During a doctor visit in Mumbai in 2024, Usha Rachael Thomas heard words that would change her life. “You’re walking and talking, but physiologically, you should be in the ICU.” A senior brand strategist and communications leader, Usha was used to high stakes and high stress. But nothing prepared her for the reality that her body had been quietly inching toward a diabetic coma.
Her body gave no dramatic signs. Just a growing fatigue, thirst she couldn’t quench, and exhaustion that blanketed her after every meal. For two months, she dismissed the symptoms as stress or heat. But her blood sugar reading told a different story. “The number on the glucometer read over 500, 538 to be precise — more than five times what it should have been,” the 57-year-old recounts in an interview to HT Health Shots.
That was the day her narrative of “I’m just tired” crumbled. Eventually, it led to a medical turnaround that evolved into a deeply personal return to self-respect, self-awareness and a conscious walk towards self-care for Usha.
Diabetes signs that were easily ignored
Usha says she had been feeling unusually tired, especially after meals. A quick breakfast would be followed by an overwhelming urge to sleep. The same thing happened post-lunch. “I thought it was just Mumbai’s relentless heat or the stress of our company’s merger,” she says.
The excessive thirst? She blamed it on dehydration. The frequent urination? A natural outcome of drinking more water. But what she missed was what many do — the body’s subtle signs for help. There was no one else to notice the red flags either.
“Losing my father a year ago, taking care of my mother’s loneliness and managing her grief, the empty nest syndrome after my younger son moved to settle down with his wife in Toronto and working from home during our company’s merger, had created the perfect storm of stress and isolation,” she says.
When Usha finally saw her long-time physician, Dr B.S. Shetty, he didn’t take long to connect the dots. He suggested a random blood sugar test. And when the result showed 538, she was told what no patient wants to hear: “You should be in the ICU.”
Her body was on the brink of a diabetic coma.
“Those words detonated the carefully constructed narrative I’d been telling myself for decades. In that sterile examination room, my illusion of invincibility crumbled. I wasn’t just tired. I wasn’t just thirsty. I was critically ill. I had Type 2 diabetes. And not a mild case! I was standing at the precipice of a diabetic crisis that could have ended my life,” says Usha of what became her wake-up call.
Looking back, Usha can now recognize the early warning signs that her body had been sending for years before she hit a crisis point. She says she had been neglecting:
- Subtle abnormalities in routine blood work that were technically “within range” but trending in concerning directions
- Increased recovery time from sudden sprains
- Persistent fatigue despite seemingly adequate rest
- Unexplained changes in body composition that she attributed to age rather than metabolic dysfunction
- Adaptations that she made unconsciously as her energy declined. She took elevators instead of stairs. Took the car for short distances she once would have walked.
The journey towards diabetes reversal
A week since being told she was on the brink of a diabetic coma, Usha sat across from endocrinologist Dr Dheeraj Kapoor. And without any sugarcoating, he told her: “You should have seen an endocrinologist 11 years ago when the weight gain began. The responsibility is yours now. You will have to work very hard. But there’s good news—your other vitals are excellent. This means you can heal.”
In that moment, she felt she had a choice: “I could continue spiraling, or I could begin healing.” Usha chose to heal.
Reversing Type 2 Diabetes in 60 days
Within just two months of disciplined lifestyle changes, Usha brought her blood sugar levels down to the non-diabetic range. For the past ten months, she has maintained them without aggressive medication or deprivation. The question is how?
It was built on three foundational pillars: medicinal support (initially), mindset transformation, and methodical lifestyle reconstruction, explains Usha, a former journalist and IIM-A alumna.
“While I’m now almost medication-free, I began with the lowest-dose tablet to stabilize my condition. This support created space for my lifestyle changes to take effect,” she says.
Changes in schedule:
- Fixed the eating window: No more daily late dinners or midnight sleep.
- Dinner by 7:30-8:00 PM without exception
- Sleep by 10:30-11:00 PM to support hormonal regulation
- Morning routines that prioritized self-care before work demands
Intentional increase in movement
- 10-minute walks immediately following every meal
- Simple soleus pushups while brushing teeth or waiting for water to boil
- Daily yoga and dance sessions with instructors Saurabh Bothra and Trishala Bothra, restoring energy and joy
- Minimum 45-minute dedicated walks every day
Dietary changes
The major change was not in what she ate, but how.
- Vegetables first, then everything else. “This simple sequence change dramatically impacted my glucose response. I Just flipped the plate, not the food,” she says.
- Practiced mindful eating, slowing down to notice flavours, textures, and satiety cues. I still eat chocolate and fruits. I just balance with exercise and accountability.
- Strategic indulgence: “It was a yes to chocolate, yes to mangoes, but with precise awareness of timing and quantity.”
- Consistency over intensity: “I never deprived myself, only realigned priorities.”
Positive signs of diabetes reversal
Usha noticed that even with these basic lifestyle changes for diabetes management, within 2 weeks her blood sugar levels dropped from 538 to 180, then to 112, then 98. “In 2 months, I reversed Type 2 diabetes. For 10 months and counting, I’ve stayed in a non-diabetic range. And I lost 20 kgs gradually, without looking gaunt or sickly, just stronger and healthier.”
She says while the statistics look great, they fail to capture the mental clarity that returned like morning light after a long night, the renewed energy, or even the profound shift in how she relates to herself.
A mother of two grown-up sons, she shares, “I dismantled 36 years of unconscious self-neglect and rebuilt my relationship with my body. I realized that my near-catastrophic health crisis wasn’t the result of days or even months of poor choices. It was the culmination of 36 years of unintentional self-abandonment. Like many women, I believed that taking care of my family and excelling in my career meant I was taking care of myself. I was productive, successful, reliable. Surely, that meant I was well. What I failed to see was how systematically I had deprioritized my own physical needs.”
To be specific, she says preventive care became an afterthought and she only sought medical attention when something was obviously wrong. She continuously dismissed her 30-kg weight gain as inevitable in the wake of stress and menopause. Late-night dinners and inconsistent sleep patterns became normalized in the 24×7 media and entertainment industry she worked in. Her eating habits included processed foods, restaurant meals, late nights with no consciousness about portion control. Physical movement had nearly vanished from her life as she spent 14-16 hours daily tethered to screens, and ensuring all work deadlines. In between all this, she had simply stopped listening to her body’s signals.
Final reflections: “Don’t wait for a crisis to hit you”
Usha asserts that while Type 2 diabetes has been normalized as an inevitable consequence of aging or genetics, her experience suggests that personal agency plays a far greater role than people have been led to believe.
“My purpose in sharing this deeply personal journey is to highlight possibilities for others. You might be where I was — functional but failing, productive but perishing. You deserve to know that reversal is possible with the right guidance and commitment. And your healing journey deserves to start before crisis forces your hand,” she concludes.
(This story is based on an individual’s experience with Type 2 diabetes. Consult your doctor before making any dietary or lifestyle changes to suit your personal needs.)
