Taking Destiny into Her Own Hands
“I got some great information, some things I still use,” she
says. “I heard from other people in the classes who lost weight
by changing their eating habits. And I learned how insulin works into
your body. I also learned that every step you take takes sugar out of
your blood. Expend energy because it makes you healthier. You don’t
think of the mechanics of diabetes. I never knew how it all works. I just
knew I was tired all the time.”
Marilynn Keller figured diabetes was coming for her. She remembers watching
her dad inject himself with insulin when he was in his 60s; and as she
entered into middle age, the diagnosis didn’t come as much of a surprise.
Still, she didn’t really understand the details of Type 2 diabetes.
She just knew that diabetes could potentially involve needles. And she
hates needles.
“When I was a little kid, my dad would have to go with me to the
pediatrician and get placebo shots along with me just so that I would
get my vaccinations,” says Marilynn. “I really didn’t
want to have to give myself shots.”
A few years ago, when Hoag internist Sevitlana Safaei, M.D., diagnosed
Marilynn as borderline diabetic, she enrolled in the Mary & Dick Allen
Diabetes Center at Hoag. There she took a series of classes that explained
the insulin-producing function of the pancreas, how people develop diabetes
over time and what people can do to prevent becoming diabetic.
“I got some great information, some things I still use,” she
says. “I heard from other people in the classes who lost weight
by changing their eating habits. And I learned how insulin works into
your body. I also learned that every step you take takes sugar out of
your blood. Expend energy because it makes you healthier. You don’t
think of the mechanics of diabetes. I never knew how it all works. I just
knew I was tired all the time.”
The education was extremely helpful and Marilynn had made some changes
in her life, however, her progress was impacted shortly after. A torn
meniscus in her knee prevented her from exercising, and Marilynn put on
45 pounds over five years. She had developed the condition she had been
most dreading. What’s more, Marilynn’s brother died of a heart
attack two years earlier, and Hoag cardiologist Dipti Itchhaporia, M.D.,
warned Marilynn that her family history, diabetes, blood pressure and
cholesterol levels put her at risk of the same fate.
“That freaked me out. I came down with shingles and lost all the
hair on the back of my head. The stress of that was amazing. Being conscious
of my health after that sent me into a tailspin,” she said.
Marilynn had been taking metformin for two years, but the drug had done
little to control her sugar levels. It also brought nearly daily diarrhea
and a host of other complications that kept her in and out of various
specialists’ offices.
When Marilynn had blood work done at Hoag a few months ago, her results
indicated that her
A1C levels had jumped from 6-7 a year ago to 8-9. Worried about getting
her diabetes under control, Dr. Safaei referred Marilynn to Daniel Nadeau,
M.D. That’s when everything changed.
“He is just so full of hope for me,” Marilynn says. “He
is fabulous.”
Dr. Nadeau changed her medication regimen, explained how the new drugs
work and detailed the way in which losing weight can help her get off
of all her medicines – including the three she takes for high blood
pressure. Immediately the diarrhea that had plagued her for two years
disappeared. After two weeks, her weight came down as a result of the
new medication’s appetite-suppression side effect, and her blood
pressure went down with it. She has continued with determination on the
path he set for her, and is confident her future looks bright for being
diabetes free.
Her cardiologist now tells her that if she keeps up the progress, her overall
health will improve markedly. Her father’s battle with late stage
onset diabetes and her brother’s heart attack still loom large in
her consciousness, but those memories do not have to become her fate.
“Dr. Nadeau and the whole diabetes center have been a game changer
for me,” she says. “He’s just the best thing that ever
happened to me medically because his program is designed to not go ‘Shame
on you.’ Instead he says, ‘This is going to be great. We’re
going to make this happen.’’