In the beginning of 2016, Lupe Barraza, woke up every day with tingling in her hands and feet.
“I couldn’t make a fist it was so painful,” Barraza told Healthline.
She was also losing hair, and gained 70 pounds within a few years. During this time, she was living under stress with her abusive second husband in Houston, Texas.
“My environment got dangerous being away from my family in Dallas. … My stress levels were [through] the roof,” Barraza said.
By spring, she summoned the courage to see a doctor. Barraza learned her glucose levels were in the upper 300s, and that she had type 2 diabetes.
“After being diagnosed, I tried to change my diet and to walk. I did lose about 20 pounds, but it seemed threatening to my husband — feeling good about myself and health — and I reverted back to old habits. My self-esteem wasn’t good,” Barraza said.
The up-and-down battle with her health was familiar to Barraza. In 2009, she learned she was prediabetic.
“I knew it was imminent because my father is the youngest of 13 and about 80 percent of them struggled with type 2 diabetes, and the majority of them passed away from type 2 and heart disease. [My dad] was diagnosed when he was in his 40s,” Barraza said.
The American Diabetes Association states that people who have an immediate family member with type 2 diabetes have a greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes themselves due to genetic factors, as well as lifestyle choices, such as exercise, eating habits, and stress.
Knowing this, Barraza worked hard to break from her family history. In 2009, she began running and changing her diet. Between 2010 and 2012, she built up stamina to run 10 marathons and two ultramarathons.
“I was in [the] best shape of my life. I had gone back to school and finished my bachelor’s, master’s, and CPA,” Barraza said. “But unfortunately the strains of my [first] marriage didn’t survive. In the spring of 2012, I was divorced and lost myself.”
From 2012 to 2019, Barraza said she was in survival mode physically and emotionally.
“My mother had a stroke in March 2019 that woke [me] up to the reality of my health. I wasn’t feeling well and was so heavy. I knew [I was] smart and had a great career, but [I was] living in hell and dying,” she said.
Barraza decided to take control of her health for the sake of her six children.
“I used my mom’s health to move back home and get away from my husband. The day I was moving things into storage, I got a call that my dad had a heart attack and we were told he had a 10 percent chance of survival,” Barraza said.
While her dad made it out of the hospital, long-term damage from type 2 diabetes caused him to endure a series of amputations, including his toes, parts of his feet, and left leg.
“Seeing him and having to make decisions with my brothers is not something I want for my kids, so I got angry at myself because I knew better. I started to position myself first mentally [for change],” she said.
In June 2019, she bought a house close to her mom and left her second husband. Once she settled, she found a doctor she trusted and started reconnecting with friends.
“They are my tribe of very strong, intelligent, successful women. … Being a mom and working professional and having a support system from my doctor to people around me, gave me the confidence I needed,” Barraza said.
As she gained confidence, she also built self-worth. In September 2019, she started walking again during her lunch breaks.
“I couldn’t run a mile, and 9 years prior I was running 6 miles every morning. … I slowly changed my diet. I knew how to eat and how to be well I just didn’t have the courage and energy to do it [until then],” she said.
By February 2020, Barraza was able to handle walk/run intervals and eventually increased her pace to jogging and running. Today, at 45 years old, she runs 100 miles a month and is signed up for a “comeback marathon” in May 2021.
“I just ran my 18-mile training run this past Saturday and that’s my marker,” Barraza said.
She also dropped her A1C from 11.5 to 5.4, cut her medication dose by half, lowered her blood pressure, and lost 65 pounds.
“Once I started getting that serotonin high [from exercising], it helped my mentality and made me happy again. My skin is better. My smile is better. My whole person is completely different,” Barraza said.
To encourage other women to take control of their health, Barraza is taking part in Know Diabetes by Heart, a joint effort from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association, to reduce cardiovascular disease and death in people living with type 2 diabetes.
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