Real People Real Stories
Do you ever wonder where we get the ideas and the people behind the stories you see on dLifeTV? A vast majority of our programming starts with an email or a phone call from people just like you.
dLife is starting production on our next season, and we're looking for people with diabetes and those that care for them to share their unique perspectives. Read our call for submissions and tell us your story today!
Comments
- At 11:52 AM on Mon, Mar 20, 2006 Richard Kerrigan wrote:
I am a fifty-eight year old male and have had Type 1 diabetes for forty years. I was active in high school playing sports and lifting weights when it was considered odd. In November of 1966 I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. I lost weight and gradually drifted away from the weights, figuring, why bother now that I have this disease? A lot of my friends were being drafted and sent to Vietnam. I wasn't good enough. The feeling that I "wasn't good stuck with me for years. I felt different than the other guys my age. Not good enough. He's a diabetic. He's inferior to us. Shortly after I was diagnosed I told a fellow worker and he replied "you better start having fun, you're not going to live too long." The ignorance out there about this disease if incredible! Plus when I was diagnosed I was not overweight and active. I had four siblings and all of us have or had diabetes. To get to the point is this. People who have diabetes have to understand that exercise is the magic bullet. I got back to my exercise routine in 1978 and have been exercising for over twent-five years. In the early years of having this disease they didn't have glucometers. It was mostly a very strict diet and one shot in the morning. I developed neuropathy after about five years. I developed severe retinopathy in 1986 and lost all of my side vision as a result of twenty-five laser treatments. Very painful laser treatments. My point is these complications occured before my current regimen. I now take two shots a day and test three times a day. My A1C's are always around seven percent. I had a thalium stress test last year and did great. My doctor told me the only ones who do better are his patients who are serious. I do six hours of cardio exercise per week, plus four hours of weight training. I'm not saying that every diabatic needs to exercise ten hours per week. I'm retired now and have the time. Plus I also love it. I enjoy it. Recently I developed what doctors are treating as early charcot foot. This can be a devestating compication often resulting if amputation. I wear expensive orthotics and very expensive running shoes hoping to halt or at least slow the progression of this serious complication. But my heart is strong and my arteries are clear. What's happening with my feet, I feel, is the result of having this for such a long time. I have no control over this development. But I do have some control over my blood sugars and much control over my heart health. I read recently that the majority of diabetics don't even know that heart disease is a possible complication of diabetes? I was astounded? So my message to anyone who is battling this disease is this. Eat a reasonable diet. Test at least three times per day. But most of all is to exercise? Burn those calories. Burn that fat that can clog your arteries. Burn that blood sugar down to acceptable levels. I think this applies to everyone. Ask yourself this question. At what point in your life did you feel the best? Have the most energy? Get the best sleep? I belive that most, if not all would reply, "When I was a kid." When I was running, jumping, playing ball, skipping rope, riding my bike. What do all of these activities have in common? We were moving. We were exercising. That's why we felt so good!I believe that exercise is magic bullet for everyong, but especially for diabetics. I've been at it for over twenty-five years and, God willing, for much longer. My goal is to make it to fifty years of living with this disease and hopefully stay pretty much intact. Like a great basketball coach and greater human being, Jim Valvano, who died of cancer said, "Don't give up, don't ever give up." And I won't. Thank you.
You are so inspiring. I was diagnosed 5 1/2 years ago, and exercise has been my mainstay too. I have always love sweets, and wearing a pump and exercise has given me the flexibility to enjoy them without gaining weight or having bad blood sugars. You are right about exercise making you feel good, physically and psychologically. Thanks for sharing your tips!