Diabetes Management: It can get easier, don’t give up!

November 25, 2020

Written by Janny Wan, Diabetes Education Dietitian

Muheetha Ismath wants to share her success story of living with diabetes. Muheetha is a mother of four children, who came from Sri Lanka ten years ago and this is her story.

Four months ago, I went to the Emergency Room due to a knee injury, and a blood test revealed that I have type 2 diabetes. On top of being in a lot of knee pain, I felt shocked and confused, not knowing what I should do now that I have diabetes. For three months, I had challenges communicating with my physician. The doctor would only do telephone appointments during the pandemic, and I found it hard to communicate over the phone due to the language barrier. Worse of all, the family doctor prescribed me with a very strict diet without rice, root vegetables, juices and foods that I enjoy. I eat rice every day, the diet has to stop rice, carrots, beet roots, juices, it was very hard for me. The other challenges included having to lose weight and stop eating sweets.

However, I am grateful that my family doctor referred me to the Diabetes Education Program at SCHC. I felt comfortable being able to “tell more and understand more” by speaking to a diabetes educator who speaks my language.

I now clearly understand what I need to do to manage my diabetes. I want to encourage other people like me. It’s very hard to make changes, especially in the first month… but it gets easier, so don’t give up! I am proud that I was able to lose 20 lbs and not having to go on diabetes medications as of yet by improving my lifestyle and not giving up.

If you would like to learn more about the Diabetes program please visit here, if you would like to see their past webinars visit here.