Before graduating from ETSU during the summer of 1993, Kim Shelton felt miserable. It was not the straining coursework that took a toll on her, but her health. “I was extremely thirsty all the time, and, well, I had to urinate a lot,” she said. “I was running to the restroom about every 15 minutes.”
Trembling and confused, Shelton drove home to Greeneville in July to tell her mother that she needed help.
Her mother then took her to a doctor. “At first I thought I was just really tired from school,” she recalls, “but the symptoms worsened, and then the doctor told me I had diabetes.”
Shelton began to read about diabetes, and learned about all of the complications from the disease, such as blindness, amputations and kidney failure. “I was devastated when I found out I had diabetes,” she said. “The first thing I thought about was being pricked by needles all the time. I am afraid to death of needles.”
At Shelton’s first test, her doctor diagnosed her with Type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes. For three years, Shelton took medication pills to control her insulin.
People with Type 2 diabetes produce insulin, which is used to break down sugar in the body. However, in Type 2 patients, the cells resist the important protein hormone, said Nurse Practitioner Caroline Mansy of Johnson City Internal Medicinie Associates.
Glucose, a type of sugar, will build up in the blood, Mansy said. When glucose is not distributed properly, problems begin to occur.
In 1996, Shelton’s doctor realized he had made a mistake, she said.
Instead of having Type 2 diabetes, Shelton had the more serious Type 1 diabetes, or juvenile-onset diabetes. Type 1 occurs when the pancreas does not produce any insulin.
At that point, she began to use injections to control her insulin. Then in 1999, at the same time that she went back to ETSU to work on her master’s degree, Shelton was given an insulin pump. “I am now able to manage my diabetes with my pump,” Shelton said. “I can eat what I want and when I want. I also try to exercise and eat healthy foods to control it.”
As one of the 18.2 million sufferers of diabetes, the American Diabetes Association says, Shelton is now able to control her diabetes and live a normal life because of her pump. “Insulin pumps measure the amount of glucose in the body, and will inject insulin into the blood, when needed,” Mansy said.
Shelton is now an English teacher at Greeneville High School, and has many students worrying about her constantly, she said. “Every time I slow down for a second, about half the class is asking me if I need to eat,” Shelton said. “It’s kind of funny.”
One of Shelton’s former students, Erin Collins also suffers from Type 1 diabetes.
Collins, an ETSU sophomore and Roan Scholar, has coped with diabetes since she was 7 years old. “When I was younger I really didn’t understand the disease,” she said. “But I was very scared.”
When she was 7, Collins went along with her mother on her brother’s 18-month checkup. At the doctor’s office, her mother decided that she wanted Collins to get a checkup too. After some tests, the doctor announced that Collins had Type 1 diabetes.
From then on, Collins had to get her periodic shots of insulin, via needle and syringe. “The needles don’t bother me,” she said. “I guess it’s because I’ve had them for such a long time.”
Then during her freshman year at Greeneville High School, Collins was given an insulin pump. Though she says that the pump helped her control her diabetes, the pump was a nuisance.
The hip-hugging device, about the size of a pager, became an obstruction, Collins said. Throughout her high school career, she had to wear it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For a beauty pageant contestant, that can be difficult, she said. “It was hard to go on stage in a bathing suit with my pump on as well,” she said.
After winning a few pageants and graduating from school, Collins got rid of her pump during her freshmen year at ETSU. She now uses shots to manage her sugar. “Shots are less expensive, and I just didn’t like the pump,” Collins said. “The pump works for some people, but I just didn’t want it.”
Collins says that she also exercises, watches what she eats and talks to people about her diabetes. “It is more difficult to take care of myself while I live on campus than when I lived at home,” she said. “My parents were always there to take care of me, now I have to do it on my own.”
One of the most difficult things for Type 1 diabetics to go through is the teenage years. “Teenagers with Type 1 diabetes think they are invisible,” Mansy said. “We know that many teens will try to buck the system. Young people have no choice. They have to accept it or they will die without insulin.”
In Collins’ case, with support from friends, family, and her roommate at ETSU, she has been able to cope with her diabetes and all of the stress that comes along with it. “I am able to control my diabetes,” she said, “without it controlling me. I don’t think it would be possible to survive diabetes if I let it control me.”
Even when groggy and not feeling well, “Talking about my diabetes actually makes me feel better,” she said.
And that is exactly what she has been doing for the past few years. With beauty pageants, support groups and clubs, Collins has spread her philosophy on diabetes management.
In fact, Collins has started a support group for students at Greeneville Middle School. There, she is able to confer with diabetic students about their condition. “We will just sit down and talk,” she said. “At there age, it is difficult to deal with diabetes. So I talk to them one-on-one about their problems.”
Collins is also in the process of creating a diabetes support group at ETSU.
With exercise, nutritional diets, handy gadgets, personal acceptance and good self-esteem, more and more diabetics are able to control their life-threatening disease. With more than 6 percent of the American population diagnosed with diabetes, it is becoming more important to spread the philosophy of good management and control, Collins said.
Understanding and managing diabetes is an important step in living a normal life. “Diabetes is like a slow cancer,” Mansy said. “It slowly eats away at your body. The better control you have your sugars in, the better off your going to be in the long term.”
And, the ADA, says about 16 million Americans are suffering with something called pre-diabetes. This condition occurs when blood sugar is higher than normal, but not as high as diabetic conditions. People with pre-diabetes will eventually develop diabetes, usually Type 2 diabetes, the ADA says.
“Pre-diabetes is a new diagnosis,” Mansy said. “It is best to catch people at that time so we can get them to change their diet and start exercising so they can get their sugars under control.”
Diabetes is one of the most-researched diseases in the world.
“There are constantly new insulins, glucometers, and oral medications coming out into the market,” Mansy said. “The biggest priority for diabetics, especially Type 2, is exercise (Mansy recommends carbohydrate counting) and weight loss.
“We know that 60 percent of adults can improve their sugars through exercise. Five minutes of exercise is better than nothing. You hope that everyone will accept their disease and make the appropriate changes.”
As Collins, Shelton, and the other 18.2 million Americans cope with their diabetes, healthcare providers such as Mansy are continuing to urge diabetics to exercise and diet.
“We see a lot of diabetics eat what they want and give themselves an extra amount of insulin, and that is not good,” she said. “If they have spikes in their blood sugar level they are ultimately going to do damage to their organs. The whole goal of controlling your diabetes is feeling better every day and preventing long term complications.”
For students interested in Collins’ diabetes support group, call her cell phone at 552-5439 or e-mail her at e_collins14@yahoo.com.

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