Exercise and Diabetes

I'll never forget the afternoon of January 22, 2003, and the phone call that came from Derek's pediatrician. I was just leaving my classroom that day when I noticed the light on my phone lit up, alerting me to a new voicemail. My heart stopped when I listened to the message.  The doctor asked me to call him back as soon as possible.  

1 comment - Oct 6, 2008 -

I awake at 1:00 am with a feeling of sickness in my stomach. I wonder if it's from anxiety created by a weird dream, hormonal imbalances, and/or high blood sugar. Or did I go to bed angry? The deep-sunken feeling of thick stagnant sludge in my stomach begins to settle into my consciousness. My Mini Mag flashlight illuminates the blood sugar meter, which reads 357. I remember in my high blood sugar fogginess that my blood sugar was 140 before I went to sleep, and I did nothing out of the ordinary. Now, only a few hours later, I am rudely awakened and have to force myself to gather my senses to correct the situation. Fluctuations in blood sugar are mind boggling and frustrating, not to mention the feelings of irritability, anger, fatigue, victimization, and depression that come along in daily life with diabetes. It can create a sense of failure if one does not get a handle on creating a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

3 comments - Oct 6, 2008 -

Joel Shpigel's dad was considered a "large" man. He was 37 the day he had a "heart scare." "He didn't have a heart attack, but his doctor said he was headed for one," Shpigel recalls. His father decided to begin exercising. Joel, who was also overweight, decided to join him.

1 comment - Sep 29, 2008 -

These days, Doug Burns is a modern Sampson. The reigning Mr. Universe, he’s two hundred pounds of sheer muscle and the picture of good health. Of the skinny little boy with type 1 who used to work out in the woods alone, all that remains are a wry sense of humor and an attractively self-deprecating manner. They’re unexpected in a man who’s triumphed in the uber-masculine world of bodybuilding, but there’s a lot that’s unexpected about Doug Burns.

21 comments - Sep 22, 2008 -

Four out of five adults experience back pain during their lifetime. The problem becomes chronic for five to ten percent of sufferers. Back pain can result from being overweight, sleeping on an uncomfortable bed, or incurring an injury. The best way to alleviate back pain, according to Timothy J. Gray, DO, in his book Back Works, lies in a solid exercise program.

0 comments - Sep 18, 2008 -

As an Ironman triathlete with type 1, I get asked a lot of questions.

How do you control your blood sugar during a race?
What foods do you eat?
What products do you use?
How do you balance work, family, training, and diabetes?

Sometimes, people simply ask me if I am nuts. 

1 comment - Aug 28, 2008 -

A recent story put out by the British Broadcasting Corporation proclaimed that eating broccoli could reverse the damage to heart blood vessels caused by diabetes.

2 comments - Aug 14, 2008 -

WakeMed Health & Hospitals Children’s Diabetes ENERGIZE! program has won the coveted NOVA Award from the American Hospital Association (AHA).

0 comments - Jul 17, 2008 -

Metformin, combined with dietary changes and exercise, seems to help obese pre-diabetic adolescents, especially girls, lose weight, says a report in the June 2008 Journal of Pediatrics.

7 comments - Jul 10, 2008 -

The 2008 Amputee Coalition of America’s annual national conference in Atlanta June 19 through 22 set new attendance records, driven by interest in the proposed federal prosthetic parity law and other issues of importance to amputees.

0 comments - Jul 10, 2008 -