away from heart health complications associated with the condition.
Growing up with Type 1 diabetes, Katie says her mom did virtually everything to help her manage the condition. Since Type 1 diabetes causes the pancreas to stop making insulin, living with the condition means you must take insulin multiple times each day to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. There are different types of insulin, as well as different methods for taking insulin; some of the most common methods include needle injections, pens, pumps and inhalers. Type 1 diabetes also requires you to count carbohydrates in the food you eat to help determine each dose of insulin.
Throughout Katie’s childhood and early adolescence, her mom routinely helped her test her blood sugar and dose her insulin—every morning, before and after every meal or snack, before going to bed, and countless times in between. She’d give her insulin injections multiple times a day to help manage her blood sugar levels (insulin pumps—which steadily deliver insulin directly into the bloodstream and only need to be inserted once every few days, compared to several times a day with injection shots—were harder to access at that time in the early 2000s). She’d also help Katie count carbs at every meal to help determine the amount of insulin she would need.
“Back then, there were no health or nutrition apps giving you that information, so we always had to look it up in pamphlets or books and ask servers at restaurants when we went out to eat,” says Katie. “Was it annoying at the time for my mom to do everything? Sure,” she jokes. In hindsight, though, she knows her mom’s love, support and structure were integral to maintaining her health.
The transition to independence: Challenges of young adulthood with diabetes
By the time Katie was 18 years old and living on her own in college, she “just wanted to be normal.”
“I essentially pretended I didn’t have diabetes when I first moved out,” she explains. “I wanted to live my life, party and eat whatever I wanted. I didn’t think about my diabetes; I didn’t know what it meant. Even though my mom said I was killing myself, I didn’t care or understand.”
As a result of neglecting her diabetes management for much of her early adulthood, Katie experienced diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) multiple times throughout her life. DKA is a life-threatening diabetes complication that happens when the body doesn’t have enough insulin to properly use glucose for energy, causing the liver to break down fat for fuel instead. This process causes the blood to become acidic and can potentially result in complications like fluid buildup in the brain, cardiac arrest and kidney failure.
Katie says her experiences with DKA changed her perspective on diabetes management, especially after having to be hospitalized during one of those experiences. “[I saw] my body’s inability to fight it to the point that I needed to be placed in the ICU,” she shares.
Though she’s managed to get treatment for DKA each time it’s happened, Katie sees how her body’s response to insulin has changed over time. “My tolerance for insulin has gone up. When I was first diagnosed, I was dosing 1 unit of insulin per 25 carbs, and now I need to give 1 unit per 7 carbs, meaning my resistance to insulin has increased. It’s constantly changing, and I have to adjust,” she explains. “I would tell younger people with diabetes that it might not seem like it’s affecting you now, but it will later down the road, and even though we can live with this disease, it needs to be managed to live that life fully.”
An unexpected complication: Navigating preeclampsia during pregnancy
Once Katie became pregnant with her first child, she had to adjust to yet another new diabetes-related health issue: preeclampsia. A serious condition characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, preeclampsia can be life-threatening for both the mother and her baby. Diabetes can increase the risk of preeclampsia because high levels of glucose in the blood can contribute to high blood pressure and hinder the way that blood passes through the placenta. As a result, the baby may not receive adequate blood, oxygen and nutrients, raising the risk of preterm birth and other complications. For the mother, preeclampsia can potentially cause organ damage, seizures and stroke.
“With preeclampsia, I had blurry vision, spots and twinkling lights in my vision and debilitating headaches,” says Katie. “My doctors had mentioned the risk of preeclampsia to me, but they didn’t make it as big of a deal as they should have. They were kind of brushing it off until someone finally took my symptoms seriously, checked for protein in my urine and realized I was preeclamptic.”
After weeks of alternating between bedrest and constant ultrasound appointments, Katie delivered a healthy baby girl via C-section 5 weeks early.
During her second pregnancy a few years later, Katie says she knew right away that she had preeclampsia again. She experienced many of the same symptoms she had during her first pregnancy, and she noticed that her blood pressure was spiking even when she was just sitting down.
“My healthcare team wouldn’t diagnose me at first,” she explains. “I had to be persistent about having the same symptoms as last time.”
Once she was diagnosed with preeclampsia again around 15 weeks’ gestation, Katie navigated the same difficult road of perpetual bedrest and doctor appointments. She had to be admitted to the hospital at around 31 weeks, and she delivered her son via C-section 7 weeks early.
“He was in the NICU for 19 days,” she says. “He was only 5 pounds and 5 ounces when he was born.”
After experiencing these complications with both of her pregnancies, Katie decided it was “not in her best interest” to have any more children.
Living with diabetes: A lifelong journey of vigilance, adaptation and self-advocacy
Today, Katie says she’s gotten much better at managing her diabetes. She now has an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which automatically tracks her sugar levels and sends the readings to an app on her phone. The app not only allows her to see trends in her blood sugar levels, but it also sends the data to her endocrinologist, which helps with real-time management and virtual appointments.
Still, Katie admits she’s “not where she needs to be” with her diabetes.
“Even though my CGM is always monitoring my sugar levels now, sometimes I’ll administer insulin and forget to check the app on my phone that’s connected to the monitor, and I’ll realize my sugar is high,” she says. “I still don’t have a good strategy. It’s really hard.”
Despite the many difficulties Katie has faced living with diabetes, her experiences have taught her the importance of speaking up for herself and her health.
“Listening to your body and advocating for yourself is so important,” she says.
At the same time, however, Katie acknowledges the lifelong challenge that is living with Type 1 diabetes. With no cure for the condition, managing her health requires constant adjustments, strategizing and vigilance.
“I don’t heal as fast from injuries or illnesses. I catch every cold. I have high blood pressure now. When I get stressed, my blood sugar spikes, and insulin doesn’t bring it down. I have to pay attention to everything in my life and how it might affect my blood sugar,” she explains. “The knowledge of how diabetes affects everything in my body long-term is stressful. And now that I have children, I don’t want them to live without me. I want to be here for them for as long as I can.”
For those who are newly diagnosed with diabetes, particularly at a young age, Katie stresses one message in particular: Listen to your mom.
“Having diabetes is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do,” she says. “But it helps to have people who support you.”
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition that requires lifelong management and vigilance. As Katie’s experience illustrates, living with Type 1 diabetes can present numerous challenges, from daily insulin management to potential pregnancy complications. Early detection of Type 1 diabetes is crucial to reducing the risk of DKA and improving outcomes for patients like Katie. Learn more about Type 1 diabetes symptoms, diagnosis, management and ways to find a support network