By Anthony Wilson, as told to Nancy LeBrun
Oct. 12, 2012, was the day I almost died — and also the first step on a path that led to how I manage my type 2 diabetes and how it affected my heart. I’m an emergency medical technician and a retired Army medic, but that day I didn’t recognize I was the one having the emergency.
A few months earlier, my wife, Sheila, and I had decided to get healthier by losing weight and exercising more. I was pushing 330 pounds, and though I felt fine and had annual checkups, I knew I needed to get the weight off. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and supraventricular tachycardia, where the heart beats too quickly.
We went at it full tilt, and the weight began falling off me. I was losing much more quickly than Sheila, to her chagrin, but that’s not that unusual. Men often lose weight more quickly than women. I was super thirsty, but I put that down to all the exercise. I had a craving for mango juice, of all things.
I was peeing way more than usual, but I ignored that too. Even when we had to stop for me to go urgently by the roadside several times after a visit to my wife’s brother in Philadelphia, I didn’t recognize it as a possible symptom. I even waved away the fact that I was exhausted at the end of the day and immediately crashed on the couch after work, putting it down to my intense line of work.
Diagnosed at the Point of Death
The usual routine at our house was that my wife would get up and leave for her job as a clinical specialist in the Cardiac Rhythm Division before I got up and got going. That morning though, she woke me up and, with no preamble, informed me that she wanted me to go to the hospital. Right away since I was very confused.
She didn’t like my ashen face and the way my eyes looked. I wasn’t up for it, but she insisted. She had to help me down the stairs as we headed outside. That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the ICU. If she hadn’t insisted on taking me to the ER, it’s likely I wouldn’t be here today. The doctor told her I would have been dead when she got home.
My heart rate was over 220 beats per minute (normal is about 60 to 100) and my blood pressure was 60/30, dangerously low. My organs were failing, including my heart. I had to be shocked twice to get it pumping again.
The great medical team stabilized me, and after a week in the hospital, the doctor came in and told me I had been in a diabetic coma caused by type 2 diabetes. That was another kind of shock. The numbers that told my blood sugar story were off the charts. My A1c, which measures the level of your blood sugar over the past three months, was at 17.3, when it shouldn’t be more than 5.7. My fasting blood sugar was 1,098, a crazy number. Normal is no higher than 100. The doctor told me that I would need to be on insulin for the rest of my life.
Now, this next part is something I would not recommend for a person diagnosed with type 2, but my response was, “No, I won’t.” I was determined to see if I could course correct the numbers on my own so that I didn’t need to take insulin. I did start taking the medication as directed, as I was in no shape at that point to do without it, but I wanted to see what I could learn to manage over time. I knew that diabetes nearly doubles your risk of having a stroke or heart attack, and I already had risk factors, so I understood the stakes.
Committing to Health With Type 2
When I got home, I was still a little shaky, but my wife, son, daughter, and I joined forces to get me better. We started Team Wilson, with the goal of getting my diabetes under control. We were 100% dedicated to getting healthy by eating well and exercising. Having that family support (and my faith) made it possible, and we stuck with the program — lean protein, plenty of veggies, daily exercise — the things we all know are healthy but too often ignore. We also went, as a family, to a dietitian for advice and instruction.
About a month later, I went back to the doctor for my post-hospital follow up. My A1c was 4.9 — normal — and my blood sugar was also down to normal. I’m unusual in the way my body responded to my new regimen, and most people won’t have that good a response. If I hadn’t shown that progress, I would have stayed on the meds no matter what my promise to myself had been.
Diabetes and My Heart
Over the next couple of years, I stayed pretty committed to my health, but I did start to regain weight. At a checkup in 2019, the doctor detected something new with my heart, and it wasn’t good. I was experiencing sinus pauses — an arrhythmia where the heart’s natural pacemaker, called the sinus node, malfunctions and the heart stops for a few seconds before it beats again. Diabetes can cause the sinus node to slow down its “firing rate” and lead to abnormalities like the one I was experiencing.
My wife was certified as a pacemaker and defibrillator clinical specialist. It was she, even more than my doctor, who insisted I get an implantable pacemaker, which is a relatively easy procedure. I did that, and I also got back on my weight loss regimen. A year later, I had lost 100 pounds. I clock in now at around 220. I’m pretty good about my diet, but I do cut myself some slack every now and then: If I have a fast food meal every couple of months, I don’t beat myself up about it. I’m not on any diabetes medications, but I do have meds for high blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as two medications for my heart conditions.
Good nutrition and exercise are critical to staying healthy, but stress and how you handle it is also vital. Stress raises your blood pressure, and if it goes on for too long, that can damage your heart. Being a medic is an exceptionally intense job. You’re seeing people, from babies to adults to the elderly, in grave distress from disease, accidents, drugs, beatings, or shootings. You’re there to provide emergency treatment that can make the difference between life and death.
Sometimes you have to go into neighborhoods where anyone in a uniform is looked at with suspicion, and your body goes into high alert in case there’s a threat to your safety. I can only think that my work, which I love, intensified the role type 2 has played in my cardiovascular complications. Now, I’m a regional director for an ambulance service, so I have less day-to-day craziness, but there are times when I’m called back into service, and I am glad to play a part in saving lives.
What I Want People to Know — and Do
When it comes to health in general, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease, I get the impression that a lot of people just don’t want to know. In a way I was one of them, and I can tell you it’s not the way to go. It’s a silent disease, meaning you can have it for a long time with no symptoms or symptoms that are easy to overlook.
As a man with type 2 diabetes and heart disease, I now go to every follow-up visit that I’m scheduled for. I don’t turn away from my health challenges. I face them head on and take the steps I can to minimize potential damage.
I can’t tell you why I didn’t recognize that something was up before I reached the point of death. I could explain away the fatigue and thirst, and I was only 44. But several members of my family, including my grandmother, had type 2, which can run in families. I just didn’t put it together.
I would recommend to everyone that they take the time to really think about how they’re feeling and how their body is functioning every few months. If something doesn’t seem right, see your doctor. Being brave or in denial is not going to get you anywhere if you have type 2 or any other chronic condition. I also recommend that people know their family history so they can recognize signs of diseases that may run in their family.
Today, I am an ambassador for a collaboration between the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association, because I want to get a message out there: Don’t look away if you think you could be at risk.
Are you overweight, is your diet not-so-healthy, do you feel tired or thirsty, does type 2 run in your family? There are online risk assessments for diabetes and prediabetes where you answer just a few questions. Do yourself a favor and take the quiz.
I urge you to discuss any concerns or perceived symptoms with your health care provider. Ask them to do an A1c test, which signals prediabetes or diabetes. It’s simple and it could protect your health — and even your life.
Don’t wait like I did. I got lucky, and my wife and my faith helped me stay strong. And I stick with the program. Walking the walk is the way to better health and a stronger heart when you have type 2 diabetes.
Show Sources
Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images
SOURCES:
Anthony Wilson, national ambassador, American Diabetes Association Know Diabetes by Heart, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
World Health Organization: “Mean fasting blood glucose.”
American Heart Association: “Target Heart Rates Chart,” “Low Blood Pressure - When Blood Pressure Is Too Low.”
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: “Diabetes, Heart Disease, & Stroke.”
American Diabetes Association: “What Is the A1C Test?”
