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By Florence Nash
At age 18, she headed off for the University of New Hampshire,
aiming for a career in diabetes-related research. There, however, away from family support and struggling
with the pressures and distractions of college life, Mandy
found her self-discipline slipping. By her senior year at
UNH, Mandy's health was declining and she was gaining
weight.
Then, when she was home on winter break, first
her feet began to ache and then acute nerve pain
"traveled through my whole body, even my scalp." She
couldn't shower, couldn't ride in a car because of the
pressure of the seat belt. Unable to lie down, she slept
only in quick catnaps leaning against the wall. Painkillers
didn't work; even intravenously administered anesthetics
didn't help.
Before the Rice Diet, Mandy had a bloog sugar of 180 and blood pressure of 109/67.
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She left school and became more or less bedridden
at home, except for endless rounds of appointments—
rheumatologists, neurologists, pain clinics, even
acupuncturists—and occasional hospitalization for observation
as doctors tried narcotic after narcotic.
Confined to home, unable to work or to complete college,
sleep-deprived and in constant pain, Mandy was at her
lowest ebb. Asked if she had ever thought of suicide, however,
Mandy shoots back, "No. Never! Never once! Ever!"
Slowly, as months passed, things began to improve. Mandy
began to think about returning to college. At the DMV to
renew her expired license, she was shocked to fail the
eye exam. When a follow-up eye exam found hemorrhaging
in both eyes, she was rushed back to the hospital for surgery,
followed by a week of laser treatments. When the
treatments didn't work she received an emergency vitrectomy,
"the most bizarre thing that's ever happened to
me," she exclaims. "You have to be wide awake the whole
time, and you know that if you move, or if they make a
slip, you go blind." After ten such surgeries, "It worked,
and I see. I have glaucoma in both eyes as a side effect of
the surgeries. I can't drive, and I have a really, really
hard time reading."
But plucky Mandy still determined to resume her studies.
"I don't see that well, but they have
things that they can do for people. Blind
people go to school, and I'm not blind. It
takes me a long time, but I can read."
Meanwhile, after reading about the Rice
House in Prevention Magazine, Mandy's
parents gave her a month on the Rice Diet
Program as a Christmas gift. Overjoyed,
Mandy called the clinic to make arrangements,
and on February 1 she flew to Durham.
After her orientation, she talked
with Dr. Rosati.
"The first thing he asked
me was, 'Why did you come here?' I said,
'Well, I'm diabetic and I know I'm overweight,
and I've had this, that, and the
other, and I'm on these medications.' And
he said, 'But do you know why you're
really here?'" Here Mandy points at her
heart and smiles. "He said, 'You need to
heal what's in here.' And I thought, 'This
place is for me!' I'd never sat down with a
medical doctor and talked about family,
and trust. And from the get-go, that's how
it was with him. I knew something was
different from that very first day."
On the Rice Diet program, Mandy began
to see changes in less than a week. On the
first day, she was taken off one of her
blood pressure medications. By the end of
the second week, she was off the second
one. The doctors reduced her insulin dose
in the first two days. Moreover, they predicted
that the diet might reduce the
pressure in her eyes enough so that in
time she could discontinue her glaucoma
medication. Mandy was thrilled by what
was happening to her, and her determined
pursuit of good health—a goal that had
sometimes seemed hopelessly elusive—was
strengthening daily. With the help of Dr.
Rosati and Dr. Neelon, she was able to extend
her one-month visit to four months.
"I never thought I could do so much by just
sticking to this very simple diet. When I came
here I thought, 'How am I going to eat this
and not want to eat everything in sight when
I go home?' But I've never been hungry on it.
It's been the easiest thing. It's filling and
boring."
In April, Mandy went home for a few days to
attend her sister's wedding shower. "The
first thing every single person said was, 'You
look really good. You're a different human
from when you left.' Even people I just
talked to on the phone said, 'Mandy, you
sound happier.'
"Up until now, I've felt like I've never had
closure on anything, on any part of my life.
You know what I mean? I never finished
school, I never finished taking care of my
diabetes, I never finished losing weight. Now
things are kind of coming full circle. It feels
awesome."
And her success was awesome. Mandy's
blood sugar on the Rice Diet fell rapidly from
180 at entry to 106 by her departure, its lowest
level since her diagnosis 20 years before.
Her BMI fell to 29.1 (and continued to drop
after she returned home). Her blood pressure,
109/67 at entry, fell to a weekly average
of 90/57. Mandy returned to her college
studies in September, majoring in health education
with a goal of becoming a certified
diabetes educator. To the surprise of no one
who knows her, she made the Dean's List.
"I know I'll keep to this program. This is my
life now. If I ever need their help I know I can
call the Rice doctors. It's been a long road,
but I think it all happened for a reason.
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