November 12, 2024 • 39 mins
In her mid-20s and thriving in a fast-paced communications job, Mila began experiencing symptoms reminiscent of those her mom had managed with diabetes for years. However, as time went on, it became clear that this was different. Little did she know, her life was about to take a significant turn, leading her on an unexpected journey with a chronic illness she never saw coming.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Rube. I was making myself breakfast and I fainted and
I kind of like came to I was really confused,
and I was like, I don't know what just happened,
but I know that's not normal.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
She was doing all the right things health wise, but
went through years of struggling that she probably didn't have to.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
She had no way to comprehend what she had to
do for her disease that affects every minute of every day.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And I'm like, I failed. I don't know how much
harder I could work. The only thing that I could
do is like be in a different body.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy,
one you didn't recognize and didn't coming What if that
enemy was coming from within a disease that even doctors
couldn't identify. Nearly half of all Americans suffer from some
chronic illness, and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis. These
(01:18):
are their stories and Lauren Bret Pacheco, and this is symptomatic.
(01:39):
Mila's energy is unmistakable. She's driven, always one step ahead,
and her passion for her work is contagious. Her natural
confidence and ability to connect with others proved invaluable when
she faced daunting health challenges.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Tell me a.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Little bit about yourself outside of work. What are your passions.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I am a total plant lady. So I love being
out in my terrace garden. I live in the middle
of Houston, Texas, so we're right in the center of
the city, and I miss my greenery. So we have
like a little composting bin outside on our deck, and
we grow some of our own produce and some of
our own food just as something that we found was
(02:24):
actually really simple to do and really gratifying when it
comes to cooking and eating. And so I'm just like
a nature person. I love being out in nature, despite
the fact that I live in like the fourth largest
city in America.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Have you always had a green thumb?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I have.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Both of my parents were working parents. They're both immigrants
from Jamaica, and so I spent a lot of time
with my grandmother when I was younger. Like one of
my most vivid memories of childhood is going out with
my grandma to go to our mint bush. We had
this like giant mint bush. It was probably like nine
feet tall, and we would pick out mint leaves for
(03:03):
our tea and we would sit and have tea in
the afternoon and talk. So if you can imagine like
five or six year old Mela sitting with her grandmother
just like having a cup of tea and talking, It's
like one of my favorite things.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Fond childhood memories wouldn't be complete without Mela's best friend, Katie.
They first met in middle school as friends in passing,
but by high school their friendship deepened. Over time, they
grew inseparable, sharing LIFs, ups and downs together.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
We were sitting there at your book and we were
on our computers next to each other.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
We were journalism nerds, and so in our senior year,
we're so excited to be editor in chief and layout editor.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And we realized that we were both going to the
same university and we were like, oh, do you need
a roommate? We said yeah, and it was just the
easiest decision. That kind of gave us a good platform
and foundation for our friendship now is that we've lived together.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
We've seen it all, we've done it all.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Like we've just lived so close that it's almost like siblings.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
We jokingly say that we're always on the same wavelength
and we're always reading each other's minds because we're almost
thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time.
We have grown so close that we really consider each
other's sisters. I don't even tell people like, oh, that's
my best friend, Katie, I say it's my sister. Now.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
For somebody who hasn't met Mela, how would you describe
her and her personality.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
She's so free spirited. She's creative and driven, and if
there is something that she is interested in, she will
stop what she's doing and just investigate and dig in.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And she wants to know everything. She wants to help people.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
She's very generous with her time, sometimes to a fault
where you know, it's let's take care of yourself before
you help others.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Mela quickly realized she needed to focus on herself when
she began noticing subtle signs that something was off. Katie,
as always, was there from the start, witnessing the onset
of symptoms that would mark the beginning of a new
chapter in Mila's life.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I was about twenty five when I first started to
notice some of my symptoms, and it really, for me,
was something that I sort of brushed off. I was thinking,
I'm young, I work out almost every day. I'm pretty
conscious about what I eat, I don't drink. I'm in
(05:28):
probably the best health of my life physically, but I
just feel awful. I feel really tired all the time.
I feel like I just don't have any energy, and
that to me felt really odd and really strange, and
I remember ignoring those feelings for a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
She was working a really stressful job, so I think
that was a really easy way to kind of write
it off as, Oh, I'm just becoming into myself as
an adult, Like it's stressful.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I'm tired.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
So it's really easy to chalk all of the things
up to that, you know, and even doctors when she
would go just for like a normal checkup, would be like, yeah,
get some more sleep, get some more exercise.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
At the time, I was in my first real job
out of college, and I was dragging myself through working
fifty or sixty hour weeks at times, and I probably
need to take a vacation, I probably need to drink
more water, just take a little bit more care. And
my partner at the time was really adamant, like, this
(06:30):
is not normal, and you probably need to go and
see someone at the very least to go get a
check up and see what's going on.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Mila was drawn to her work at a nonprofit focused
on community development initiatives, where she tackled disaster recovery, health
care access, and immigration logistics. She faced these challenges during
one of Houston's most devastating events in recent history, Hurricane Harvey,
which brought fifty two inches of rain and widespread destruction.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
We were running one of the biggest shelters in the city,
and that required getting information out so that people knew
where they could go, how they could be helped, what
they could do if they just lost everything. And so
it was a really, really stressful time and I was
the only one on the team doing social media, so
I was working around the clock and in that time period,
(07:27):
We're getting hundreds of messages every fifteen minutes about where
people should go, what they should do, and I am
having to hop on that crisis response And so my
job was like that all the time.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
So you're on call basically twenty four to seven, reacting
in real time to crisis, which puts your life in crisis.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I'm sure pretty much. I felt often like I could
lay down and sleep for twenty four hours, and I
would wake up and I would still be tired. No
amount of rest or sleep felt like it helped me
stop being tired. And then I was also experiencing a
lot of physical symptoms, so I was extremely thirsty and
(08:11):
I could drink like two gallons of water a day
and still not feel like my thirst was quenched. I
was losing weight pretty rapidly in mass amounts over time,
and I at the time was like, well, this is good,
because you know every woman is like, uh, you know,
I'm losing weight. I look good, I'm fine, but I
(08:32):
felt awful. The other thing that I kept noticing was
that when I would sleep, I would wake up like
drenched and sweat my entire body, and I was just like,
maybe it's anxiety, you know. I kept thinking like, if
I wait long enough, it'll pass. It'll just go away
and I'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
There is a kind of denial that's easier than proactively
seeking answers. Or you decide I'm healthy, I am doing
the best I can and this will pass. What for
you was that wake up call of something's really wrong.
I have got to see a doctor.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I was in the kitchen cooking one day and I
was by myself and I fainted and I came to
I woke up. I was really confused, and I was like,
I don't know what just happened, but I know that's
not normal. And so I told my partner about it,
and he was like, book the appointment, take the day
(09:37):
off of work, go to the doctor, and get checked out,
because that's really scary, and like, it's not okay that
that's happening to you.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, and so tell me your first experience with going
to the doctor and trying to explain what's going on.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So I walked into the doctor's office and explained to
him my symptoms. I told him about fainting in the kitchen.
I told him about just how I was feeling overall,
and he said, okay, well, it doesn't look like you've
had blood work done almost ever as an adult, so
let's start there and kind of get the baseline and
(10:18):
see what's going on. And that same afternoon, I get
a call back from the doctor's office and I missed it,
but I don't think that they call you if everything
is okay. I was a bit nervous and anxious to
make the callback, and when I did, I talked to
the nurse who had looked up my chart, and she said,
(10:40):
your blood sugars are extremely high. They are through the
roof is at a dangerous level, and you need to
come back to the doctor's office immediately so he can
walk through treatment with you. And so at that point,
I had no idea what it was. And I heard
high blood sugar and I was just like, I don't
even know what that means, Like I don't even know
how I would know my blood sugars.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Hi Mila spent the night grappling with a heavy sense
of uncertainty, her mind racing with questions, what could be wrong,
what could have caused all this? What is she supposed
to do now?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
And so I rebooked an appointment for the next day
and sat down with a doctor and he tells me,
you have type two diabetes and this should not be
happening to you at this age, and this means that
you are not doing the things that you are supposed
to do to live a healthy life. And I was
(11:35):
just like, this is a lot of judgment, but also like,
you have not even explained what this means to me,
and I have no idea what you're talking about or
how this even comes up or how you even determine
this result. And so the first conversation that I'm having
about diabetes with this care provider is about amputations and
(11:58):
about potentially losing my kidneys and having to go on
dialysis and all of these things that are like so
shocking and scary. And I walked out of there thinking like,
am I going to die today? Like I had all
of these questions, but I felt too ashamed to ask
them in that moment because I was like, well, he's
(12:18):
literally telling me that I have like ruined my body
and ruined my life, So I don't really know where
to go from here. I just started bawling because I
was so scared and frustrated.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
After she was diagnosed initially, she said that you were
one of the first people she called. Can you just
tell me about that phone call and what you felt
the need to convey.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I was like, I don't think that that's a condition
that you get when you're in your twenties. You either
have it when you're a little kid, type one or
older people usually are diagnosed with type two. That's weird,
you're twenty six, Like, how is this just now happening
or happening already and so I was like, I don't know,
that seems like that, right, you know, And she's like, well,
that's what the doctor said, so you know it's probably true.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Mila left the doctor's office with a handful of her
shores and a deep sense of shame. Her blood sugar
levels were nearly double what they should be. She recalled
watching her mom manage diabetes with insulin injections and a
careful diet. Suddenly everything became clear.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I was just like, I've ruined my life and now
I don't know what to do, and I don't even
know where to start and how to make this better.
I'm just terrified about all of the outcomes that my
doctor has told me, like this is what's going to
happen to you because of where you are with your
blood sugars. I just felt really by myself, and I
(13:48):
felt like I couldn't quite express what I was feeling.
But I knew that I wanted to write it down,
and I knew that I wanted to kind of document
what I was going through. And then I also wanted
to find people who were like me.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And so she started Hank grew Woman, which is her
blog and YouTube channel and Instagram and everything to create
content to document and also like for her own accountability
her lived experience with diabetes.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I was wondering, like, how do other people my age
balance and manage this? There are millions of people living
with diabetes. I'm sure somebody is my age and I
can find them and meet them.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
On that note, being a self proclaimed journalism geek and
a communications gal, the Angry Woman, where did the name
come from?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So the name came from my partner because one of
the side effects of having diabetes is being angry. It's
like needing and wanting to eat because your cells aren't
absorbing the glucose from your bloodstream, and so I, in
the early stages of my diagnosis was quite cranky all
(14:58):
the time. And so my partner at the time had said, yeah,
you're just like such a little angry woman, and I
was like, that would actually be just like a really
funny name.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
And she got a lot of positive feedback from that,
but also there was a lot of negative feedback. And
you know, you can't judge a person by the way
they look, but people on the internet do. So to
put herself out there in such an intimate way, like
your health your numbers.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Being so public is brave.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
With the diagnosis in hand, Mila finally had a path forward,
supported by a growing community desperate for results, She threw
herself into the fight with determination and focus. I can
tell what a positive, driven, go get her mentality you have.
So you set out to be the best Type two
(15:50):
diabetes patient ever, and what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Basically it gets worse. And so I am at the
point where I'm working my hardest. I'm working out twice
a day, running, walking, biking, skateboarding, like doing everything, getting active,
being outside and also changing my diet, and I was
exhausting myself and not eating enough. I wasn't giving myself
(16:19):
enough energy to get through the day. I was still
just as tired, just as thirsty, just as sweaty. And
then I went back for my A and C results
three months later from my initial diagnosis, and my ae
C had dropped by one percentage point, and I'm like,
I failed. I don't know how much harder I could work.
(16:40):
The only thing that I could do is like be
in a different body.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
The A one C test, also called HbA one C,
measures your average blood sugar over a two to three
month time span. And is key for diagnosing and managing
diabetes and pre diabetes. Mela's slight one percent drop is
now making her doctor skeptical. Back in the office, Mila
(17:04):
is under scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
My doctor said, clearly, you are not doing what you're
saying you're doing, because if you're coming in here with
your blood sugar logs that say one thing and your
AEC says something else, you are not doing what you're
telling me you're doing. And I was like, I promise,
I am. Like, I have my my Fitness palalog here.
You know, you can see everything that I'm doing, everything
(17:27):
that I'm eating, I'm tracking to my detriment. It's so
frustrating and so triggering and alarming to have to track
every single thing you eat, have to prick your fingers
five or six times a day to draw blood to
get your readings. Like I'm doing the work, Well, there.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Comes that shame and guilt, you know, implying that you're
not being honest as to the actual steps you're diligently taking,
what went through your mind, your body.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I think I was just angry, to be quite honest,
because I felt like with everything else that I had
ever done in life. I put in the work and
I get a good result, and I was doing everything
that I thought I knew how to do, and then
I got the result back and it was disappointing.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
After seeing little improvement, Mila started medication to lower her
blood sugar. The medication only managed to drop her blood
sugar by one more percentage point. Six months after her diagnosis,
her levels were still not within a safe range. As
the months turned into years with little improvement, Mila not
only faced physical challenges but also began internalizing the stigma
(18:39):
surrounding type two diabetes. Three months later, her levels had
only dropped by another one percent, still far from safe.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think we were ordering pizza, and this person, who
isn't an acquaintance, not anyone close to her, said really,
in a snarky tone, are you sure you should be
eating that?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And both of us with our head around, like, did
you just really say that?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Like, first of all, I don't think anybody should be
commenting on what anybody else is eating, period. I just
couldn't believe the audacity of it. And I don't exactly
remember what happened, but I remember that Mila's attitude towards
that moment was like, it was shocked. But I can
only imagine how hard that is to be already so
concerned about all of your data, all of your numbers,
(19:22):
all of your blood sugars, day in and day out.
That person doesn't know if she ate nothing for breakfast
and a salad for dinner, and this is what she's
calculating to eat for lunch because she knows that she's out.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Katie, it was probably like the most supportive person that
I could ever interact with in that moment, because she
gave me understanding and kind of like hyping me up
like a best friend does.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Mila recalled another time when she tried to discreetly take
her insulin while out to dinner, only to be accused
of doing drugs at the table. Sadly, this was becoming
her reality living with type two diabetes. Interochronologist doctor Artie
Fungado strives to holistically understand her patients, recognizing the effects
of diabetes go far beyond physical symptoms. Do you remember
(20:11):
when you first cross paths and your first impressions of Mila? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
So I had been following along her journey on social
media for a long time, probably before she ever knew
who I was. She so poignantly and clearly and honestly
describes the patient experience, and as a physician, I just
feel like that is so valuable and important for us
(20:39):
to see because the way our healthcare system is now,
there's this huge divide between doctors and patients, and the
time to build a relationship in the traditional healthcare setting
just isn't there. She just so clearly tells her story
openly and honestly, and so it was several years ago
(21:00):
that I had heard of her, and then we were
able to work together.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
After four years of trials, setbacks, and frustration, Mila was
still searching for a treatment that could bring real relief.
From battling dangerous blood sugar levels to dealing with the
social stigma of type two diabetes. She had fought hard
every step of the way. With no clear solution in sight,
Mila was growing desperate.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I know it wasn't like intentional ridicule, but it felt
like ridicule. It felt like I'm walking into this situation
where I know I'm just going to be berated because
my number is not good enough, and so here I
am thinking like, Okay, this is exhausting, but I'm working
so hard and I'm doing this and then I go
and it's one percent lower. In that moment, I felt
(21:50):
so almost embarrassed, and I felt stigmatized.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
We'll be right back with sometim a medical mystery podcast.
Now back to Symptomatic, a medical mystery podcast. Mela initially
dismissed her exhausting and debilitating symptoms as mere work stress
(22:20):
before being diagnosed with type two diabetes at an unusually
young age. Determined to lower her blood sugar levels, which
were nearly double the normal range, she became obsessive. She
worked out several times a week and meticulously tracked what
she ate, but nothing lowered her A one C levels
more than a couple of percentage points. Four years into
(22:41):
her quest for relief, Mela had pushed her commitment to
the extreme.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
There was one point where my A one and C
numbers were better, but my health was not. And it
was this point where I basically stopped eating because I
was like, this is the only thing I know how
to do, and it's the only thing that I feel
like is going to work. And when I don't eat,
my blood sugars are in perfect range. So maybe that's
what I need to do. And I was literally like malnourished,
(23:17):
like I wasn't getting enough food, I wasn't getting enough energy.
I was only drinking water or tea or coffee, and
my brain was just in a tailspin, like I couldn't function.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
What did you decide you were going to find when
you set out to find a new doctor.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I know that if I find someone who looks like me,
they will listen to me and they will be more
likely to understand where I'm coming from, to understand my culture,
to understand where I am and what I've been doing.
And my doctor said, what did you do? Like this
is a drastic change, And I said, well, I'm not
(23:54):
eating anything and she was like anything and I was like,
I mean water I and she was just like no, no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Was there at any point that you thought maybe this
isn't the right diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I didn't, but my doctor did. She was incredible. Once
I brought my whole encyclopedia of Mila's diagnosis to her
and I said, this is the story, this is what's happening.
We tried a couple of different treatment options and they
didn't work, and there was a point where she said,
I think I might be at capacity with you, and
that's not because of you. It's because I don't think
(24:32):
that I know enough to correctly provide you a treatment plan.
And I think that you need to go see a
specialist so that we can get more information, we can
understand where you are, and they can give you a treatment.
And she was like, I am happy to manage treatment
with you once a specialist really lays that out.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
The doctor's willingness to listen to Mila's story, acknowledge the
limits of their expertise, and still take charge her treatment
gave her the confidence she needed. For the first time.
Mila felt she had found the right connection to finally
get some answers. She was referred to a new intercrinologist
to review her entire symptomatic record.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I was able to explain, I have this really long,
almost five year history of having type two diabetes, and
I have tried oral medications. I have tried not eating,
I've tried eating basically only lettuce, I have tried exercise.
I've tried everything that I know how to try, and
I am still not getting better. My ae C is
(25:36):
still not in the range that it needs to be.
And I am so frustrated, and so he asked me,
you know, well, what's frustrating. He was so great about
just like asking me questions as a human being rather
than staring at my chart. After I told him everything,
he asked me, when you were initially diagnosed, did they
(25:56):
confirm your diagnosis? And I was like, I did not
know that you could confirm it. I just thought you
get a number, and you know whether you're in range
or not, if you have diabetes or not. And he said, no,
it's pretty odd and off for you to have a
type two diabetes diagnosis, even though you have a family history.
It's strange for your age, and so I want to
(26:19):
confirm your diagnosis. And he said, I don't think that
you have type two diabetes. I think that you have
something else.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
MELA specialist ordered a blood panel test for four specific
auto antibodies that appear in response to high A one
seed blood sugar levels. This test helps determine the type
of diabetes a person is dealing with and would provide
Mila with the clarity she'd been seeking for years.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I get the results back about a week later, and
it turns out that I have what's called LATTA latent
to autoimmune diabetes and adults it's a slow progressing form
of type one diabetes.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
She was actually at my house and she opened her
phone when she got the results of the labs when
she got rediagnosed and that she did have the beta
cells that prove that she doesn't have type two, And
I could just see the relief on her body, like
shoulders drop, and it was just so frustrating because she
went through years of struggling that she probably didn't have to,
(27:21):
but also just so satisfying that like, Okay, well now
at least I know and I can probably change my
treatment plan in order to actually start seeing progress.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
The exhausting commitment to treatment, the stigma, the mental roller coaster.
Mela's entire understanding of her health had been flipped upside
down by this new diagnosis. Doctor Artie Thungadou, the intercrinologist
Mela had worked with on diabetes education campaigns, explains the
various types and treatments of diabetes.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
We are learning that there are types of diabetes that
we haven't even discovered yet. Diabetes is a complicated diagnosis.
To most common ones that we hear about are type
two and type one. Type two diabetes is more connected
with metabolic syndrome lifestyle related, but there are huge genetic factors.
(28:14):
It's not like people are choosing to have diabetes, right,
And so type two diabetes is caused by insulin resistance,
so the blood sugar gets high and that can wreak
havoc on basically all of our organs, our heart, kidneys, nerves, feet, eyes,
things like that. Type two is usually a more gradual
(28:36):
onset and if treated well and early, it can actually
be put into remission. So that is the most common
type of diabetes. And type one is autoimmune diabetes, usually
where the body has seen the insulin producing cells and
the pancreas as other and it targets those and destroys them,
(29:01):
so the body doesn't produce any insulin at a certain point.
And for these patients, they usually present fairly acutely. Sometimes
they end up in the hospital with a very very
high blood sugar and they need insulin to survive.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
That's a great breakdown of type one and type two
diabetes as we often understand them. So what specifically is LATA.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
With latent autoimmune diabetes of the adult, it's a little
bit more gradual and so there's a lot of room
for misdiagnosis with type two, and then it just continues
to progress to the point of enough beta cells being destroyed,
insulin production being low enough that patients end up on
(29:48):
insulin within a couple of months as opposed to a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
When I learned that the way to get your diagnosis
confirmed was a blood draw like I had taken a
million times, was so mad because I was like, just
double checking could have changed the trajectory of my health overall.
And I'm so lucky because over that time I didn't
(30:14):
go into diabetic keto acidosis, which is when you don't
have enough insulin in the body, your blood turns into acid.
It's the way that most people get diagnosed. I didn't
have to go through that. I don't have any major
complications of diabetes at this point, but I could have.
I'm just lucky that my doctor knew what LATTA was
(30:35):
and that he suspected it from what I told him.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Oh my gosh, So at that point, for one sixth
of your life, basically you have been diligently trying to
treat something you didn't have.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, And that was mind blowing to me. I think
a lot about the time period that I went through
in terms of being diagnosed, And I wonder a lot
if I hadn't walked into the doctor's office as an
overweight black woman with a family history of type two diabetes,
would they have asked different questions to make sure that
(31:10):
I got the right diagnosis the first time? Or did
I just walk in looking like every patient that they
have ever seen who lives with type two diabetes? They said,
the numbers match up. We don't really have to check.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
In the case with Mila, because she was diagnosed early
to mid twenties, Automatically, they went to type two. Is
that a common misconception because we've spoken about one and two,
but there are other types.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
So if someone came to my office and they had
diabetes in their early twenties, there is no way type
one would not be on my radar because type two
diabetes is slow and progressive and so unfortunately in Mila's case,
and I don't agree with these things, but she had
(31:57):
a lot going against her right, she had race going
against her, body, habit isst going against her, and gender
going against her. To get great healthcare, I think we
know that certain racial populations. Women women of color don't
get the same healthcare as our male counterparts are white
(32:17):
male counterparts, and so unfortunately she was in a situation
where we as a healthcare community don't do the best job.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Mila finally had the correct diagnosis, offering her both relief
and a clear path forward. She began with manual insulin
injections before eventually transitioning to an insolent pump for greater
control over her blood sugar levels.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Personally, it was finally that breath of fresh air, and
I over time built the confidence to be like, Okay,
I'm cool with wearing a device. I have my watch
on that like displays my glucose numbers and so I
can see what's going on and see how I'm doing
and where I need to take ks. And I feel like, personally,
it's made me slow down a lot, and it's made
(33:05):
me take so much better care of myself because I
feel like I can actually live a relatively normal life
and not have to struggle with eating or with over exercising,
or with like this shame of feeling like I have failed,
and I actually just like I get to live and
that's pretty cool. Because I think about like that five
(33:27):
year period where I was not living, I was a
shell of myself. I don't feel like I had like
enough energy to just be myself.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
But you seem to have pulled some energy from the
community you're created with Angry Woman. What has been so
rewarding about that outreach and response?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I think the best part has just been that I
personally have found that I'm not alone, and I have
found that other people are dealing with a lot of
the same things, and they're dealing with it in a
silo because they maybe don't have a friend like Katie
that they can talk to or family member who gets it,
or they feel that same exact stigma, and they're just
(34:11):
looking for somebody who understands and who's not going to judge,
and who can really just like help them grab their bearings.
And I think one of the best things that ever
came out of creating Hungry Woman is the community that
I have.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
It's connecting the dots and her story. It totally sucks,
but she has used it to propel her own life forward,
and she's also been such a vocal advocate for this,
and so social media is so great in that way
that there's a whole Type one community, and I know
(34:48):
that they hate on doctors all the time, but I
still love that there's a community out there supporting each
other who are living with this day in day out
and giving each other tips and t and support and
stuff like that. So yeah, it's just amazing to see
the level of advocacy that you can really do for free.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Now I do all this myself, and sometimes I'm like,
why do I even do this, Like doesn't even make
a difference to anybody, And then I get a message
and I'm like, Okay, no, I'm doing the right things
for the right reasons. And if somebody can walk away
with a diabetes diagnosis and they can feel excited about
the future rather than dreading what the future holds, then
(35:29):
it's all worth it.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
She gets these stories back from people that you know,
the fact that you've shared this post or you this
video or this Instagram story is what made me go
ask the doctor about my own symptoms and I got
diagnosed and now I have knowledge. And stories like that
are really like what keeps her going and makes her
feel so proud of herself for continuing to post.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
What do you hope for the future of diabetes? Treatment.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I'll say my biggest overarching hope, because we could get
really nitty gritty here, but I hope that we move
to a more empathetic, patient centered approach to diabetes with
more access to specialists. And my hope is to make
endochronology a field that is desirable for clinicians to go
(36:21):
into and physicians to go into, so that we can
truly utilize our expertise to treat the most pressing chronic
condition of our time. Diabetes is the most expensive chronic
condition that we are facing as a country. It is
so prevalent. So I hope that we recognize the importance
(36:44):
of diabetes to people's lives, to the economy, and we
treat it in a specialist forward manner that is patient centered.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
Mila, what do you want people to take away from
your story?
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Particularly? I think really it to fight for yourself and
if you feel like something is wrong. Yes, your physician
and your care team are experts, but you live in
the body that you live in every single day and
pay attention to those signs, and even if it's frustrating,
don't stop pushing. Hopefully pushing gives you an answer in
(37:21):
less than five years, but if something feels off, it's
probably off, and it's okay to say I disagree and
get another opinion, and get another opinion, and get another
opinion until either it's confirmed for you that you are
where you are or that it really changes the trajectory
of what your health looks like and you get to
(37:41):
be in a better place because of it.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
You can find more on Mila's story, her online community,
and many delicious recipes at hengrywoman dot com. In honor
of World Diabetes Day on November fourteenth, check out Worlddiabetes
Day dot org to learn how you can support and
advocate for diabetes awareness every day.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
My name is Mela Clark and I was misdiagnosed for
five years and I was rediagnosed and properly diagnosed with
latent autoimmune Diabetes in adults or LATTA, a slow progressing
form of type one diabetes.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
Next week on Symptomatic, we're back with another edition of
Symptomatic House Calls. For this house call, we're revisiting case
number thirteen, Alisha from season two. For those who haven't
heard this episode, a quick spoiler alert. Alicia was diagnosed
with plaquoriasis, a chronic autoimmune condition that causes thick, raised
(38:40):
patches of skin. Join us as we catch up with
Alisha to hear her latest life updates and learn how
she's continuing to manage her placksoriasis.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
Self esteem and confidence and self worth are universal themes
that you really have to focus on in your life
outside of chronic illnesses. It's just so imperative to have
that love for you in confidence for yourself day to day.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
As always, we would love to hear from you. Send
us your thoughts on this episode or share a medical
mystery of your own at Symptomatic at iHeartMedia dot com
and please rate and review Symptomatic wherever you get your podcasts.
We'll see you next time. Until then, be well. Symptomatic
is a production of Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Our show
(39:34):
is hosted by me Lauren breg Pacheco. Executive producers are
Matt Romano and myself. Our EP of Post Production is
James Foster. Our supervising producer is Cierra Kaiser. Our writers
are John Irwin and Diana Davis, and our editor is
Cierra Spreen
Rube. I was making myself breakfast and I fainted and
I kind of like came to I was really confused,
and I was like, I don't know what just happened,
but I know that's not normal.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
She was doing all the right things health wise, but
went through years of struggling that she probably didn't have to.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
She had no way to comprehend what she had to
do for her disease that affects every minute of every day.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And I'm like, I failed. I don't know how much
harder I could work. The only thing that I could
do is like be in a different body.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
How terrifying would it be to fight an unknown enemy,
one you didn't recognize and didn't coming What if that
enemy was coming from within a disease that even doctors
couldn't identify. Nearly half of all Americans suffer from some
chronic illness, and many struggle for an accurate diagnosis. These
(01:18):
are their stories and Lauren Bret Pacheco, and this is symptomatic.
(01:39):
Mila's energy is unmistakable. She's driven, always one step ahead,
and her passion for her work is contagious. Her natural
confidence and ability to connect with others proved invaluable when
she faced daunting health challenges.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Tell me a.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Little bit about yourself outside of work. What are your passions.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I am a total plant lady. So I love being
out in my terrace garden. I live in the middle
of Houston, Texas, so we're right in the center of
the city, and I miss my greenery. So we have
like a little composting bin outside on our deck, and
we grow some of our own produce and some of
our own food just as something that we found was
(02:24):
actually really simple to do and really gratifying when it
comes to cooking and eating. And so I'm just like
a nature person. I love being out in nature, despite
the fact that I live in like the fourth largest
city in America.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Have you always had a green thumb?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I have.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Both of my parents were working parents. They're both immigrants
from Jamaica, and so I spent a lot of time
with my grandmother when I was younger. Like one of
my most vivid memories of childhood is going out with
my grandma to go to our mint bush. We had
this like giant mint bush. It was probably like nine
feet tall, and we would pick out mint leaves for
(03:03):
our tea and we would sit and have tea in
the afternoon and talk. So if you can imagine like
five or six year old Mela sitting with her grandmother
just like having a cup of tea and talking, It's
like one of my favorite things.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Fond childhood memories wouldn't be complete without Mela's best friend, Katie.
They first met in middle school as friends in passing,
but by high school their friendship deepened. Over time, they
grew inseparable, sharing LIFs, ups and downs together.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
We were sitting there at your book and we were
on our computers next to each other.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
We were journalism nerds, and so in our senior year,
we're so excited to be editor in chief and layout editor.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And we realized that we were both going to the
same university and we were like, oh, do you need
a roommate? We said yeah, and it was just the
easiest decision. That kind of gave us a good platform
and foundation for our friendship now is that we've lived together.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
We've seen it all, we've done it all.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Like we've just lived so close that it's almost like siblings.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
We jokingly say that we're always on the same wavelength
and we're always reading each other's minds because we're almost
thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time.
We have grown so close that we really consider each
other's sisters. I don't even tell people like, oh, that's
my best friend, Katie, I say it's my sister. Now.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
For somebody who hasn't met Mela, how would you describe
her and her personality.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
She's so free spirited. She's creative and driven, and if
there is something that she is interested in, she will
stop what she's doing and just investigate and dig in.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And she wants to know everything. She wants to help people.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
She's very generous with her time, sometimes to a fault
where you know, it's let's take care of yourself before
you help others.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Mela quickly realized she needed to focus on herself when
she began noticing subtle signs that something was off. Katie,
as always, was there from the start, witnessing the onset
of symptoms that would mark the beginning of a new
chapter in Mila's life.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I was about twenty five when I first started to
notice some of my symptoms, and it really, for me,
was something that I sort of brushed off. I was thinking,
I'm young, I work out almost every day. I'm pretty
conscious about what I eat, I don't drink. I'm in
(05:28):
probably the best health of my life physically, but I
just feel awful. I feel really tired all the time.
I feel like I just don't have any energy, and
that to me felt really odd and really strange, and
I remember ignoring those feelings for a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
She was working a really stressful job, so I think
that was a really easy way to kind of write
it off as, Oh, I'm just becoming into myself as
an adult, Like it's stressful.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I'm tired.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
So it's really easy to chalk all of the things
up to that, you know, and even doctors when she
would go just for like a normal checkup, would be like, yeah,
get some more sleep, get some more exercise.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
At the time, I was in my first real job
out of college, and I was dragging myself through working
fifty or sixty hour weeks at times, and I probably
need to take a vacation, I probably need to drink
more water, just take a little bit more care. And
my partner at the time was really adamant, like, this
(06:30):
is not normal, and you probably need to go and
see someone at the very least to go get a
check up and see what's going on.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Mila was drawn to her work at a nonprofit focused
on community development initiatives, where she tackled disaster recovery, health
care access, and immigration logistics. She faced these challenges during
one of Houston's most devastating events in recent history, Hurricane Harvey,
which brought fifty two inches of rain and widespread destruction.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
We were running one of the biggest shelters in the city,
and that required getting information out so that people knew
where they could go, how they could be helped, what
they could do if they just lost everything. And so
it was a really, really stressful time and I was
the only one on the team doing social media, so
I was working around the clock and in that time period,
(07:27):
We're getting hundreds of messages every fifteen minutes about where
people should go, what they should do, and I am
having to hop on that crisis response And so my
job was like that all the time.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
So you're on call basically twenty four to seven, reacting
in real time to crisis, which puts your life in crisis.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I'm sure pretty much. I felt often like I could
lay down and sleep for twenty four hours, and I
would wake up and I would still be tired. No
amount of rest or sleep felt like it helped me
stop being tired. And then I was also experiencing a
lot of physical symptoms, so I was extremely thirsty and
(08:11):
I could drink like two gallons of water a day
and still not feel like my thirst was quenched. I
was losing weight pretty rapidly in mass amounts over time,
and I at the time was like, well, this is good,
because you know every woman is like, uh, you know,
I'm losing weight. I look good, I'm fine, but I
(08:32):
felt awful. The other thing that I kept noticing was
that when I would sleep, I would wake up like
drenched and sweat my entire body, and I was just like,
maybe it's anxiety, you know. I kept thinking like, if
I wait long enough, it'll pass. It'll just go away
and I'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
There is a kind of denial that's easier than proactively
seeking answers. Or you decide I'm healthy, I am doing
the best I can and this will pass. What for
you was that wake up call of something's really wrong.
I have got to see a doctor.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
I was in the kitchen cooking one day and I
was by myself and I fainted and I came to
I woke up. I was really confused, and I was like,
I don't know what just happened, but I know that's
not normal. And so I told my partner about it,
and he was like, book the appointment, take the day
(09:37):
off of work, go to the doctor, and get checked out,
because that's really scary, and like, it's not okay that
that's happening to you.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, and so tell me your first experience with going
to the doctor and trying to explain what's going on.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So I walked into the doctor's office and explained to
him my symptoms. I told him about fainting in the kitchen.
I told him about just how I was feeling overall,
and he said, okay, well, it doesn't look like you've
had blood work done almost ever as an adult, so
let's start there and kind of get the baseline and
(10:18):
see what's going on. And that same afternoon, I get
a call back from the doctor's office and I missed it,
but I don't think that they call you if everything
is okay. I was a bit nervous and anxious to
make the callback, and when I did, I talked to
the nurse who had looked up my chart, and she said,
(10:40):
your blood sugars are extremely high. They are through the
roof is at a dangerous level, and you need to
come back to the doctor's office immediately so he can
walk through treatment with you. And so at that point,
I had no idea what it was. And I heard
high blood sugar and I was just like, I don't
even know what that means, Like I don't even know
how I would know my blood sugars.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Hi Mila spent the night grappling with a heavy sense
of uncertainty, her mind racing with questions, what could be wrong,
what could have caused all this? What is she supposed
to do now?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
And so I rebooked an appointment for the next day
and sat down with a doctor and he tells me,
you have type two diabetes and this should not be
happening to you at this age, and this means that
you are not doing the things that you are supposed
to do to live a healthy life. And I was
(11:35):
just like, this is a lot of judgment, but also like,
you have not even explained what this means to me,
and I have no idea what you're talking about or
how this even comes up or how you even determine
this result. And so the first conversation that I'm having
about diabetes with this care provider is about amputations and
(11:58):
about potentially losing my kidneys and having to go on
dialysis and all of these things that are like so
shocking and scary. And I walked out of there thinking like,
am I going to die today? Like I had all
of these questions, but I felt too ashamed to ask
them in that moment because I was like, well, he's
(12:18):
literally telling me that I have like ruined my body
and ruined my life, So I don't really know where
to go from here. I just started bawling because I
was so scared and frustrated.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
After she was diagnosed initially, she said that you were
one of the first people she called. Can you just
tell me about that phone call and what you felt
the need to convey.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I was like, I don't think that that's a condition
that you get when you're in your twenties. You either
have it when you're a little kid, type one or
older people usually are diagnosed with type two. That's weird,
you're twenty six, Like, how is this just now happening
or happening already and so I was like, I don't know,
that seems like that, right, you know, And she's like, well,
that's what the doctor said, so you know it's probably true.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Mila left the doctor's office with a handful of her
shores and a deep sense of shame. Her blood sugar
levels were nearly double what they should be. She recalled
watching her mom manage diabetes with insulin injections and a
careful diet. Suddenly everything became clear.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I was just like, I've ruined my life and now
I don't know what to do, and I don't even
know where to start and how to make this better.
I'm just terrified about all of the outcomes that my
doctor has told me, like this is what's going to
happen to you because of where you are with your
blood sugars. I just felt really by myself, and I
(13:48):
felt like I couldn't quite express what I was feeling.
But I knew that I wanted to write it down,
and I knew that I wanted to kind of document
what I was going through. And then I also wanted
to find people who were like me.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And so she started Hank grew Woman, which is her
blog and YouTube channel and Instagram and everything to create
content to document and also like for her own accountability
her lived experience with diabetes.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I was wondering, like, how do other people my age
balance and manage this? There are millions of people living
with diabetes. I'm sure somebody is my age and I
can find them and meet them.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
On that note, being a self proclaimed journalism geek and
a communications gal, the Angry Woman, where did the name
come from?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So the name came from my partner because one of
the side effects of having diabetes is being angry. It's
like needing and wanting to eat because your cells aren't
absorbing the glucose from your bloodstream, and so I, in
the early stages of my diagnosis was quite cranky all
(14:58):
the time. And so my partner at the time had said, yeah,
you're just like such a little angry woman, and I
was like, that would actually be just like a really
funny name.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
And she got a lot of positive feedback from that,
but also there was a lot of negative feedback. And
you know, you can't judge a person by the way
they look, but people on the internet do. So to
put herself out there in such an intimate way, like
your health your numbers.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Being so public is brave.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
With the diagnosis in hand, Mila finally had a path forward,
supported by a growing community desperate for results, She threw
herself into the fight with determination and focus. I can
tell what a positive, driven, go get her mentality you have.
So you set out to be the best Type two
(15:50):
diabetes patient ever, and what happens.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Basically it gets worse. And so I am at the
point where I'm working my hardest. I'm working out twice
a day, running, walking, biking, skateboarding, like doing everything, getting active,
being outside and also changing my diet, and I was
exhausting myself and not eating enough. I wasn't giving myself
(16:19):
enough energy to get through the day. I was still
just as tired, just as thirsty, just as sweaty. And
then I went back for my A and C results
three months later from my initial diagnosis, and my ae
C had dropped by one percentage point, and I'm like,
I failed. I don't know how much harder I could work.
(16:40):
The only thing that I could do is like be
in a different body.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
The A one C test, also called HbA one C,
measures your average blood sugar over a two to three
month time span. And is key for diagnosing and managing
diabetes and pre diabetes. Mela's slight one percent drop is
now making her doctor skeptical. Back in the office, Mila
(17:04):
is under scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
My doctor said, clearly, you are not doing what you're
saying you're doing, because if you're coming in here with
your blood sugar logs that say one thing and your
AEC says something else, you are not doing what you're
telling me you're doing. And I was like, I promise,
I am. Like, I have my my Fitness palalog here.
You know, you can see everything that I'm doing, everything
(17:27):
that I'm eating, I'm tracking to my detriment. It's so
frustrating and so triggering and alarming to have to track
every single thing you eat, have to prick your fingers
five or six times a day to draw blood to
get your readings. Like I'm doing the work, Well, there.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Comes that shame and guilt, you know, implying that you're
not being honest as to the actual steps you're diligently taking,
what went through your mind, your body.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I think I was just angry, to be quite honest,
because I felt like with everything else that I had
ever done in life. I put in the work and
I get a good result, and I was doing everything
that I thought I knew how to do, and then
I got the result back and it was disappointing.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
After seeing little improvement, Mila started medication to lower her
blood sugar. The medication only managed to drop her blood
sugar by one more percentage point. Six months after her diagnosis,
her levels were still not within a safe range. As
the months turned into years with little improvement, Mila not
only faced physical challenges but also began internalizing the stigma
(18:39):
surrounding type two diabetes. Three months later, her levels had
only dropped by another one percent, still far from safe.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think we were ordering pizza, and this person, who
isn't an acquaintance, not anyone close to her, said really,
in a snarky tone, are you sure you should be
eating that?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And both of us with our head around, like, did
you just really say that?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Like, first of all, I don't think anybody should be
commenting on what anybody else is eating, period. I just
couldn't believe the audacity of it. And I don't exactly
remember what happened, but I remember that Mila's attitude towards
that moment was like, it was shocked. But I can
only imagine how hard that is to be already so
concerned about all of your data, all of your numbers,
(19:22):
all of your blood sugars, day in and day out.
That person doesn't know if she ate nothing for breakfast
and a salad for dinner, and this is what she's
calculating to eat for lunch because she knows that she's out.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Katie, it was probably like the most supportive person that
I could ever interact with in that moment, because she
gave me understanding and kind of like hyping me up
like a best friend does.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Mila recalled another time when she tried to discreetly take
her insulin while out to dinner, only to be accused
of doing drugs at the table. Sadly, this was becoming
her reality living with type two diabetes. Interochronologist doctor Artie
Fungado strives to holistically understand her patients, recognizing the effects
of diabetes go far beyond physical symptoms. Do you remember
(20:11):
when you first cross paths and your first impressions of Mila? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
So I had been following along her journey on social
media for a long time, probably before she ever knew
who I was. She so poignantly and clearly and honestly
describes the patient experience, and as a physician, I just
feel like that is so valuable and important for us
(20:39):
to see because the way our healthcare system is now,
there's this huge divide between doctors and patients, and the
time to build a relationship in the traditional healthcare setting
just isn't there. She just so clearly tells her story
openly and honestly, and so it was several years ago
(21:00):
that I had heard of her, and then we were
able to work together.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
After four years of trials, setbacks, and frustration, Mila was
still searching for a treatment that could bring real relief.
From battling dangerous blood sugar levels to dealing with the
social stigma of type two diabetes. She had fought hard
every step of the way. With no clear solution in sight,
Mila was growing desperate.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I know it wasn't like intentional ridicule, but it felt
like ridicule. It felt like I'm walking into this situation
where I know I'm just going to be berated because
my number is not good enough, and so here I
am thinking like, Okay, this is exhausting, but I'm working
so hard and I'm doing this and then I go
and it's one percent lower. In that moment, I felt
(21:50):
so almost embarrassed, and I felt stigmatized.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
We'll be right back with sometim a medical mystery podcast.
Now back to Symptomatic, a medical mystery podcast. Mela initially
dismissed her exhausting and debilitating symptoms as mere work stress
(22:20):
before being diagnosed with type two diabetes at an unusually
young age. Determined to lower her blood sugar levels, which
were nearly double the normal range, she became obsessive. She
worked out several times a week and meticulously tracked what
she ate, but nothing lowered her A one C levels
more than a couple of percentage points. Four years into
(22:41):
her quest for relief, Mela had pushed her commitment to
the extreme.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
There was one point where my A one and C
numbers were better, but my health was not. And it
was this point where I basically stopped eating because I
was like, this is the only thing I know how
to do, and it's the only thing that I feel
like is going to work. And when I don't eat,
my blood sugars are in perfect range. So maybe that's
what I need to do. And I was literally like malnourished,
(23:17):
like I wasn't getting enough food, I wasn't getting enough energy.
I was only drinking water or tea or coffee, and
my brain was just in a tailspin, like I couldn't function.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
What did you decide you were going to find when
you set out to find a new doctor.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I know that if I find someone who looks like me,
they will listen to me and they will be more
likely to understand where I'm coming from, to understand my culture,
to understand where I am and what I've been doing.
And my doctor said, what did you do? Like this
is a drastic change, And I said, well, I'm not
(23:54):
eating anything and she was like anything and I was like,
I mean water I and she was just like no, no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Was there at any point that you thought maybe this
isn't the right diagnosis.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I didn't, but my doctor did. She was incredible. Once
I brought my whole encyclopedia of Mila's diagnosis to her
and I said, this is the story, this is what's happening.
We tried a couple of different treatment options and they
didn't work, and there was a point where she said,
I think I might be at capacity with you, and
that's not because of you. It's because I don't think
(24:32):
that I know enough to correctly provide you a treatment plan.
And I think that you need to go see a
specialist so that we can get more information, we can
understand where you are, and they can give you a treatment.
And she was like, I am happy to manage treatment
with you once a specialist really lays that out.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
The doctor's willingness to listen to Mila's story, acknowledge the
limits of their expertise, and still take charge her treatment
gave her the confidence she needed. For the first time.
Mila felt she had found the right connection to finally
get some answers. She was referred to a new intercrinologist
to review her entire symptomatic record.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I was able to explain, I have this really long,
almost five year history of having type two diabetes, and
I have tried oral medications. I have tried not eating,
I've tried eating basically only lettuce, I have tried exercise.
I've tried everything that I know how to try, and
I am still not getting better. My ae C is
(25:36):
still not in the range that it needs to be.
And I am so frustrated, and so he asked me,
you know, well, what's frustrating. He was so great about
just like asking me questions as a human being rather
than staring at my chart. After I told him everything,
he asked me, when you were initially diagnosed, did they
(25:56):
confirm your diagnosis? And I was like, I did not
know that you could confirm it. I just thought you
get a number, and you know whether you're in range
or not, if you have diabetes or not. And he said, no,
it's pretty odd and off for you to have a
type two diabetes diagnosis, even though you have a family history.
It's strange for your age, and so I want to
(26:19):
confirm your diagnosis. And he said, I don't think that
you have type two diabetes. I think that you have
something else.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
MELA specialist ordered a blood panel test for four specific
auto antibodies that appear in response to high A one
seed blood sugar levels. This test helps determine the type
of diabetes a person is dealing with and would provide
Mila with the clarity she'd been seeking for years.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I get the results back about a week later, and
it turns out that I have what's called LATTA latent
to autoimmune diabetes and adults it's a slow progressing form
of type one diabetes.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
She was actually at my house and she opened her
phone when she got the results of the labs when
she got rediagnosed and that she did have the beta
cells that prove that she doesn't have type two, And
I could just see the relief on her body, like
shoulders drop, and it was just so frustrating because she
went through years of struggling that she probably didn't have to,
(27:21):
but also just so satisfying that like, Okay, well now
at least I know and I can probably change my
treatment plan in order to actually start seeing progress.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
The exhausting commitment to treatment, the stigma, the mental roller coaster.
Mela's entire understanding of her health had been flipped upside
down by this new diagnosis. Doctor Artie Thungadou, the intercrinologist
Mela had worked with on diabetes education campaigns, explains the
various types and treatments of diabetes.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
We are learning that there are types of diabetes that
we haven't even discovered yet. Diabetes is a complicated diagnosis.
To most common ones that we hear about are type
two and type one. Type two diabetes is more connected
with metabolic syndrome lifestyle related, but there are huge genetic factors.
(28:14):
It's not like people are choosing to have diabetes, right,
And so type two diabetes is caused by insulin resistance,
so the blood sugar gets high and that can wreak
havoc on basically all of our organs, our heart, kidneys, nerves, feet, eyes,
things like that. Type two is usually a more gradual
(28:36):
onset and if treated well and early, it can actually
be put into remission. So that is the most common
type of diabetes. And type one is autoimmune diabetes, usually
where the body has seen the insulin producing cells and
the pancreas as other and it targets those and destroys them,
(29:01):
so the body doesn't produce any insulin at a certain point.
And for these patients, they usually present fairly acutely. Sometimes
they end up in the hospital with a very very
high blood sugar and they need insulin to survive.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
That's a great breakdown of type one and type two
diabetes as we often understand them. So what specifically is LATA.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
With latent autoimmune diabetes of the adult, it's a little
bit more gradual and so there's a lot of room
for misdiagnosis with type two, and then it just continues
to progress to the point of enough beta cells being destroyed,
insulin production being low enough that patients end up on
(29:48):
insulin within a couple of months as opposed to a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
When I learned that the way to get your diagnosis
confirmed was a blood draw like I had taken a
million times, was so mad because I was like, just
double checking could have changed the trajectory of my health overall.
And I'm so lucky because over that time I didn't
(30:14):
go into diabetic keto acidosis, which is when you don't
have enough insulin in the body, your blood turns into acid.
It's the way that most people get diagnosed. I didn't
have to go through that. I don't have any major
complications of diabetes at this point, but I could have.
I'm just lucky that my doctor knew what LATTA was
(30:35):
and that he suspected it from what I told him.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Oh my gosh, So at that point, for one sixth
of your life, basically you have been diligently trying to
treat something you didn't have.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, And that was mind blowing to me. I think
a lot about the time period that I went through
in terms of being diagnosed, And I wonder a lot
if I hadn't walked into the doctor's office as an
overweight black woman with a family history of type two diabetes,
would they have asked different questions to make sure that
(31:10):
I got the right diagnosis the first time? Or did
I just walk in looking like every patient that they
have ever seen who lives with type two diabetes? They said,
the numbers match up. We don't really have to check.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
In the case with Mila, because she was diagnosed early
to mid twenties, Automatically, they went to type two. Is
that a common misconception because we've spoken about one and two,
but there are other types.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
So if someone came to my office and they had
diabetes in their early twenties, there is no way type
one would not be on my radar because type two
diabetes is slow and progressive and so unfortunately in Mila's case,
and I don't agree with these things, but she had
(31:57):
a lot going against her right, she had race going
against her, body, habit isst going against her, and gender
going against her. To get great healthcare, I think we
know that certain racial populations. Women women of color don't
get the same healthcare as our male counterparts are white
(32:17):
male counterparts, and so unfortunately she was in a situation
where we as a healthcare community don't do the best job.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Mila finally had the correct diagnosis, offering her both relief
and a clear path forward. She began with manual insulin
injections before eventually transitioning to an insolent pump for greater
control over her blood sugar levels.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Personally, it was finally that breath of fresh air, and
I over time built the confidence to be like, Okay,
I'm cool with wearing a device. I have my watch
on that like displays my glucose numbers and so I
can see what's going on and see how I'm doing
and where I need to take ks. And I feel like, personally,
it's made me slow down a lot, and it's made
(33:05):
me take so much better care of myself because I
feel like I can actually live a relatively normal life
and not have to struggle with eating or with over exercising,
or with like this shame of feeling like I have failed,
and I actually just like I get to live and
that's pretty cool. Because I think about like that five
(33:27):
year period where I was not living, I was a
shell of myself. I don't feel like I had like
enough energy to just be myself.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
But you seem to have pulled some energy from the
community you're created with Angry Woman. What has been so
rewarding about that outreach and response?
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I think the best part has just been that I
personally have found that I'm not alone, and I have
found that other people are dealing with a lot of
the same things, and they're dealing with it in a
silo because they maybe don't have a friend like Katie
that they can talk to or family member who gets it,
or they feel that same exact stigma, and they're just
(34:11):
looking for somebody who understands and who's not going to judge,
and who can really just like help them grab their bearings.
And I think one of the best things that ever
came out of creating Hungry Woman is the community that
I have.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
It's connecting the dots and her story. It totally sucks,
but she has used it to propel her own life forward,
and she's also been such a vocal advocate for this,
and so social media is so great in that way
that there's a whole Type one community, and I know
(34:48):
that they hate on doctors all the time, but I
still love that there's a community out there supporting each
other who are living with this day in day out
and giving each other tips and t and support and
stuff like that. So yeah, it's just amazing to see
the level of advocacy that you can really do for free.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Now I do all this myself, and sometimes I'm like,
why do I even do this, Like doesn't even make
a difference to anybody, And then I get a message
and I'm like, Okay, no, I'm doing the right things
for the right reasons. And if somebody can walk away
with a diabetes diagnosis and they can feel excited about
the future rather than dreading what the future holds, then
(35:29):
it's all worth it.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
She gets these stories back from people that you know,
the fact that you've shared this post or you this
video or this Instagram story is what made me go
ask the doctor about my own symptoms and I got
diagnosed and now I have knowledge. And stories like that
are really like what keeps her going and makes her
feel so proud of herself for continuing to post.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
What do you hope for the future of diabetes? Treatment.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
I'll say my biggest overarching hope, because we could get
really nitty gritty here, but I hope that we move
to a more empathetic, patient centered approach to diabetes with
more access to specialists. And my hope is to make
endochronology a field that is desirable for clinicians to go
(36:21):
into and physicians to go into, so that we can
truly utilize our expertise to treat the most pressing chronic
condition of our time. Diabetes is the most expensive chronic
condition that we are facing as a country. It is
so prevalent. So I hope that we recognize the importance
(36:44):
of diabetes to people's lives, to the economy, and we
treat it in a specialist forward manner that is patient centered.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
Mila, what do you want people to take away from
your story?
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Particularly? I think really it to fight for yourself and
if you feel like something is wrong. Yes, your physician
and your care team are experts, but you live in
the body that you live in every single day and
pay attention to those signs, and even if it's frustrating,
don't stop pushing. Hopefully pushing gives you an answer in
(37:21):
less than five years, but if something feels off, it's
probably off, and it's okay to say I disagree and
get another opinion, and get another opinion, and get another
opinion until either it's confirmed for you that you are
where you are or that it really changes the trajectory
of what your health looks like and you get to
(37:41):
be in a better place because of it.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
You can find more on Mila's story, her online community,
and many delicious recipes at hengrywoman dot com. In honor
of World Diabetes Day on November fourteenth, check out Worlddiabetes
Day dot org to learn how you can support and
advocate for diabetes awareness every day.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
My name is Mela Clark and I was misdiagnosed for
five years and I was rediagnosed and properly diagnosed with
latent autoimmune Diabetes in adults or LATTA, a slow progressing
form of type one diabetes.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
Next week on Symptomatic, we're back with another edition of
Symptomatic House Calls. For this house call, we're revisiting case
number thirteen, Alisha from season two. For those who haven't
heard this episode, a quick spoiler alert. Alicia was diagnosed
with plaquoriasis, a chronic autoimmune condition that causes thick, raised
(38:40):
patches of skin. Join us as we catch up with
Alisha to hear her latest life updates and learn how
she's continuing to manage her placksoriasis.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
Self esteem and confidence and self worth are universal themes
that you really have to focus on in your life
outside of chronic illnesses. It's just so imperative to have
that love for you in confidence for yourself day to day.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
As always, we would love to hear from you. Send
us your thoughts on this episode or share a medical
mystery of your own at Symptomatic at iHeartMedia dot com
and please rate and review Symptomatic wherever you get your podcasts.
We'll see you next time. Until then, be well. Symptomatic
is a production of Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Our show
(39:34):
is hosted by me Lauren breg Pacheco. Executive producers are
Matt Romano and myself. Our EP of Post Production is
James Foster. Our supervising producer is Cierra Kaiser. Our writers
are John Irwin and Diana Davis, and our editor is
Cierra Spreen
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