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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at USF chapter.

In January 2021 I contracted COVID-19 for the first time. I was infected at a volleyball competition and upon returning to practice I started to have fainting spells, extreme fatigue, excessive thirst, dizziness, and profuse sweating. In May, my optometrist told me my eyes had degenerated; my prescription had doubled over a span of five months. In June, I visited urgent care to test for COVID-19, Strep, ect. and after an A1C (blood sugar) test my nurse began to berate my mother for allowing my “diabetes” to be so uncontrolled. 

To put things in perspective, I had never had problems with my blood sugar before this and maintained an A1C within normal range (less than 5.7%), as well as having no family with diabetes. The nurse reported that my sugar was calculated to be 600 and my A1C was 14%. Both results are physically impossible for non-diabetics (non-diabetic’s blood sugar range is 70-140). Due to the fact that I was 17, the nurse didn’t believe it was possible for me to have type-1 diabetes and with no other information, the urgent care discharged me with a diagnosis of type-2 diabetes and started me on Metformin. 

In August of 2021 after six months of diabetic symptoms and medications that were actively harming me, I was officially diagnosed with type-1 diabetes by my endocrinologist due to the presence of three antibodies against my pancreas. 

Type-1 diabetes refers to life-long, chronic autoimmune diabetes, meaning that your pancreas is either no longer producing insulin, not producing enough insulin, is damaged, or your immune system is attacking it. There are three ways to develop this type of diabetes: environmental/viral, genetic factors, or your immune system attacks your insulin producing cells. In my case, after contracting COVID-19 my immune system was heavily weakened and my pancreas happened to be the main point of attack, causing me to develop antibodies that began to destroy my pancreas and my insulin producing cells. From this point forward I would be fully insulin dependent.

 Due to my situation, I was enrolled in an islet cell recovery trial at The University of Florida specifically for patients who developed diabetes from COVID-19. When I returned home, I was promptly hospitalized at an In-Patient Diabetic Education Facility where they taught me about my disease and how to manage it. 

It affects all systems in the body, when uncontrolled it can be fatal.Type-1 diabetics require lab-made insulin. In 2017, 1 vial of insulin was $275 per vial, just 1mL or 0.033814oz; it is currently the 6th most expensive liquid. 

This illness has completely changed my life and will continue to guide it. Type-1 diabetes is not preventable and not curable, however, with a lot of diligence it can be controlled. With diseases like COVID-19 where anyone can contract it, early detection can save your life and is non-invasive. It is recommended that you check your A1C, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The full effects of COVID-19 have not yet been studied and research is continuously being released that shows that it weakens the immune systems of the infected, long-term and has been associated with the development of an array of life-long chronic auto-immune disorders, not just diabetes.

Carolina Gutfreund is a second year honors student double majoring in English with a Creative Writing concentration and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences with a dual concentration in Environmental Science and Policy and Social Relations and Policy. She is a climate advocate and the Treasurer of the Botanical Gardens Club at USF. She plans to work for the EPA when she is older. She has been published by the USF honors college, Thread magazine, and the Library of Congress.