WHAT A TURNAROUND

A few years ago, Mandy Sorasio was seriously considering moving out of her house on the hill because of her ‘bad’ knees and sore back. Now, she adores the new windy, hilly walkway behind her home, knocking off 7–10 kms a day.

‘You have to think of it as a life style. Taking control of life again. You’re in control.’

Northern Wellington local Mandy started her diabetes journey with a visit from prediabetes. With tiredness a symptom, she had put it down to her pernicious anaemia and sleep apnoea.

The diagnosis had her making some positive changes, and the numbers duly dropped, but she went back to normal and didn’t think about it for a few years.

Then in 2021 she had a followup HbA1c blood test, and soon after her doctor called to book an appointment and told her, ‘You’re at 58. Not prediabetes. Officially, diabetes.’ Mandy says it was a shock.

THE LEAD UP

Some years before this, Mandy had endured a string of diagnoses. Before the pernicious anaemia, she was having headaches and noticed her vision becoming blurry. A pituitary tumour was discovered, and surgery and radiotherapy remedied that. But that same radiation that saved her from the tumour also messed with her thyroid, and so she began medication for that.

Mandy says this is when she put on extra weight, and before long both her weight and HbA1c had ballooned.

With all the weight gain, she developed gallstones and experienced a couple of bouts of pancreatitis, which is an inflammation of the pancreas, commonly caused by gallstones. Seven years later, her gallbladder had to be removed.

SO NOW, TYPE 2

Mandy says she was stunned but not totally surprised with the type 2 diagnosis. Having heard enough warnings from her body, she ignored them, Mandy finally listened to the increasingly loud voice, ‘Get your life in order, lady. Otherwise you’re going to have so many additional problems, on top of the ones you’ve already got.’

Mandy says she jumped straight into changing her diet but took it more slowly when it came to exercise.

‘I had really bad knees because I was literally carrying around another person. I couldn’t do stairs very easily. Going down was extremely painful. And my back – if I had to wash a few dishes in the sink, it would be killing me.’ She couldn’t walk far either. Walking past 10 neighbours’ houses and then back was all she could muster in a day.

But it was a good start, and, as it became easier, Mandy did a bit more. She gradually increased her short walk by repeating it several times a day so that it wasn’t too much in one go. Then she headed down to the local park and did laps.

Mandy’s daughter bought her a Fitbit for her 60th birthday, and she credits that for keeping her motivated. She was able to monitor how much she was doing and set herself goals. As well as recording her steps, she entered everything she ate into the app’s food diary and through this has gained an understanding of energy-in versus energy-out.

My weight over the years had ballooned to 141kg,  which I was happily blaming on the brain tumour affecting my hormones causing hypothyroidism. But if I’m honest, I was chiefly to blame. I was totally inactive, choosing to watch TV or play games online.  And I did have a liking for chocolate.

RESEARCH

The diabetes nurse gave Mandy the two free Diabetes NZ booklets, which she says were a good starting point, but she wanted more. Now hungry for knowledge, she started trawling the world wide web.

Mandy says, with the extreme weight combined with type 2, that she thought she’d qualify for a free consultation with a dietitian. ‘Apparently, they don’t with type 2. And it would’ve taken a fair bit of money to do that. So I just did lots of research myself.’ Mandy researched what the glycaemic index was and how it affected her food choices.

She says she was very much made aware of what she was putting into her body – what was good and what was not. ‘I still ate plenty, but it was good things from now on. Lucky for me, I’ve never been able to eat potato, but I do eat kumara, in limited amounts. Bread is a treat for me and, if I do eat it, it’s a wholegrain bread. Mostly it’s non-processed foods. I hardly eat anything in the way of processed foods. It’s all natural, fresh. My husband makes the most amazing salads which have everything in it. It’s so colourful and vibrant, it invites you to eat it.’

THREE MONTHS LATER

Mandy was pleased to see her HbA1c drop to 41. Another three months on, and she was down to 37 and was able to reduce her meds. Three months later, and she was 34 and allowed to come off her meds. Currently, her number is a healthy 28.

Since October 2021, Mandy’s weight has halved. She is free from diabetes medication, doesn’t have sleep apnoea anymore, and doesn’t get the skin and nail infections she used to develop. She has more friends, a proud and supportive whānau, and a strong body which continues to carry her on daily walks.

From doing a 10-house slog, Mandy now walks daily, between seven and 10 kilometres. Inclement weather doesn’t stop her heading out either. ‘I’ve done that from the get go. Even if it’s raining – get out and do something. Doesn’t have to be a huge amount if it’s rainy or windy. But do something.’

Another benefit of getting out to exercise is meeting new people. On top of the daily walks, Mandy still attends her Zumba Gold classes twice a week, which serve as a social get-together, as well as being a fun and dancey workout. She says a lot of the people she does Zumba with also have diabetes, so she gets to meet up with people who understand what it is like to live well with diabetes. A year and a half later, Mandy’s health is transformed. ‘I’m a totally different person. As much as diabetes is not a great thing ever to have, and if I’d been better about it, I probably could’ve avoided it. But I didn’t, and there’s no point in crying over spilt milk. So, in a way, for me, it was a really good kick up the bum.’

It was clear that I not only needed to watch what I ate but also make sure that I did enough exercise to make it all come together.