Living with Diabetes

Learning to Balance my Diabetic Life

2018-08-09T12:29:00.001-07:00

A key thing I have learned in the past decade of living with the awesomeness of Diabetes is the need for balance.

My life was surely not balanced, and not in perfect balance right now.
I learnt to Balance:

My food intake
My physical movements
My mental stress
My anxious thoughts
My sleep
My reading

I still need to learn to Balance:

My friendships
My relationships
My INSULIN ......
My learning

Weight Loss a big help for Type 2 Diabetes

2018-07-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Recently saw a great write up on a study done by "The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group" on he impact of Lifestyle changes ( read ways to reduce your weight ) and Metfornin.

Lots of technical details here :
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/54/8/2404.long

Here are some interesting part of the results :

Changes in weight and proinsulin over time were strong predictors of diabetes, with decreased weight and decreased proinsulin predicting a lower hazard of diabetes in all treatment arms.

Clearly weight is a predictor. So what happens when we can control this. See the next snippet about what lead to lower risk:

Interestingly, we found that change in weight was an important factor, with greater weight loss translating to lower risk. In addition, improved insulin sensitivity was also associated with a decrease in the risk of developing diabetes, with the lifestyle intervention again being the most effective.

I have some friends who clearly cannot afford to loose weight and still suffer from Type 2. Not sure what this means for them, but for the ones who know they can lose a few pounds, LETS DO THIS.

The Bane of High A1C Numbers

2018-06-20T17:33:00.001-07:00

And yet agin the rise of the A1C comes along to remind me that not all is right in the diabetic world.

I have seen my A1C dance in a lazy wave pattern as it jumps between two different high numbers. I am back on a watch your diet you fool and a get some exercise you lazy man path.

A Cure Please : A plea to our Scentists

2017-08-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

A Cure Please

A CURE Please

Request for our Scientists

Dear Scientists,
Please try to find a cure for this disease that has so many of your fellow human beings re suffering with.
We are tired of you coming up with one way to keep things in control to another. Each pill or injection you design for us is appreciated, but it is just another way to control, but not cure.
Your truly,
Hopeful and Thankful

Staying the course on July 4th

2017-07-04T12:36:00.001-07:00

It is a day of celebrations, of barbecues, or food, fun, play in the park.

For the Seattle folks, it is really the start of summer and we are all out enjoying the day and meeting outside in parks.

Life is good, there is good weather, there are fiends, there is the beautiful outdoors.

There are lots of food choices. Unfortunately so many of them are carbs and sugars.
For me this is the the hardest as I am a carb craver.

Here is what I feel like today:

You cannot give yourself Diabetes

2017-05-13T15:22:00.001-07:00

Bias

I am always amazed by what sometimes I get to hear from people. There is so much bias against folks who have diabetes, especially Type 2. People seem to think that Type 1 is a genetic issue, so it is something you get, not something that you chose to get into.

But a lot of people think that Type 2 is something you give yourself. I have heard statements like, do not eat sugar, you will give yourself Diabetes. Sad to hear people in their own way have a boas toward folks who are diabetic. There are all kinds of diabetics. They come from all cultures and regions of the world. They come in all shapes, colors, religions and sexual orientation.

Last week, Mick Mulvaney, the US President Trump's budget chief, tried to suggest that diabetics deserve what they got:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mulvaney-agrees-with-jimmy-kimmel-test/article/2622843

Dear Mr Mulvaney, please do not perpetuate such biases from a position of power. We did not choose this for ourselves. We are not wanting special treatment, but equality. Please do not take any special care of us, but do not insult us.

Haiku For My Diabetes

2017-04-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

My Diabetes Type Two
Makes Me Strong And Curious
Life Without Disease

- Anil

Looking at Diabetes Type 2 as treatable

2017-03-21T15:38:00.002-07:00

Been researching about the idea of getting control on my diabetes using food and exercise again.
Life was interesting when I tried this almost 13 years ago. I was eating loads of processed meats and no carbs and it seemed like it was working, but the end results were not that great.

So now, I start to see a whole new crop of data out here in the web. I am getting motivated to try this approach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktQzM2IA-qU

Dear Diabetes - Thank You

2017-02-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Diabetes,

Thank you for all that you have done for me.

The first few years of my life living with you I took a negative view of you and did my best to divorce you and remove you from my life. I was passive aggressive towards you and never gave you a chance to living together.

You have been a patient partner all along and have done your best on being on the point and reminding me that this relationship if a long term deal.

I am so glad that we have worked through our problems now.
You have taught me to:

Be thankful for what I do have every day
Be responsible for my health
Be responsible for what I eat and put into my body
Look at life in a positive way
Respond to any challenges with a attitude that I can find a way to resolve, or live with it.
Get Healthy
Smile more
Help others who you create a relationship with

Hoping to have a long and fruitful relationship

Sincerely yours,

Anil

Your Diabetes, A Blessing or a Curse

2016-12-13T13:27:00.002-08:00

We have all thoughts about why we ended up with a disease that lives with us forever.
And since it does a number or our emotions, we have to constantly question whether it is a blessing or a curse.

I think it is a BLESSING because:

It keeps me thinking about what I eat.
It makes me wants to move and exercise
It makes me think about my mental health and its impact on my life
It makes me care more for others who suffer diseases
It reminds me of my mortality

I think it is a CURSE because:

I cannot eat whatever I feel like, so never free.
It is a constant pain in the butt to plan the day especially when you travel.
Waking up with high sugars is a big downer for the rest of the day
I am constantly thinking about what will go bad in my body next
I am spending lots of money on medications

Overall, I think like anything else in the human condition, it is a mixed bag.

So my dear readers, let hear your comments on where you believe you are on this issue.

Diabetes and Stress : Playing Ping Pong with you

2016-11-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

I used to love playing ping pong as I was growing up. I loved a rally where the ball was bounding between the two sides for a long rally.

These days I see myself being the little ball that is being bounced around between a stressed out life and a relaxed one. I can see my diabetes as the table and my life as the ball. I keep getting pushed from the life being stressed emotionally not able to control myself, depressed, in the dark, manipulating, fighting all on one side. And the other side is a nice happy person who can take anything that comes his way and is confident and reliable.

The amount of sugar in my bloodstream sure messes up the way I respond to emotions. I recently learnt that feelings are just our ways to adjust to needs that are not fulfilled. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. But it just is so hard to remember it when your brain and body are in a high sugar moment :-)

So my dear readers, what do you do when your sugars have their highs and your emotions start to play their ping pong with you ?

Eating Less Processed Foods

2016-11-16T16:41:00.002-08:00

Life has complicated in the last few decades for all humans.

We have been separated from our sources of food and eat more food that has been stored or processed. It is held in storage or moved long distances across continents.

There is good and bad that comes out of this.

The good is that humans can have access to food resources even if they are running out of them in particular places. We are able to create food in places that are better to grow them because they are closer to rich resources like water. So areas with less water can conserver the water for the beings and not focus on using it to grow the food.

But on the other hand the processing of the food has created more chemicals in our diet. The companies processing the food are adopting practices that are focussed on maximising their profits over the well being of the consumers that they are serving.

This processed food is a direct link to our health and to our diabetes.

Recently discovered an interesting site with folks who are working on this problem. They have published a study about retailers in the US that are working to reduce the bad chemicals in the food. Interesting to see how few are even making a B grade. But it is positive to know that they are starting to deal with this. Any company that believe in a longer term advantage show focus on this as you do not want to be on the wrong side of the next revolution of health.

http://saferchemicals.org/retailer-report-card/

Teaching Aids for Diabetes

2013-08-18T11:29:00.002-07:00

Saw this great Video about using a Teddy Bear to solve the problem of teaching little kids how to deal with Type 1 Diabetes.
Very novel idea.
It would be good to design more things like this for adults. I am tired of explaining the difference between Sugar and Carbs :-)

Jerry The Bear. Teaching about Diabetes

New Year, new resolutions, new challenges

2013-01-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

So now a new Year rolls by.
Not sure why, but most of us seem to give this some importance and take it upon ourselves to resolve to do some things.
So I am resolving to do -
1) Exercise regularly.
2) Check sugars more consistently.
3) Always remember to take my medications
4) Work on being happy with life

Things looked up on the first day of the year.
Then on the second day I got a voicemail that my trainer decide to go back to school and quit the gym.
That is a bummer. Now I need to find a new trainer and do not know if that will work good or not.

So signs from the universe are that challenges will come with resolutions :-)

Experimenting with medicine timings

2012-09-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am not always open to moving the timings around, but I tried it out last week and now it seems to be working better.
I used to take my 24 hour insulin in the night before I went to bed. It was working great for my wake up sugars, but the day time numbers were not doing so great.
So last week I tried to move the insulin to the mornings and lo and behold I have a lot more control during the day.

So happy to report that changing the timing can sometime actually help make things better.

Taking a stand against your disease

2012-08-11T09:50:00.001-07:00

Sounds crazy but sometimes I think that I am in a war situation against diabetes.

The disease and my mind are both striving to control the same resource, my body.

My brain is the benevolent ruler of the the domain. It currently control all the pieces of the body and tries to do the best job so that they are all coexisting together in harmony. It tries to keep things going and if something fails, it tries to compensate and see if others can take over.

The diabetes is like an invader. It wants to take over this strong resource and use it up and leave it for dead. It does have accomplices that help it invade the body. It works slowly and methodically. It slowly starts to open up various different fronts to start to make it harder for just one brain to keep fighting. Diabetes is a fearful foe as it does not need any rest. And when it takes over an organ it has no intention of making it better, stronger, faster. All the diabetes wants to do is conquer, use it all up and leave it behind to rot and die.

So what is my body supposed to do?
Simple, the body needs to know that the brain needs to be helped. So at every point each organ and muscle needs to do everything to help the brain in the fight.

So send good vibes through your system and tell it to stand strong and not let this external foe get a strong hold on you.

Wanting everything just right

2012-08-05T15:27:00.001-07:00

As I sit here thinking what do I really want, I cannot help but notice the desires of most human to want everything right.

I want my diabetes to not just be in control, but to go away. But then I also want to be able to eat whatever my heart desires but not loose weight. I also want to not have to have a rigorous exercise schedule. Basically I want everything without having to work hard. Even I know that is not feasible :-)

So I will learn to be thankful for what I have rather than complain.

Drugs and Side affects - Actos this time

2012-07-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

I have always been cautious of drugs that I take.

My philosophy is that I want the drug to be in the market for atleast 10 years before I am willing to consider taking it. The only logic behind this is that that is ample time to start to hear about any serious issues. It is not foolproof but seems to make sense to me.

I continue to be amazed by the issues related to medicines that keep coming up.

The latest controversy is about Actos. Some serious side effects have been identified.
Check out this article on drugwatch.com - http://www.drugwatch.com/actos/side-effects.php

The FDA announced that there might be risk while taking this medicine. But most doctors are taking a wait and watch attitude -
http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/2011/medical-societies-respond-to-pioglitazone.html

I do not take this medication, so not sure what I would do in this case. But everyone taking this medication should have a serious chat with their doctors.

Returning to the blog

2012-07-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I blogged. Last weekend I had some inspiration from someone who accidentally discovered this and used some of the information and I remembered why I started this in the first place. So I will start pthis blog up all over again.

Someone hounding you to go see a doctor, good or bad ?

2010-02-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

Last few days I have a nurse who is calling me to checkup on me and know how I am doing and if I have seen the doctor.

Thing is that I have not taken care of the medical stuff that I should have, so I am avoiding her calls.

In a way it is great that she is calling and reminding me, but then in a way it is bothersome when it is happening at a frequency that is not comfortable. I should not have to avoid her. I know it is not her problem, but my guilt, sigh... Got to get back in control of my doctor appointments.

On a side note, I have never actually met her. Only talked to her over the phone. Sometimes I wonder what she looks like?? Is that weird?

Going Dolphin with my Diabetes

2010-02-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

Saw a very interesting link related to some facts that scientists have discovered regarding Dolphins haveing a Diabetes switch that gets turned on and off every night.
Essentially every night the Dolphins become diabetic and each morning they turn their Diabetes off.
Can't wait to see what more they find out.
Read more about it -
Dolphins and Diabetes

More, You know you are a diabetic when ....

2010-02-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

You know you are a diabetic when ...
you reach for the glucometer and not the coffee pot first thing in the morning. - This is from Bob Fenton
You converse with yourself when you are going to eat carbs late in the night.
You have nightmares about loosing limbs because you could not control yourself during the party.
You are scared to eat even a small piece of cake in case it starts the craving cycle for more.
You intimately know what A1C means
When you reach a party, you first check out what low carb foods are available
You have a reminder to visit your doctor every 3 months for checkups
You are or have been a subscriber to Diabetes Health magazine
You are or have been on Metfornin
Random folks give you remedies of all sorts to fix you up..
You carry some sort of fast sugars with you in case you run into a low!!!
You are terrified of the shaking and loss of control when you experience a low
You have agonized over deciding to tell folks at work whether you have the diseases
You feel like going to sleep after eating a large bowl of white rice
The doctor wants you to take your socks every time you visit him or her
Everytime you see an overweight person you wonder if they have diabetes

More later..

A very inspiring story about a Diabetic Ballerina, a book review

2010-02-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

Full disclosure - I did not buy this book, the publisher sent it over to me to review.

And I am glad that I did get my hands on this great book. What an inspiring story. Zippora gets Type 1 diabetes early in her life when she is training to be a ballerina. This was a time when knowledge about the disease and its cures are very primitive and she goes through an odd assortment of cures before she settles into the one that works for her. All this while she is growing through the ranks of a great ballerina. What an achievement.

Reading the book was inspiration in lots of ways. Reminded me of the struggles as I was discovering what it means to be a diabetic and how to change my life. She brings out the angst of trying to balance food, exercise and LIFE at the same time. Amazing, but true.

Also lots of insights into the life of a ballerina. I had no idea of how complex this dance form is. It was fortunate that my 5 year old started taking ballet lessons at the same time too. I actually knew some of the terms that were being used :-)

This is a great book to read. It is light reading and leaves you feeling great at the end.
Thank you Zippora for sharing your life with us.

You know you are a diabetic when ...

2010-01-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

You start worrying about every small crack or cut on your feet !!!

Testing to start on an artificial pancreas

2010-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Just read this article. Finally someone is coming up real life tests for an artificial pancreas. It will take time, but there is hope in the future of some improvements with handling this disease.
Business & Technology | J&J, charity to start testing artificial pancreas | Seattle Times Newspaper

Some of the other promising researches are -
1) Replace the Islets in the pancreas so that you can start making more insulin again.
2) Genetic recreation of a new pancreas.