Auto Accident Diabetes Link

One moment, I was riding home with my friend and my daughter from a dog show - and the next, I was covered in shattered glass and blood. We had been in an auto accident - one I would not characterize as "severe" because no one died and no one lost a limb. However, at the time there was no way I could fully recognize the full impact that this auto accident would have on my life - and my health in the future.

For the next five years after the auto accident - I fought. I fought the insurance company and I fought the insurance company's lawyers. Unfortunately, I found myself fighting my own auto accident lawyer as well. However, the biggest fight of all was the one I didn't know was happening inside my body.

Nearly 8 years after my auto accident, I found myself sitting in my doctor's office - stunned at the words I was hearing. I had type II diabetes - and by his estimate, the disease began at the same time as my auto accident.

Since I had only recently begun seeing this doctor - in a state over a thousand miles away from the scene of the auto accident - and I hadn't listed the accident or it's injuries on my new patient forms - I found it very interesting that he would happen to estimate that my diabetes had begun the same year as the accident.

I will admit- it's possible that the timing was a coincidence. However, there are other reasons why I believe that it may be MORE than just a coincidence - why I suspect that my auto accident was indeed the CAUSE of my type II diabetes.

First and foremost - there is absolutely NO HISTORY of diabetes in my family. NONE. While all of us "suffer" from "struggles" in managing a healthy weight - no one in my family has a history of diabetes.

Not even my sister - who three years ago underwent gastric bypass surgery. My sister's struggle with her weight mirrored my own except my sister refused to accept the path of "diet PLUS exercise" as the preferred method of weight management.

So while I was exercising and eating a healthy diet, my sister was in search of the "quick fix". From Jenny Craig to Weight Watchers - we both tried them all but when I began doing aerobic weight training - I discovered the joy of NOT dieting.

Meanwhile, my sister hated to sweat - so she continued to yo-yo diet until she reached a weight of 360 lbs.

However, when my sister went in search of gastric bypass as an option to help her lose the nearly 200 lbs of extra weight she was carrying - her doctors were not able to find ANY medical health conditions warranting the surgery other than her BMI.

Her blood pressure was slightly elevated - but her blood sugar levels remained normal - despite repeated glucose tolerance testing.

So you can imagine the shock I was in when I heard my diagnosis - a year after my sister's gastric bypass surgery. While not at my ideal weight - I'm definitely within the boundaries of a healthy weight - and I'm the one with Type II diabetes.

In "Determining what your auto accident is worth" I cover the difference between FACTS and EVIDENCE.

Facts are what happened - but evidence is PROOF of what happened. So while my type II diabetes may have been caused by my auto accident - it's almost impossible to PROVE that there is a correlation between the two.  Even if I could establish as fact that the accident did indeed CAUSE my type II diabetes - providing evidence that it was the only factor would be overwhelming.

Last year, I began working with a nutritional coach to take my diet and exercise to a new level. I was inspired by the fact that this woman had participated in her first triathlon on her 60th birthday!  I wanted her to inspire and guide me to a similar achievement.   I was inspired by her story of her survival of a serious auto accident in Junkyard Janet.

I was diagnosed with diabetes after I'd begun working with my nutritional coach.  When I shared my diagnosis with her, I was stunned to learn that despite her degree in nutrition and a devotion to exercise - she too had been diagnosed with Type II diabetes following her automobile accident.

This is when I began to wonder if there's indeed some kind of link between injuries suffered in an accident and the development of type II diabetes?

Right now, all i have are two single stories - not nearly enough to inspire any serious research.  Right now, it's a curiosity thing for me.  I have to wonder - is it possible that preventing type II diabetes isn't as easy as "lose weight and exercise" ?  Is it possible there's more to it than currently meets the eye? 

I welcome your comments below.