Dodged a bullet.
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In October of 2009, I was told I was glucose-impaired, which is essentially another nice name for pre-diabetic. My glucose level came back at 190 after a two-hour fast. My cholesterol was 269. I was heading straight into full-blown Type II Diabetes.
I can’t say I was surprised by the diagnosis. I was fatter than ever, lethargic and felt hungry and thirsty almost all of the time. I’d been complaining of these symptoms for at least 18 months before. I had already visited my primary care doctor, who told me that I was fat and needed support hose. She was right about the support hose, but clearly it didn’t occur to her to run the fasting glucose test, which might have saved me from marching forward to diabetes.
It was only because I went to the PCOS Clinic at UCSF that I was properly tested for diabetes. When I was 25, I was diagnosed with Stein-Levinthal Syndrome, which was what it was called way back then. Blood tests continued to confirm the diagnosis throughout my 20s, 30s and early 40s. But now that I was actually in the PCOS clinic, my blood work showed that I didn’t have PCOS — but that I was pre-diabetic. I was surprised about that, but the doctors explained that they really don’t know how PCOS manifests itself as women age, because it can change based on anything and everything going on in the patient’s life. In my case, it changed so that I basically didn’t have it any more. What I did have, though, was a freakishly low level of progesterone and bad blood sugar.
I was upset, but also a little glad to know that the symptoms I was having were real. The weight gain, thirst, hunger and lethargy are all classic signs of diabetes. I was just lucky I found out about it in time to do something about it.
The doctors told me that it was really up to me to avoid developing diabetes. They said that if I did the exercise and watched my diet, I could make a profound difference. Maybe not in my weight, but in my ability to process glucose. And if I could process glucose correctly, I could avoid diabetes.
I asked how much exercise — and they said as much as you can stomach, but ideally at least 5-6 times a week for a minimum of 45-60 minutes a day. I asked about diet, and they said to cut down on sugar, butter, flour and anything fried. Not really earth-shaking advice, but certainly similar to everything I’ve read about. Only now it wasn’t a nice-to-have, it was a necessity.
I started exercising in the second week of October. At first it was really hard, as I honestly didn’t realize how dreadfully out of shape I had become. I started with 20 minutes on the treadmill, then worked up from there. Because I’m basically a strong person, within six weeks I was up to 45 minutes on the treadmill. I also added in stretching and weights, as well as isometric exercises. I did it at home before work, waking up at 5:30 a.m. to get an hour in before getting ready for work.
The doctors said to check in and take another fasting glucose test in January. I did just that. Here are my before and after numbers:
Glucose Oral Tolerance
190 vs. 123 (normal range is anything under 140; diabetic is anything over 199)Total Cholesterol
267 vs. 218LDL
174 vs. 139I guess it just goes to show that diet and exercise really DO work. I’ll still have to watch it and continue to exercise 5-6 days a week for the rest of my life. But I’ve had quite a scare and realize now that not moving nearly every day is like a death warrant for me.
I weigh just about the same now as I did in October, but I feel a lot better. I’m sleeping better, eating healthfully and really do seem to have more energy. I guess all that stuff about diet and exercise is really true.
Now the job is to try even harder to lose the weight. I don’t have dreams any more of being some slim thing; I’d just like to not be fat. Onward!
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