Coping with diabetes is a full-body exercise

Jay Robertson didn't have any symptoms.

There'd been no unexplained weight loss or extreme hunger. No mood changes. No fatigue or weakness.

On the contrary -- he was excelling on his middle school football team. But when a sports physical showed he was passing sugar in his urine, his doctors started doing tests. Soon Robertson was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

"When I found out I had diabetes, I was pretty hurt," Robertson said. "I grew up in a home where my father was a diabetic, but wasn't around, so at the time I thought the only thing I got from him was diabetes. And, of course, at 13 I didn't want to take shots, so I was pretty unhappy about the whole thing."

Now 47, Robertson said there may be some misconceptions about diabetes, but they don't really bother him.

Understanding diabetes

Robertson's experience is far from unique.

The National Diabetes Statistics Report notes that currently 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent of the population, has diabetes. For those age 65 and older, that number reaches 25.9 percent. It remains the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

Of those 29.1 million with diabetes, 1.25 million have Type 1, which is usually diagnosed in children when their bodies start to display the effects of high blood sugar -- like excessive thirst, peeing a lot, feeling tired and run down. Their bodies don't produce insulin, the hormone that helps cells process glucose and keep blood sugar in a normal range. Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease typically diagnosed in adults. With Type 2 diabetes, the body is resistant to insulin, and although the pancreas can produce insulin, the body has trouble using it.

Angela Manderfeld, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Diabetes Program, said the thing she wished more people understood about Type 2 diabetes is that it can't be fixed with medications alone.

"A lot of medical problems can be resolved with medication," Manderfeld said. "Diabetes isn't like that. Yes, you can take pills, but because diabetes is a progressive disease, if you're not paying attention to your lifestyle, the medicine won't work as well as it's supposed to."

Manderfeld said that means managing stress levels, eating more natural, less processed foods and making a point to exercise.

"It sounds like it's really basic and simple to manage, but it's not," Manderfeld said. "Most people have a lot of stress on a day-to-day basis. So when they are diagnosed, it's like having another part-time job. Now it's even more important to eat healthy, even more important to exercise, which they may not have had time to do before. It's a vicious cycle."

Managing stress, Manderfeld said, plays an important part in managing diabetes. Too much stress for too long floods the body with hormones and ups its resistance to insulin. More insulin resistance means more blood sugar spikes, which can damage the body over time.

Adapting to a new lifestyle

Sally Gregory, now 62, found out she had Type 2 diabetes roughly 15 years ago.

"I went in to the doctor because I thought I had the flu," Gregory said. "We were really surprised how high my sugars were."

Gregory said she wasn't all that surprised that she got diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes because a large number of her family members also have it.

"Now I have to be more careful about what I eat," Gregory said. "But I've had the disease long enough that it doesn't bother me too much. As long as I eat well, walk and take my medications, I stay on the wagon."

Having solid support systems in place makes those lifestyle changes easier, Manderfeld noted.

"If your loved one has diabetes, the best thing you can do is make the lifestyle changes with them," Manderfeld said. "Instead of preaching at them and saying 'hey, you shouldn't be eating those sweets,' don't bring the sweets into the house. It needs to be a whole family adjustment."

Manderfeld said there are numerous other resources beyond the doctor's office for those in need of support for their own diabetes diagnosis or the diagnosis of a loved one. Apart from diabetes groups at area hospitals and the American Diabetes Association's online community resources, Manderfeld suggested social media avenues, like Facebook groups, for finding inspiration and success stories.

As for Robertson, he said his diagnosis isn't "that big of a deal" and hasn't affected his life as much as it did when he was younger.

"The newer medicine and technology mean the lifestyle change isn't as drastic," he said. "As a 13-year-old hearing you can only have eight raisins, you think that's crazy, especially because I didn't have any symptoms and didn't feel sick."

He added, "I'm comfortable with who I am and what I have to deal with. I wish I didn't have it of course, but we all have things we have to deal with."

?? This story was sponsored by Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, a nonprofit Tribal health organization designed to meet the unique health needs of more than 150,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people living in Alaska.?

This article was produced by the special content department of Alaska Dispatch News in collaboration with ANTHC. Contact the editor, Jamie Gonzales, at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com. The ADN newsroom was not involved in its production.