Lala lost 80% of her vision to diabetes at 26

The fashion designer lost 80 percent of her vision to diabetes at 26, then fought her way back with faith and determination

Lala is a talented seamstress and fashion designer whose life changed overnight in early 2025. After experiencing mysterious symptoms for months, she woke up one morning to discover her vision had vanished. At just 26 years old, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and had lost nearly 80 percent of her sight. The Houston-based creative, who shares her journey on TikTok as T1D Hoochie, has spent the past nine months learning to manage her condition, adapt her craft and rebuild her independence. During National Diabetes Awareness Month, she sat down to discuss her diagnosis, recovery and the lessons she learned about listening to her body.

Take us back to when you were first diagnosed. What led up to that moment?

It started with a respiratory infection in December 2024. When you get sick, they tell you to drink fluids and stay hydrated. I was extremely dehydrated. That was my number one symptom. I was guzzling water, my thirst was never quenched, and I had excessive bathroom trips. Even if I just took a sip, I was rushing urgently to the bathroom.

I also had excessive cravings for sugar, more than normal, and muscle spasms. I was losing sensation in some of my fingers. Going into the new year at the top of 2025, my vision started to come and go. I had just started managing a new bar, and part of those duties involved looking at receipts and closeouts. My vision would fluctuate throughout the day, and I thought maybe I was working too hard, maybe it was stress or eye strain.

Then one day, I went to sleep thinking I just needed to rest my eyes. I woke up, and my vision never really came back. That’s when I knew something was wrong. I had already done a Google search, and it told me the worst. I was like, okay, no, there’s no way that can be for me, because I take care of myself, I work out, I monitor the things I eat. But when my vision did not come back for a few days, I said I need to get some tests run.

They told me I had type 1 diabetes, and in that moment, it felt like a life sentence. I didn’t know what that meant. Nobody in my family has it, so it was like, how do I get something like that? For me, the losing of the vision was the biggest thing. I kept asking them how I get my vision back, and they were like, we don’t know. You have to wait. I lost my job because of it, because I couldn’t see.

What were those first few weeks like emotionally and mentally?

It was a dark place for me because I’m hyper-independent. I do a lot of my moving around, and I take care of my livelihood by myself. That really sat me down. I didn’t really have a village that I knew would be there for that. You don’t hear too many people dealing with diabetes who are Black and 26 years old. It’s a taboo topic. I don’t know anybody around me who has it, so nobody could resonate with me.

The only person I had to really be there for me was my best friend who lives here, but it was a very lonely process. I spent the first few weeks blaming myself because I wasn’t educated enough. I was like, did I do this to myself? I really didn’t understand. I spent a lot of time in the house. I had to learn and navigate throughout my house with limited vision. I had to change accessibility settings on my phone so if someone texted me, the phone would read it to me.

For my medicine, if I was here by myself, I would send a picture the best way I could to my friend, and she would text it back to me. Then I would have the phone read it to me of what it was. It was a lot of trying to adjust for those first few weeks and figure out how to fix this.

As a fashion designer, your craft relies on vision and precision. How did you adapt your creative process?

Honestly, I had to stop for a while. It was hard because I was anticipating going full force into prom season. I had already taken a few clients and they had signed contracts before I lost my vision. I was definitely scared because it’s not about the money, it’s about the reputation. These are out-of-town clients who trusted me with hundreds of dollars, and I don’t want to be like, I can’t deliver. My business is my baby, and that’s a representation of me. I don’t want to seem unreliable, although my health is first.

I was stuck between making that decision to say I can’t deliver or just waiting. It was far enough ahead to where I could wait it out before saying anything. I gave myself a little bit of grace without panicking too soon. But right then and there, I did have to cease any type of activity. I could not drive. If I had orders, I would not have been able to go to the fabric store, and there’s nobody around me who has my skill set to do it on my behalf. It was something I completely had to stop for a moment.

How has your daily routine changed since being diagnosed?

I am super health conscious. I already was, but with learning about diabetes, you learn it’s not just about sugar, it’s about carb intake. It’s mainly about carb intake. I’m hypervigilant on that. I’m reading the labels of everything 10 times over, and I had to learn how to carb count. As a diabetic, we can eat pretty much the same thing, but you want to make sure you’re not eating anything that’s literally going to flare you.

My breakfast is very limited. It’s not going to be heavy breads and oats and grits like the regular American breakfast. It’s going to be way more calculated than that. I do try to give myself grace, because it’s only been nine months for me, and it’s a huge adjustment. I don’t think I was eating badly before, but the regular stuff we need for breakfast, sausage and grits, I can’t have that every day. Pancakes, waffles, I cannot have that every day. My breakfast looks like a protein shake and maybe a few slices of turkey bacon.

How is your vision now?

My vision is better. I do have moments where it comes and goes because I’m still learning to manage. Loss of vision is a result of your blood glucose being too high for too long. Anytime now, I’m just making sure I’m not straining my eyes. A lot of the things we go through health-wise can be stress-induced, so I make sure I keep my activity to a minimum so I’m not flaring myself.

What role did faith, mindset or self-discipline play in helping you adjust?

Faith played a huge role because I am completely reliant on myself for my day-to-day activity. Because it got so dark, and you read up on how diabetics are highly prone to depression and mental health issues, I made sure I had to seek some type of comfort somewhere, and that was within my faith.

It was a very lonely start because nobody could relate to me. I was nervous about the things I had around me. I was like, it’s just me, but then you have to realize it’s not just you. You have God with you. God is putting you through this for a reason. I was a busybody, all over the place. I had no real structure. I was just trying to get everything I could under my belt, and my health went on the wayside. I had these symptoms from December, and I didn’t get diagnosed until February. So much happened in between those months.

God was like, hey, I have to sit you down for a minute because you’re not understanding that your life is on the line. People are casualties of diabetes, and you hear about it, and it’s scary. But that doesn’t have to be my story. I have a lot of faith that as long as I stay the course and live in my purpose, which is fashion design that I’ve strayed from, everything happens for a reason. I was distracted by other opportunities to where my fashion business was like, I’ll get to it later. I feel like all this was just a redirection. I prayed about direction, and being redirected the right way. It was like, hey, you need your vision to make clothes, don’t you? So why are you in all these other places trying to fill in the void? Everything I gave you with your hands and your eyes is right here.

What has been the biggest lesson you learned about yourself and your body?

Listen to your body. Your body will give you all the warning signs. Nine times out of 10, there’s always something before the big diagnosis that will tell you that you need to pay attention to this. A lot of things, you can use preventative care. I was very hands-on with my health, but I did have a doctor who was not the most knowledgeable. She kind of made light of my prediabetes diagnosis in 2023. Because I’m not educated, I wasn’t educated, I made light of it too.

I would just say read up on as much as you can. If something is worrying you, if you have a question about your body, ask questions. Get help. Learn about your family history. That’ll help too. Educate yourself, because everything is not just going to find you. You have to literally educate yourself and go looking for whatever you need answers to.

For those living with diabetes or facing sudden health challenges, what message do you want to leave with them?

Do not let anyone bully you about your status. Being diabetic and young, it’s so easy to let people’s opinions affect you as far as what you eat and how you decide to live after your diagnosis. You can very much still live a regular life, but you’re just going to be way more intentional than everybody else, and that puts you 10 steps ahead of everybody too, because you are living with more attention. I know a lot of people get discouraged with it because it’s something you have to maintain every day. We’re doing the job of a whole organ now.

But you can make it your norm, and you don’t have to be ashamed of it. I literally wear it with pride so that nobody feels like this is a hard topic to ask me about. I’m very open and honest about it. That’s how I cope, being honest. Like, hey, yeah, I have it. What do you need to know?

Lala shares her type 1 diabetes journey on TikTok at @yourmusela or T1D Hoochie, where she educates and informs others while using humor to cope with her diagnosis.

This interview was conducted by Rolling Out’s Health IQ.