Tomwright9393
Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hello my me is Tom Wright I'm now 26 years old and I live in the Uk In a city called Norwich located in the county of Norfolk.
When I was 18 I applied to join the Royal Navy. Joining the military was always a dream job for me as a young boy, I loved being active and relished being apart of a team and loved the fact that I could help others and serve my country. The waiting time to join then was 2 years, so during that time I passed all the entry tests whilst attending a level 3 public services diploma and working at a part time job as a salesman.
Time was getting closer to my enrollment into the Navy. I was about one month away from joining when I began to feel physically ill. At the time I just brushed my illness under the rug as I was working full time as a watch repairer and i needed the money.
I was now 20 years old and the the enrollment date was looming. I progressively felt my illness getting worse. I was 10 and a half stone before getting ill and in about 2 weeks I weighed under 9 stone. A good night sleep was non existent at this time as I was going to the toilet around every 20 minutes through the night. My thirst was uncontrollable, I would drink litres and litres very frequently to try control it however, my efforts were not enough. Because of the lack of sleep, weight loss and anxious feelings that I would not be fit to begin my enrollment into the Navy I finally decided to go to tell my parents and go to the doctors.
When I got to the doctors I told them my symptoms and they carried out a finger prick test to analyze my blood glucose levels in mmol/L. The doctor looked at the reading and I could tell she was alarmed at what she saw. The reading was 38 mmol/l. Normal readings are between 4.0 mmol/L and 5.9 mmol/L. The doctor asked me if I had ever heard of diabetes, I had heard of it but I thought I would never get that, it can't happen to me. She said that I needed to go to the hospital within the next hour as she was very concerned for my health. I walked out of the surgery feeling very emotional and scared that I had diabetes.
My mum took me to the hospital with my grandparents and I was taken to to see the Nurse. I was was sat in a room getting blood tests and my blood pressure/heart rate measured. After a brief moment after the nurse has taken a blood sample from me 2 consultants walked in and did the whole "I'm sorry to inform you but you have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes", I then replied to them "but I'm joining the Navy in two weeks", they then as kindly as they could put it that I would no longer be aloud to enroll.
My childhood dreams and aspirations of joining the military were over in just seconds. I didn't know what to feel, I thought that everything I had worked for vanished and I was left to pick up the pieces.
My recovery to feel back to "normal" health again took a very long time. I went through episodes of depression and severe anxiety, confusion and anger in controlling glucose levels, it was like being born again and having to learn the basics.
After my recovery I joined back at my job as a watch repairer. Though I was working and enjoyed the peoples company who I worked with something wasn't right. I wasn't getting any fulfilment in my life as I wanted to help others.
I applied for a Health Practitioner Access course and it was at this point my journey was about to begin. I passed the course and applied to the University of Hull to join a biology degree. I started the course in 2016, I enjoyed biology very much, but I know I had another passion which shadowed my love for biology.
This passion was for the gym and nutrition. Starting training was the best thing I had ever done. All the feelings of anxiety and anger I felt for not being able to join the Navy could be focused on a new and positive aspect of my life, training. I found such relief and an increased self-esteem from training not to mention the improvment to my physical health, I knew I had to share this love and passion to others so they themselves could reap these rewards. I didn't want anyone to feel as low as I did, so it was at this point I changed my degree to Sport and Exercise Nutrition.
My love for the subject shone through my course as I came out with a 1st class degree. My interest of nutrition and Training in the gym grew and grew. I soon after passing my degree, decided to apply for a Master's in dietetics at Leeds Beckett University in 2019 to become a dietitian. I learnt such valuable information and lessons on how to treat different conditions and the aetiology of how these conditions arise. During my time at Leeds I met some amazing people however, I started to feel very anxious and possibly depressed.
I told my parents and we decided it may help me if I seemed help for my mental Health. I started to see a psychotherapist and find the cause of my anxiety. After months of therapy it started to become clear that the anxious and depressive feelings stem from my diagnosis of diabetes. In a hypothetical way I was grieving a life that I could of had in the Navy. It was hard to hear this but it was then that things became clearer to me and I could then build the foundations to my true recovery of my mental health.
After things became clearer to me I began to realise I was focusing more and more in the gym training my body and researching about sports nutrition. I found such inspiration and happiness in the gym that I wanted to help others in the same way but to fully do this, I know I had to leave the dietetics course.
After leaving the course, I have increased my training intensity at the gym and started a level 2 and level 3 personal training course.
Me and my friend have had some good ideas and have decided to start a online coaching business/personal training which will hopefully be running by the end of 2020.
I can definitely say that I am now feeling way happier with my self that I found what I believe is my true calling. hopefully my love for training and story can inspire others who are feeling down for whatever reason or those who just want to improve themselves mentally and physically in the future
if anyone wants to talk to me about their experiences please feel free and hopefully if you don't feel like you have, unlock your true potential.
When I was 18 I applied to join the Royal Navy. Joining the military was always a dream job for me as a young boy, I loved being active and relished being apart of a team and loved the fact that I could help others and serve my country. The waiting time to join then was 2 years, so during that time I passed all the entry tests whilst attending a level 3 public services diploma and working at a part time job as a salesman.
Time was getting closer to my enrollment into the Navy. I was about one month away from joining when I began to feel physically ill. At the time I just brushed my illness under the rug as I was working full time as a watch repairer and i needed the money.
I was now 20 years old and the the enrollment date was looming. I progressively felt my illness getting worse. I was 10 and a half stone before getting ill and in about 2 weeks I weighed under 9 stone. A good night sleep was non existent at this time as I was going to the toilet around every 20 minutes through the night. My thirst was uncontrollable, I would drink litres and litres very frequently to try control it however, my efforts were not enough. Because of the lack of sleep, weight loss and anxious feelings that I would not be fit to begin my enrollment into the Navy I finally decided to go to tell my parents and go to the doctors.
When I got to the doctors I told them my symptoms and they carried out a finger prick test to analyze my blood glucose levels in mmol/L. The doctor looked at the reading and I could tell she was alarmed at what she saw. The reading was 38 mmol/l. Normal readings are between 4.0 mmol/L and 5.9 mmol/L. The doctor asked me if I had ever heard of diabetes, I had heard of it but I thought I would never get that, it can't happen to me. She said that I needed to go to the hospital within the next hour as she was very concerned for my health. I walked out of the surgery feeling very emotional and scared that I had diabetes.
My mum took me to the hospital with my grandparents and I was taken to to see the Nurse. I was was sat in a room getting blood tests and my blood pressure/heart rate measured. After a brief moment after the nurse has taken a blood sample from me 2 consultants walked in and did the whole "I'm sorry to inform you but you have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes", I then replied to them "but I'm joining the Navy in two weeks", they then as kindly as they could put it that I would no longer be aloud to enroll.
My childhood dreams and aspirations of joining the military were over in just seconds. I didn't know what to feel, I thought that everything I had worked for vanished and I was left to pick up the pieces.
My recovery to feel back to "normal" health again took a very long time. I went through episodes of depression and severe anxiety, confusion and anger in controlling glucose levels, it was like being born again and having to learn the basics.
After my recovery I joined back at my job as a watch repairer. Though I was working and enjoyed the peoples company who I worked with something wasn't right. I wasn't getting any fulfilment in my life as I wanted to help others.
I applied for a Health Practitioner Access course and it was at this point my journey was about to begin. I passed the course and applied to the University of Hull to join a biology degree. I started the course in 2016, I enjoyed biology very much, but I know I had another passion which shadowed my love for biology.
This passion was for the gym and nutrition. Starting training was the best thing I had ever done. All the feelings of anxiety and anger I felt for not being able to join the Navy could be focused on a new and positive aspect of my life, training. I found such relief and an increased self-esteem from training not to mention the improvment to my physical health, I knew I had to share this love and passion to others so they themselves could reap these rewards. I didn't want anyone to feel as low as I did, so it was at this point I changed my degree to Sport and Exercise Nutrition.
My love for the subject shone through my course as I came out with a 1st class degree. My interest of nutrition and Training in the gym grew and grew. I soon after passing my degree, decided to apply for a Master's in dietetics at Leeds Beckett University in 2019 to become a dietitian. I learnt such valuable information and lessons on how to treat different conditions and the aetiology of how these conditions arise. During my time at Leeds I met some amazing people however, I started to feel very anxious and possibly depressed.
I told my parents and we decided it may help me if I seemed help for my mental Health. I started to see a psychotherapist and find the cause of my anxiety. After months of therapy it started to become clear that the anxious and depressive feelings stem from my diagnosis of diabetes. In a hypothetical way I was grieving a life that I could of had in the Navy. It was hard to hear this but it was then that things became clearer to me and I could then build the foundations to my true recovery of my mental health.
After things became clearer to me I began to realise I was focusing more and more in the gym training my body and researching about sports nutrition. I found such inspiration and happiness in the gym that I wanted to help others in the same way but to fully do this, I know I had to leave the dietetics course.
After leaving the course, I have increased my training intensity at the gym and started a level 2 and level 3 personal training course.
Me and my friend have had some good ideas and have decided to start a online coaching business/personal training which will hopefully be running by the end of 2020.
I can definitely say that I am now feeling way happier with my self that I found what I believe is my true calling. hopefully my love for training and story can inspire others who are feeling down for whatever reason or those who just want to improve themselves mentally and physically in the future
if anyone wants to talk to me about their experiences please feel free and hopefully if you don't feel like you have, unlock your true potential.
