Doctors, haters or churches: Who chooses for you?

I have always been “pro-choice” if I had to check a box. Not because I like abortion. I hate abortion. I had a “spontaneous abortion,” otherwise known as a miscarriage, that ended my hopes of having biological children and it is still painful fifteen years later. Desperate to have a family, I adopted two children, unwanted infants who might have been aborted but weren’t.

So, when asked, I’ve always said “I’m anti-back-alley-abortion.” I am for women having the choice, not because I think it is always justified and “for the best,” but because the alternative isn’t life. It’s more death. I always figured that's just the realistic, non-ideological way to go at the issue.

Photo of a bicycle at a high desert V fork in a dirt road - Creative Commons image by Gutifoll via Flickr.com

But a recent experience has given me a little different perspective.

It started six months ago, when I received a surprise diagnosis of diabetes, despite being considered a “health nut” by most of my friends. I ate meat about once a week, carefully rationed sweets, halved the sugar in recipes, never drank alcohol, exercised as a matter of course, spurned packaged foods and fast food, and ate lots of veggies and beans.

Because I am already visually impaired and diabetes threatens eyesight in the best of them, I was immediately terrified. I spent about four days wallowing in depression. Then I took the bull by the horns. It’s just how I do things.

First, I cut out all sweets and white flour. The diagnosis did explain a few things. I had been chronically tired for a couple of years and my immune system was tanking. My previous doctor had ignored the problems and treated only immediate illness. I got a blood sugar monitor and swore to “be good.”

But when I ate a bowl of beans or drank a swallow of carrot juice I was overwhelmed with dizziness and ended up needing a nap. Even complex carbohydrates were causing havoc and high blood sugars. I hadn’t been put on heavy medications yet, but the writing was on the wall. So, I dove into a couple of weeks of intensive research.

And as it turns out, I’m not the only one. Yes, there are a lot of people who become diabetic because of poor diet and little exercise. But there are also plenty of physically active vegetarians and vegans who become diabetic. And yet, “low fat, plant based diet” is still the unwavering advice given to all of them.

Studies comparing plant-based, low-fat diets versus low-carbohydrate, moderate-fat diets show that the latter is demonstratively better at lowering blood sugar and averting the problems of diabetes. Some doctors, especially in larger cities and those connected with research institutions, are catching on, and in many places recommendations for diabetics have changed dramatically.

I joined a tough-love online support group that schooled me on a low-carb, whole foods diet for reversing diabetes. Yes, it is technically ketogenic but modified in several respects to better suit diabetics.

And then the magic happened. After a week of rough transitional symptoms, I suddenly felt better than I had in fifteen years. I had energy! I could hike and exercise with ease. Various inflammatory conditions that I had though were just part of me—my severe menstrual cramps, the weird bumps on my arms, etc.—went away for the first time ever. And I lost the unhealthy weight I’d been carrying around.

It seemed like a miracle. Sure, the diet is a bit of a pain in our society, which isn’t set up for it. I have to carry my own food around and pretty much can’t eat out or use most packaged foods. But it isn’t miserable, by any means.

“Focus on flavor!” my support group advised. And I did. I found flavorful, pleasant things to eat that fit the diet. I no longer eat bland, unpleasant things or finish my kids’ leftovers just because I don’t believe in wasting. I eat only what I need and want.

I get a bit hungry before meals and never feel totally stuffed, when staying within the limits of this modified diabetic diet. But I also never have to eat a bowl of beans that doesn’t taste good to me just because I think it’s “healthy.”

I eat no sugar and only moderate amounts of sugar-free sweeteners. As a result, things like raw unsweetened peanut butter taste like a sweet treat to my adapted tastebuds.

But given that diabetes is a serious illness and the diet can cause electrolyte imbalance and even rapid weight loss for some, it is recommended that one proceed under a doctor’s supervision. So, I tried talking to my doctor about it. And hit a brick wall.

She insisted that I was “doing diabetes wrong” and that the proper course for me was to accept somewhat high blood-sugar levels and the slow health decline of “controlled diabetes.” I would never get better or feel good again, but medication would help to prolong my sight and my life somewhat. She prescribed medications with horrible side effects even though my health was dramatically improving. I refused to take them. She became hostile and refused to order the necessary lab tests to keep my protocol safe.

So, I switched to a different doctor, a process that took months. In the meantime, I saw a dietician who told me she couldn't “officially condone” my diet, given the regulations she worked under, “but it’s hard to argue with results.” Now, my long-term blood glucose tests claim I am no longer diabetic. But if I deviate from my diabetic-adapted diet my blood sugar skyrockets again, showing that the testresults only measured my good self-discipline, rather than the actual underlying condition.

The new doctor, however, had clearly talked to the old doctor and came on hostile and rude. The nurse was polite initially and then after going out of the room with the doctor, she was also hostile and thorny when she returned. This doctor also refused to do the needed monitoring tests and declared that I would come to regret not following their advice to return to my mostly vegetarian, low-fat diet, which had led me to diabetes in the first place.

Pizza-baked zucchini that turns out to be a very healthy choice - Creative Commons image by LuckyNessa via Flickr.com

Many rural or general practice doctors are still using the same diabetes treatments advised fifty years ago, and I couldn’t find a doctor in my local area who would even consider the efficacy of the low-carb diet that had given me my health back. Finally, I found a doctor who is open to the more recent research and who will take my insurance… in another state, over some high mountain passes, more than 120 miles away.

That was about when the Supreme Court leak happened, and a light-bulb went on in my brain. So, this is what “making decisions about your own body” means. This must be a bit what it feels like to be told that, “No, even though you might die, you can’t have this particular medical care because we don’t think it’s right.” Maybe it’s also how trans folks feel when trying to get transition care.

I’m this person facing a life-threatening health problem. I find a solution that works. I feel better. With the proper health care, I can conquer this condition. I can live again and there is no particular, studied, documented reason why my choice is bad. And yet, I’m told “no,” again and again, treated with hostility and discourtesy. I am forced to travel across state lines to get health care.

So, I’ve got to give some respect to those who have campaigned on reproductive rights and even on trans rights. Because there’s a part of it I get now that I didn’t get before this moment when something like that came and bit me too.

I have more reason to check that “pro-choice” box now. And I see that it is actually aptly named. It isn’t just about being against back alley abortion. It’s about the whole concept of people having the final say over their bodies and their health. Doctors should advise, yes. But they should also stay up-to-date as their field changes. When an individual is different from others, they must treat the individual, not the statistics.

And in the end, when a person makes a choice for their health and body, after listening to all the advice and considering all the factors, they must be treated with respect and given the care appropriate to that choice, even if the doctor doesn’t entirely understand. We can’t choose for someone else and there is much more under the sun than any of us can know with certainty.

From the other side of a health choice that went against the grain, I’m here to tell you to listen to your body. Follow what works for your body—not what is fashionable or intriguing or trendy or “natural” or feels good in the moment—but what gives your body sustained strength and health. Pay attention to that and find health care providers who do as well.

I just hiked up a mountain and back and felt great while doing it, after years of foot and leg problems, unexplained weight gain, difficulty exercising, chronic fatigue and other symptoms made me think I would never be able to hike again. Anything that makes a body get that much better is a wise choice.