‘What I needed was advice, not judgement’
Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in her late 30s, 15 years later, Kate Carton feels like she’s finally making inroads in to managing the disease. Now 53 years old, she says a combination of things has helped her turn things around.
“Finding out I had diabetes was horribly depressing. I’d been experiencing all the typical symptoms, including incredible thirst, and I finally found the time to go and get checked out by my doctor. When they said the words ‘type 2 diabetes’ my first thought was ‘great, just what I need on top of everything else’.
“I have two adult children and both pregnancies were a bit of a nightmare. I was really unwell throughout both of them, throwing up every single day, and losing hair and even teeth. During my first pregnancy, I lost 22 kilograms. Being pregnant also put a lot of strain on my heart and eventually, after I’d had my children, I was diagnosed with a heart condition called tachycardia.
“So learning I had diabetes as well was soul destroying, particularly because I knew how serious it could be. My dad had diabetes and his experience was a shocker. He had one toe amputated, which then turned into having his leg amputated below the knee. Then his other leg had to be amputated, before finally having to have another operation to have his first leg amputated even higher. So yes, I knew a fair bit about it.”
Putting others first
“When I was a young mum with two children, I rapidly discovered I was last on the list in terms of doing anything health-related for myself. When my kids were just two and four years old, my mum was dying and, as an only child and because my husband was working all hours to support us, it was up to me to care for her. I nursed her for 22 months before she died. I didn’t have time to devote to my own health – I wasn’t eating well or doing any exercise.
“When I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2006, I’ll admit I didn’t really see the point of monitoring
my blood glucose levels regularly. I guess I used to think ‘well, I’ve got diabetes, I know it’ll be high, what else do I need to know?’ That’s basically how I approached having diabetes for 15 years.
“And then I had a couple of bad falls and injured my right shoulder quite badly. Cortisone injections helped for a little while, but earlier this year I was told I needed surgery and that was a bit of a wake-up call. The short story is, my surgeon wasn’t happy to let me go under the knife until my diabetes was better controlled.”
A team effort
“The first thing I knew I needed to do was find a good endocrinologist, someone I liked. I’d seen a couple at a diabetes centre at a local hospital in the past, but as well as never being able to see the same specialist twice, I needed to find someone who wasn’t going to give me a lecture. I’m not dumb, I know I’m overweight and I knew my blood glucose levels were high. I didn’t need a specialist to tell me that. What I needed was advice not judgement.
“I did some research and found an endocrinologist who everyone said was really lovely, and that’s made such a difference. When I first saw her in March my HbA1c was 13.5 and the goal was to get it under 8. At the end of June, it was down to 9.9 and I’m seeing her again in November, so now, reaching my goal seems doable. I’ve also lost about seven kilograms.
“I monitor my blood glucose twice a day without fail now, and I write down which foods correlate to which readings. It’s been a lot of trial and error because what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. And I discovered a lot of the products labelled as low-GI that I’d been eating believing I was ‘being good’ were sending my blood sugars sky high!
“I’ve also made a real effort to find swaps for the foods I can’t live without, even simple things like milk, while still allowing myself the odd treat, because you have to live. And I’ve discovered a great
YouTube channel that has workouts I can do at home. Sometimes I’ll do 10 minutes a day, sometimes I’ll do three lots of 10 minutes in a day. It all adds up.
“Unfortunately my heart problems have progressed recently and after failing an ECG stress test in July, my shoulder surgery is on the back burner for now, but the fact that my diabetes is under better control can only be a good thing.
“I guess my advice to someone who’s newly diagnosed, or if I could go back and talk to myself 15 years ago, would be to try not to panic, even though you might feel inclined to. I’d also stress the importance of finding specialists you can relate to and seeking support from people who actually have the same type of diabetes as you, too. I joined the Diabetes Support Australia and New Zealand Facebook group in early
2019 and it’s been so helpful. Learning from people who are living with it and who’ve already walked the path, rather than just health experts, makes a huge difference.”