my story: type 2
But in 2003 I was a passenger
on a train that derailed and
crashed after the driver suffered
a heart attack. I saw other
passengers die in front of me
and the force of the derailment
resulted in concussion,
a fractured sternum and severe
compression fractures, which
caused excruciating sciatica
pain for many years. I put
on 15kg in the six months
following the accident, mainly
because I couldn’t move. At
my heaviest I weighed 108kg.
I’ve tried to lose weight a
number of times over the years,
using a few different diets,
but they just never seemed to
work for me. It’d take me six
months to lose 7kg and, not
only would I put it all back on
after I stopped dieting, I also
knew friends following the same
eating plans were losing four
times as much weight as me.
Trying to avoid insulin
Finally I decided to see my GP
for help. They ran some blood
tests and told me I was insulin
resistant. It explained a lot and
made me realise that losing
weight the ‘traditional’ way
was always going to be more
challenging for me.
I left the doctor’s office
with a prescription for some
medication, but being just
26 at the time and about to
get married to my husband
Hany, I had other things on
my mind. I didn’t take care of
my health as well as I could
have and I didn’t take the
tablets as often as I needed to.
Eventually, three years later,
I found out I was no longer
insulin resistant – I was diabetic.
When I fell pregnant with
my son, Nathaniel, who’s now
three, I was finally referred to
an endocrinologist and I started
following a strict diet and
taking my diabetes medication
properly, because I’d been told
I was at risk of having to go on
insulin, which I was desperate
to avoid. As a result, I put on
very little weight during my
pregnancy and actually managed
to lose some after I’d given birth,
but it was never enough to make
much of an impact on my
health or my diabetes.Surgery success
My brother George, who was
also a type 2 diabetic, had
undergone bariatric surgery
in 2014 and it had been really
successful for him. But the
thing that finally helped me
decide to follow in his footstepswas seeing my dad
go into renal failure, which
now requires dialysis, as a result
of long-term diabetes, in 2016.
A year later I booked into St
George Private Hospital in
Sydney for surgery.
The surgical pain itself
wasn’t too bad at all after the
first few days. In fact, when
I went home I only took a single
painkiller on the very first day,
for the pain. And the weight
loss began immediately.
I dropped between 1-1.5kg a
week over the next nine months
and now my weight fluctuates
between 59 and 61kg.
Having lost close to 50kg since
I was at my heaviest weight,
simple things are so much easier
now. Moving around is easier;BEFORE
“My
appetite
no longer
controls
me”
Charmain (^) with (^) her
son (^) Nathaniel
122 MARCH/APRIL 2019 diabetic living