Living with Diabetes

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

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 clearl...

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 o...

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

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

I recently got this comment from a fellow diabetic who was recently diagnosed. I think he was trying to understand why the early onslaught. I remember being in there myself. I kept questioning why I would become diabetic this early in life. Was it - - The stress of work and marriage - Being Overweight - Lack of exercise - Too much of a sweet tooth - Too much beer - Smoking......... and so many more. Eventually I came to realize that these are all things that helped being the inevitable on earlier than what it would come on otherwise. There is no one way to get diabetes. If there was then someone could just say. eat so many sweets that they become diabetic. This is not true. You see hundreds of people around you abusing sugar, becoming obese but they are suffering from the diseases. I think genetic plays a hand here and the rest of the environment stuff will help to hinder an early onslaught.

Last night I was having a discussion with my wife and the initial years of eating large amounts of meat came about. So in the night as I stayed awake thinking about a lot of stuff, I imagined how cool it would be to be a bystander and watch my own life with diabetes. Would it not be cool if I could just sit outside and watch me make the odd decisions that I did take. I wonder if I would think that this person is making silly mistakes but is getting things in control as he moves forward, or will I be frusterated that this person is just not learning and keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Will I be judging myself from the sidelines and saying this guy is not going to last that long... Make you wonder how the rest of world on the sidelines is looking at you and what they are thinking .... Think about it.... Maybe the lesson is to be careful in judging others when we ourselves are on their sidelines...

When I was first diagnosed with Diabetes, I was very stubborn and refused to get onto any medications. I told myself that each medication has a lot of side effects and I would rather control it with diet and exercise. I put all my faith in the fact that if I kept my A1C under 7.0, then I was good to go and over time managed to keep it that way. But then a couple of years I find myself with some damage in my eye, and my doctors seriously telling me to do more. So now I stand here with medications in my hands. I am using both metfornin and glyburide. The combo is actually working pretty well for me. My sugars are doing great and my A1C is good and I do not feel any sugar highs. I do watch what I eat and try to exercise moderately. I think back if the effort to stay off medications was worth it and I see a mixed bag. If I had not instituted the tight regime, I suspect I would be on a lot more medications. In some ways taking the medication is an easy way to get instant relief, but no life...