Russell E. Saltzman on diabetes and despair :
Deen thought she would be forced to change her entire life and diet, and like other newbie diabetics wasnt quite prepared for it. I can sympathize. My 1995 diagnosis came out of the blue. I was asymptomatic; I was skinny. I had a physical examination not six months before, but when I took a pro forma health insurance exam, I flunked. Somewhere in that six month period my pancreas slipped a gear. This skinny boy was handed a 1,100 calorie diet by a small town doctor and told to lose some weight. A specialist soon afterward got me on a better track.