November 14 is World Diabetes Day, which raises awareness for prevention, treatment, and education around the blood sugar condition diabetes. To honor the day, Dancing With The Stars pro Rylee Arnold, 19, opened up in-depth about her diabetes journey for the first time. Here, she tells Women’s Health the story of being diagnosed at 15, how she manages symptoms amid a busy dance schedule, and why she’s “grateful” for the condition.
I was 15 years old and in the middle of my dance season when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I was traveling almost every single weekend and was so exhausted. I had to pee a lot. I was super hungry. I was drinking so much water. And I still felt sick. When I was dancing, I was always told, “You look like you’re out there and you’re not trying.” I was, but my body just wouldn’t do the things that it needed to do.
I wasn’t sleeping well. I had to pee about six or seven times each night. Me and my mom used to have a little argument every morning because she would try to wake me up for school, and I just would not wake up because I was so exhausted.
I figured that all those symptoms were because I was tired from competing every weekend. I didn’t ever think that I had Type 1 diabetes—it didn’t run in my family. (Type 1 diabetes can be genetic.)
After about three months of these symptoms, I went to dance rehearsal one day and I was starving. I got ice cream. I got a Coke. I got a burger and fries—literally everything you can think of that has carbs in it. (If your body doesn’t have enough insulin, it won’t properly take up the glucose in carbs.) I just ate. Then, I immediately fell asleep. I was so sick. My stomach was hurting so much. My body was fighting.
My dad took me to the hospital. My sister Brynley was a nurse, so she came out and checked my blood sugar. For reference, a normal count is between 80 to 120. The monitor couldn’t read it—it just said “high.” (If it’s above 600, the device won’t get an accurate reading.) Later, I got my blood drawn, and my blood sugar was 1,023. It was so scary. If I had just gone to bed that night and not to the hospital, I might not be alive today. I was really, really close to a diabetic coma.
I was admitted to the hospital for three days.
Those were the hardest three days of my life. The reality set in on how difficult managing this disease was going to be and how much it was going to change everything. Every 20 minutes, a new person would come in and tell me something new. It was so overwhelming. My biggest thought was, “Am I going to be able to dance again?”
The first couple weeks after being discharged the hospital, I experienced a lot of blood sugar highs and lows. I didn’t have a Dexcom—a continuous glucose monitor—yet. (I have one now.) I was going off finger pricks and self-injecting syringes of insulin. There were a lot of times where I would calculate my food wrong and give myself too much insulin. My very first “low” was dramatic, because I had never felt that feeling before. I got cold sweats and felt super shaky. It was so scary.
I didn’t understand how much the condition consumes every day. You can’t not think about it, otherwise your blood sugar could be really bad. If it’s high, I get blurry vision and low energy. If it’s low, I lose my balance and feel loopy. It will really, really affect you.
It took me two years to get a handle on Type 1 diabetes.
I got a continuous glucose monitor and it changed my life. It’s a device that’s inserted into my skin and reads my glucose levels every few minutes through a sensor. Now, I know my blood sugar at all times through an app. That was so helpful because no one wants to prick their finger 15 to 20 times a day. Now I go on my app, look at my blood sugar, give myself insulin, and then I eat. It’s in my routine now. I don’t really remember life before. I feel like I’ve always had Type 1 diabetes.
It’s really hard to have Type 1 diabetes while dancing, because if your blood sugar isn’t in that 80 to 120 range, your energy will plummet. It was really hard last year when I first joined Dancing With The Stars. That’s because when your stress is super high, your blood sugar naturally runs higher. It was really hard for me to combat that and also be able to do my job.
It’s been a lot better this year. On rehearsal days, I’m constantly checking my blood sugar and making sure it’s in a healthy range, but basically eating everything that I want to. I always have fruit snacks nearby in case it gets too low.
Now, I have a routine of making sure that my blood sugar is in tip-top shape on show days. I try to avoid carbs as much as I can, because some carbs can really spike your blood sugar. So on those days, I try to avoid them at all costs. The last thing I want to worry about is going on live television and having my blood sugar be low or super high, which would negatively affect my performance.
Also, I have way less stress this season. It’s not my first time anymore, and I have a great partner. Every time the app beeps to let me know my blood sugar is low, Stephen’s like, “Eat sugar.” It’s been so nice to have those people who really care about me and my wellbeing.
One big misconception that I had was I thought that I was going to have to diet for diabetes. But overall, I still eat all the things that I love, I just give myself the right insulin for it.
My mom is my rock. I’m in Los Angeles during Dancing With The Stars and she’s back in Utah. She has access to my glucose monitor app, and if my blood sugar is low in the middle of the night, she’ll call me until I answer to make sure I eat. Once when I was in Utah, my blood sugar was low, but I didn’t hear my app beeping because I was asleep. She called me and called me, but I didn’t answer. So she drove to my house 15 minutes away at 4:00 a.m. She is the reason that I’m standing here today.
Type 1 diabetes put my life into perspective.
When I first got diagnosed, I had a very fixed mindset. My first thought was, “This sucks. Why was I dealt this card?”
But in the hospital, I remember looking up people who had Type 1 diabetes. I saw Nick Jonas had it. He has lived a completely perfect life and done everything he’s wanted to do. I thought, “This can’t stop me.” Now, I want to be a person that someone in the hospital can look to for hope.
Looking back, I am so forever grateful for my diabetes, because it was a reality check. It showed what really mattered to me, which is my health, my family, and dance. I learned to prioritize how I was feeling so I could do my best on-stage. I want to prove it’s not a disease that can stop you from living your life. I really let that drive me.
When I was having that first learning curve, I thought, “Rylee, this is your life on the line. This isn’t just numbers on a screen or shots that you’re giving yourself. You have your life in your own hands, and if you want to live a long, healthy life, you are taking full responsibility for that.”
Type 1 diabetes is why I’m here right now. If I hadn’t gone through that kind of life trial, I don’t think I would be on Dancing With The Stars today. It made me grow up. It’s crazy to be 19 and have the responsibility I have on this show. But because I matured quickly, it really set me up for what I’m doing now.
Diabetes will only make you stronger in life. Let it drive you to accomplish even more. Every day that you live with Type 1 diabetes, you are an advocate for it. When people see you wearing your glucose monitor, you are showing people how strong you are and how strong they can be in whatever life trial that’s being thrown at them. It’s a special gift.
