It’s trying to tell you something
On a drive home to visit my family a month ago, I randomly started telling my dad about a couple of weird symptoms I was having. I was constantly thirsty, wasn’t sleeping through the night and my vision was blurry. I thought that I was thirsty because I was back on campus and moving around a lot more, and I thought my vision was blurry because I was spending so much time staring at a screen. But, that wasn’t the case. I had diabetes.
Growing up, we’re all told to listen to our bodies. If you feel sick, you’re supposed to take it easy and not go to school. But as we get older, many people stop listening to this advice.
Now, many college students go to class sick because they can’t miss class, or they think their little cough is nothing important. Instead of taking a much-needed day off, students will sometimes sit through class miserable and sick because they don’t listen to our bodies even if they are asking for a break.
I do this, too. There have been countless times when I have gone to class with a cough, a sore throat or a runny nose when I probably should have stayed home to take a nap and take care of myself.
Looking back to before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I realized I should have gone to the doctor. Deep down, I knew something was wrong. I knew it wasn’t normal that I was constantly chugging a bottle of water and still felt thirsty. I knew it wasn’t normal that I was waking up in the middle of the night, sometimes multiple times, for a month straight. I knew it wasn’t normal that my 20/20 vision was suddenly worsening. But instead of listening to the many signals my body was giving me, I ignored them and went on like everything was normal.
Luckily, my dad was familiar with the symptoms of diabetes and basically forced me to go to the doctor after I told him how I was feeling. My doctor told me that I was lucky I went in when I did before my symptoms worsened or led to irreversible damage.
If you know that you’re sick and would feel miserable going to class, take a rest day. If you suddenly start experiencing random symptoms and just feel off, get it checked out. As college students, we have access to so many free university health resources, and we should take advantage of that. What I’m trying to say is that it’s so important to listen to your body when something is off because, in all likelihood, it is probably trying to tell you something.