Victoria Colliver
Updated 5:00 pm, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Cathy Purpur used every excuse she could think of to explain away her symptoms.
Busy at work and training for a half marathon in 2004, the 38-year-old San Jose woman started feeling exceptionally tired, craving orange juice and going to the bathroom a lot.
"I just figured I'm up in the middle of the night because I'm drinking a lot more, and I'm exhausted because I'm up in the middle of the night," said Purpur, now 46. "I rationalized everything."
It wasn't until she noticed her vision getting worse - soon after she had been to the eye doctor for a new refraction - that she started to panic. She returned to the eye doctor, who immediately suspected the cause and told her to get a blood test.
Her blood sugar was sky high. The cause: diabetes.
Physicians are seeing an increase in diabetes, a disease that makes it difficult for patients to control their blood sugar levels. But it's not the type of diabetes - known as Type 2 - that has gotten the most attention in recent years and is linked to the growing obesity epidemic.
Rather, it's the less common Type 1 form that historically has been found in children and young adults.
"Overall, Type 1 diabetes is increasing and we're seeing it in all age groups," said Dr. Tandy Aye, who specializes in pediatric endocrinology and diabetes at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
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