This is a blog that has been a year in the making! One year ago, I was diagnosed with Diabetes Type II. This came as quite a shock to my family as well myself. This blog will be how we dealt with it and what amazing results I have had and how it changed my life for the better. I feel fantastic now and want to share my story with all! I was well educated and married to a man who is in the medical profession. We always felt we knew how the body worked. Boy were we wrong!
My journey began two years ago when I gained 20 lbs. over a period of one months time. I had hit the ground running with menopause and was dabbling with the "Vivelle" patch for relief from hot flashes.I proceeded to live like this for several months just trying to ramp up exercise and dieting like I had never dieted before. Nothing worked. I began to seek medical help for this issue with an internist, and two different mid life nurse practitioner's. This is what I was told. "You are now in menopause and this kind of thing happens...you will have to cut approximately 100 calories/day now that you are in menopause...try this progesterone cream that is a bio identical I have had many patients do very well with this...give this progesterone cream six months and I guarantee you this will all turn around." I had faith in the system and it was failing me big time. Another year later and I was becoming depressed. I had certainly held onto 10 lbs after my children's birth, but I truly did not recognize the amount of fat that I was carrying. My body contour was shifting to show that I had a 5 month pregnant belly. I kept saying to my husband....."I don't recognize my own body".
I had been on thyroid meds for a thyroid mass and for some time had been experiencing very low blood sugars but thought such was life. So I felt that maybe I should go see an endocrinologist at the university hospital down the road. It took 6 months for an appt. and I was anxiously waiting for that day to come. I had no other option. When I met Dr. Anderson, I told her that I looked pregnant and did not recognize my own body. I told her I had always exercised and ate properly. I do all of our own cooking for my children and husband. I was raised with organic parents who ate from their garden so I had great role models. She examined me and saw the shape of my body and how odd it was. Immediately she said "My best guess is that you have developed for various reasons, Diabetes Type II. The low blood sugars you have been having are due to a higher than normal dose of thyroid medications that have been covering up the blood sugar highs. This is what is causing this weight gain to occur with fat deposits. Lab results may or may not confirm it so that is our next step."
Lo and behold a week later I was told the HgbA1C was high and that I was to start on a drug called Metformin. To make a long story short within three months I had only lost 5 lbs. This was not enough for me to begin to see my body again. So on my checkup I told the MD how I felt. She told me that a vegan book written by an MD was turning the diabetes world upside down and had helped many people. I took the title and ran to the nearest bookstore. It would take a week to get the book and I was very leery of the possibilities at this point that anything would help me. The MD was not about to raise my dose of Metformin. So I had no other choice than to read the book. I was already restricting my caloric intake to 1200/day with only one piece of fruit each day and I thought I would die! The book is called Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes." My journey continues......but his time success!
