A second look at diabetes

As long as we are focusing on health and fitness a little, this may be a good time to go back to the diabetes.

I do associate it with being overweight. I have no doubt that my weight has been a factor in my having it. However, I have also seen that there is a genetic component, and have been learning a lot about how my body responds to things.

One thing that has been a surprise fairly recently has been the diagnosis of three friends with it. None of these friends are obese. They aren’t sticks, but for example, of the two females, I believe they are a size 6 and an 8, and the male is fairly athletic. None of them are elderly, ranging from , I think, 32 to 45.I believe there is something to be learned from looking at their cases.

W has had issues with ovarian cysts, and recently had a hysterectomy. When my endocrinologist and I were discussing the possibility of surgery, she said that sometimes diabetic patients would be able to go off insulin even before losing weight, because the surgery changed their body chemistry. It appears that other types of surgeries can make other changes to body chemistry. Of course, there were already other issues going on, or the suregery wouldn’t have happened, but it is interesting.

R is the 45 year old, and I think his age is just catching up to him, and that’s not calling him old. He has always been strong, with a lot of stamina, where he could skip sleep and eat irregularly and still keep going, and I think his body is starting to tell him “no”. I remember in college I would keep crazy hours and for a while it would just make me more energized. 41 is not like 21. I need my sleep, I need my exercise, and I need balanced meals. He is severely constricting carbs, kind of going Paleo though not officially, but I think it will also be really important for him to start remembering to eat, and sleep, and relax, and not let his job run his life.

A has a lot going on. She has recently been diagnosed with one severe bacterial infection, as well as a disorder where she is not absorbing Vitamin B, and she has been anemic for a while. Honestly, once they have those things sorted out, I don’t think the diabetes will be an issue.

For me it’s a reminder of a couple of things. One is that going back to yesterday, we are complex systems with lots of interactions. With diabetes, people focus on the pancreas, and the pancreas underproducing insulin would definitely be an issue. However, you also can have your cells resist the insulin’s effort to get the glucose entered into the cells, and that can be due to fat cells in the way. You can also have the liver releasing too large quantities of sugar into the bloodstream.There are lots of things that can impair the liver. There can be environmental and immune factors that contribute to diabetes.

Medicine is a complex field, and so doctors tend to specialize a lot, and that totally makes sense, but I think it is also important to take a look at the whole system. This is where I find it unfortunate that there is not better cooperation between conventional and natural medicine. They could be helping each other instead of looking down on each other. Yes, the tendency towards arrogance in doctors is nothing new, but it helps no one.

We can’t necessarily solve that issue, but I think it can be a reasonable thing for every person to be in touch with their own health. Am I getting rested? Am I eating well? Do I have energy? Do I have pain? Are there logical reasons for the pain? When do I feel best? When do I feel worst? Is that logical? And be looking at the physical and the mental.

There was an episode of Frasier where a new doctor was getting Frasier jealous, and taking a call together with a woman who struggled with getting out of bed in the morning, Frasier diagnosed deep depression and recommended intensive therapy, and the doctor suggested she might have low blood sugar The caller then remembered that the other morning she’d had an egg and felt better, and got mad at Frasier.

I can give you a real world counterpart to that story where another psychologist had a patient who had depression symptoms, but it turned out to be a potassium deficiency. The mind-body connection doesn’t always have clear boundaries. There are people who need SSRIs, but there are also people who need a banana.

Again, arrogance can be an issue here, because one thing that is really common is for something to work for one person, and so then they assume that’s what will work for everyone else, and no, it’s not always like that.

One thing I did talk about with A is if maybe she needed more meat for the anemia, because she is vegetarian. However, she did try eating meat for a while, and her iron levels did not improve. At least she was willing to try it, and she knew.

I have friends who are very healthy as vegetarians, and happy. If I go for very long without getting any meat, I am going to start biting people’s necks. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but understanding my specific needs, and meeting those needs, is a good thing.

So yes, we are complex systems, and there is a lot that can go wrong inside. There is also a lot that can make it right. Look at any food group, and consider how much variety is available within it. Think about all of the advances in medicine. It is all so interesting, and there are so many answers. So look at yourself, get to know yourself, and take care of yourself, because you are important. That becomes more clear to me every day.