Living with diabetes can be a full-time job
Anthony Banks readily admits that living with diabetes is not easy.
He discovered his condition, oddly enough, when he was singing in the choir. Banks, a deacon at Morning Star Baptist Church in Mattapan, “couldn’t recognize people in the [congregation].”
He dismissed that warning sign by telling himself that the trouble with his vision was due to his recent 50th birthday.
The problem persisted the next day. Banks works in the cardiac catheterization lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, and when one of his co-workers asked if he was all right, he told her that he was having trouble seeing. One thing led to another, and he agreed to take a blood glucose test.
His level was 590. It should have been closer to 100.
Banks explained that as a health professional, he is trained to take care of everyone else and not himself. Either way, he has changed his lifestyle.
“You cannot live your life the way you want to,” he said. “It’s difficult to be social and mindful of what you eat at the same time. It’s stressful.”
It’s all about the constant monitoring.
He checks his blood sugar levels twice a day — once in the morning, once at night. He’s on insulin, but doesn’t have much problem with injecting himself. He uses the ultra thin needles that he described as virtually painless.
Dr. David Nathan, the director of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, knows all too well the sacrifices that people must make in order to live with diabetes.
He strongly urges everyone to have their blood sugar levels checked at least once each year during their annual physical.
Dr. Nathan also cleared up a few misconceptions.
“When we say increase your ‘exercise,’ we don’t mean take up kickboxing or train to become a pole-vaulter,” Dr. Nathan said. “All we are talking about is 15 to 30 minutes of walking everyday. That’s it. And when we say, ‘watch what you eat,’ we don’t mean look at the food on your plate as you are eating it. It means paying attention to the type of foods you are eating and how much.”
Exercise and diet are integral parts of living with diabetes. Another critical part is weight. With 65 percent of Americans now considered to be overweight, dieting is a growth industry.
But again Dr. Nathan demystifies what many consider to be a constant struggle.
“Our studies show that if you are overweight, you might want to lose between five and seven percent of your body weight,” Dr. Nathan explained. “That doesn’t mean 50 pounds but, say, 15 pounds.”
Dr. Nathan continued. “Drugs don’t work as well as exercise and losing weight,” Dr. Nathan said. “Those two behaviors reduce the risk by as much as 60 percent.” |
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Anthony Banks says his first symptom of diabetes was that his “eyes weren’t working right.”
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