Kaiser is My Downfall

I am 33 years old. After being pregnant and giving birth to two children within two years, I have gained a tremendous amount of weight. My goal was to lose that weight eventually. There was always an excuse: work (I teach full-time), cleaning the house, taking care of my older child while waking up in the middle of the night to nurse my infant. Well now my infant is 18 months and feel I now have the energy to give myself the must needed “me” time to exercise and get back into shape.

I began to exercise using the “Insanity” videos. Seriously -- this video is for people who are already in shape. But for somebody who is trying to lose over 30 lbs, this video just caused more hurt than help. I was getting upper and lower back pains as well as knee pains. I visited my Kaiser doctor to find out what was wrong. After waiting 20 minutes in the lounge and another 20 minutes in the exam room, my doctor said it’s not me; it’s the exercise regiment. She suggested other exercise regiments. Then she asked me to go to the lab to get blood work done.

The next day I got an email about my labs -- my cholesterol and glucose results are all above range. What does this mean? I have no clue... I’m a teacher, not a doctor! The following day I get a phone call from Kaiser. Is it from my primary care physician? No! It’s from a health education department telling me I need to attend a pre-diabetes class. This person also told me that if I don't watch my diet that I will end up on some type of medication. This is the worst way for anybody to find out that they are diabetic.

And I do not believe in medication! When I was pregnant, I refused to take Tylenol. When I went into labor, I gave birth naturally. Now that I have my boys, I buy organic or locally grown products when I can. Granted, all that free Filipino food did not help me one bit. But staying on topic, why is Kaiser's answer to put me on medication? So I sign up for a class, but the next one they have that I can attend is at the end of April. And I'm supposed to re-do my lab work in May. How is one month going to help lower my cholesterol and glucose?

What should have happened is my doctor requesting me to do my labs before I even went in to see her. Then at my visit we could have discussed this potential disease rather than her giving me tips on exercise plans. Or she could have called me over the phone to tell me that I need to schedule a follow-up visit. But no... I get all my information from emails and letters sent home. I've done all the research on pre-diabetes without Kaiser.

If I end up getting diabetes out of this, Kaiser is my downfall. What has changed from September 2008 (the last time I was seen for my postpartum visit) to January 2010 to shock me with this news?

We need better health care in this country.