How a Diabetes Diagnosis Changed My Life For the Better

You can accept that you have type 2 diabetes or try to go into remission. This is a hard — but worthwhile — process.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people over the age of 45 have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. I became one of those people a couple of years ago.

My GP had monitored me for a while because my blood sugar levels were creeping into the pre-diabetic stage. Eventually, they tipped over the edge, and my doctor gave me a formal diagnosis. They also referred me to a diabetes nurse to get advice on how to manage my condition.

This is where things got interesting.

As expected, my nurse gave me lots of advice on dietary and lifestyle changes I should make to improve my overall health. They also told me that I might be able to put my diabetes into remission.

What is diabetes remission?

When you’re diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you’re typically medicated. Drug dosages vary according to your blood sugar levels. The aim here is to get your levels back down to a healthy range.

According to Diabetes UK, remission occurs when you don’t need medication to control your blood sugar. Your levels go low enough to fall into a healthy range without the need to take drugs.

However, remission doesn’t reverse diabetes. You simply find ways to control it without medication. It can come back if you lose control again.

Not everyone with type 2 diabetes can go into remission. Factors such as your overall health and the time since you were diagnosed come into play. However, some people can change their diet and lifestyle enough to come off medication with their doctor’s supervision.

My nurse thought I could do this if I was prepared to put in the work. They warned me that it wouldn’t be easy and that a lot of people try but fail.

Why is diabetes remission hard?

When my nurse told me I could go into remission, I wanted to try. I don’t want to be dependent on medications for the rest of my life if I can help it.

However, this wasn’t as easy as I thought. You have to get over a lot of negative influences and factors. Common problems include:

Normalisation: As I came to terms with my diabetes diagnosis, I normalised it. My father and older sister had been diagnosed in their fifties too. A couple of my friends had had a recent diagnosis. I started to think that this might be genetic. It was just something that happened to people my age. When you move into this mindset, you accept your diabetes as a normal part of life. Going into remission becomes less important.

Medication dependence: Diabetes medications control your blood sugar levels. It’s sometimes easier to use them as a fast fix than to make lifestyle changes that would put you in remission. If the drugs work, why bother?

Overwhelming change: If you are a good candidate for diabetes remission, then you need to make changes to your life. You might need to lose weight, change your diet and get more exercise. These changes are hard enough to do on their own. If you have to make multiple changes simultaneously, then you might feel overwhelmed and give up.

I experienced all of these problems; however, with the help of my nurse and doctor, I found ways to get through them.

How did I start down the remission path?

My nurse talked to me about my attitude towards my diabetes and my need to change my situation. This helped a lot.

First, I had to change my mindset.

This was actually the easiest part. I knew I wasn’t taking responsibility for my own actions. Yes, two of my immediate family had had a diabetes diagnosis. But, four others hadn’t. Most of my friends hadn’t.

I hadn’t been on an uncontrollable path to getting diabetes because of my genes or age. I’d walked down that path myself. I’d had enough warnings before my diagnosis that I’d ignored. If I’d made changes then, I’d have avoided getting diabetes in the first place.

This was all down to me. Going into remission was also my choice.

The next part has been the hardest to manage. I had to make a lot of lifestyle changes.

My general diet wasn’t too bad. I usually ate healthy meals. However, I overate and had obviously decided that unhealthy snacks were one of the major food groups.

I also assumed that I was fit enough. We don’t have a car, so I walk a lot. Except I ambled. I wasn’t walking fast enough to get my heart working hard. The exercise bike we have at home had become a useful clothes horse for my husband’s shirts.

My nurse and I made a list of things I needed to change. They pointed out that I was more likely to fail if I tried to change everything at once. I’d get overwhelmed and depressed and would probably give up.

So, we broke the big changes into smaller changes. I would take on one or two at a time before moving on to the next.

The point here is that every change you make takes a bad habit and replaces it with a healthier one. You come to terms with each change before you move to the next. This is far easier to deal with than having the titanic fallout of making all your lifestyle changes at once.

So, for example, I started by not taking sugar in hot drinks and reducing my meal portion sizes. I took longer walks at a faster pace and started to use the exercise bike for 5 or 10 minutes a day.

Once I got used to a change and created a new habit, I could work on a new one. I could increase how much exercise I took or make a new change to my diet.

Sometimes, these changes were immediate; other times they were incremental. I still eat chocolate, for example. I just reduced how much I ate over time until it became an occasional treat. I don’t miss it because it is still there, but I no longer expect to eat it all the time.

Where am I now?

My blood sugar levels are now back to normal; however, I’m still on a minimal dose of medication. My doctor wants my levels to go down a little more and to stay consistent before I come off it completely.

I’m now confident that that will happen. I’ve lost loads of weight, have better control of my diet and feel fitter and healthier. I feel better about myself.

While diabetes remission works for some people, you should check if it is appropriate for you before you try to do it. Talk to your doctor about your options. Ask them for help. This is a hard job to do on your own without medical advice and support.

Sources:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Type 2 Diabetes
• Diabetes UK: Diabetes Remission