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Diabetic Accountability: Keeping Up With My Virtual Running Partner

By Sean Kelley | January 16, 2009

Last week, in the midst of a business trip to New York City, I got this email from my brother in Atlanta:

“I hope all is going well. I noticed it has been a couple of day since you ran. I hope you get the chance to squeeze one in today.”

I knew it was coming. I had skipped two morning runs due to inclement weather (who wants to run when it’s pouring rain and cold?) and a hangover. But my brother didn’t miss the fact that I missed my runs. How did he know, even though we were in different cities? Read More

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Speaking Up Makes Having Illnesses Like Diabetes Useful

By Sean Kelley | January 16, 2009
steve-jobs-mac-sick

If you need heady discussion starters at a party, just invite me. I’m one of those people, the party-goer who can’t help but (painfully) reveal too much personal information. I’m wont to bring up politics, religion, illness, personal foibles, etc., just to engage in conversation.

My old friends have a phrase for this: “That’s just Sean being Sean.” It covers, fortunately, all manner of sins.

I used to worry that I was too open, especially in discussing my son’s allergies or my diabetes. But in this day of the Internet, I thought it was impossible to really hide something as significant as a life-threatening illness or condition. Read More

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For a Diabetic, Continuing Education Is a Must

By Sean Kelley | December 15, 2008
low-glycemic-index-foods-board

123rf/Health

When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1999, I went through a nutrition retraining session with a nurse educator. Like other newly diagnosed diabetics, I learned about portion size, how to count carbs, and how to identify foods that could cause my blood sugar to spike.

An enormous amount of information was imparted in the 45-minute private session and in two group meetings I attended. Too much information. I retained very little, beyond being able to identify how many carbs are in certain foods like small apples and cooked carrots.

The hard thing about managing type 2 diabetes isn’t taking medications or injecting insulin. It’s not even checking blood sugar (although that’s the thing we complain about the most). The hardest thing is changing lifestyle habits—particularly those around eating—that have been built up through decades of living before diabetes. Read More

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9 Ways to Give the Gift of Exercise to a Type 2 Diabetic

By Sean Kelley | December 7, 2008
diabetic-christmas-present

Getty Images

By this point in the holiday season, my wife and family have done their shopping, save one gift: mine. I’m hard to buy for, and I don’t like making lists. But this year, as a type 2 diabetic, I know what I want: exercise.

I work hard to manage my disease and lose weight, but I fall short on exercise. The odd round of golf and occasional sprint after my toddler in the Wal-Mart parking lot doesn’t count as the kind of consistent, intense movement that makes managing my blood sugar easier.

I’ve listed the excuses in this blog before: long commute, two kids under 5 years of age, and lack of motivation and time.

So I want a way to sneak out for a workout or a way to exercise that includes either my kids or my friends (so I can be social and good).

Here’s my Christmas List: Read More

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They’re Here Again?! Facing the Holidays When You Have Diabetes

By Sean Kelley | November 23, 2008
diabetes-holiday-office-treat

Fotolia

If it isn’t obvious from the twinkling lights in my neighborhood and the Christmas carols on a local radio station, everyone seems to be ready for the holidays. As a type 2 diabetic, I’m so not.

Just this week I came into work to find a line of festive cookie tins overflowing with homemade peanut butter, double-chocolate fudge, macadamia nut, and sugar cookies. They were less than 10 feet from my desk, and saliva threatened to drip out of my mouth every time I thought about them.

The office staff also recently gathered for a potluck Thanksgiving feast. Though I kept my distance from the dessert items, I still overate, feasting on seconds and thirds of ham, sweet potatoes, and corn pudding. I have to face the fact that my efforts to manage my blood sugar, which usually include avoiding office treats, are in full holiday meltdown. Read More

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Leukemia Drug Holds Promise as Type 1 Diabetes Treatment

By Sean Kelley | November 17, 2008
diabetes-leukemia-gleevec-sutent

Istockphoto

Scientists have successfully used a leukemia drug to reverse type 1 diabetes—at least in mice. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and Plexxikon, a pharmaceutical research firm, studied two cancer drugs—Gleevec (imatinib) and Sutent (sunitinib)—in non-obese diabetic mice, which were prone to developing diabetes.

Both drugs are tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which interfere with cell communication and growth and are used to fight tumors. Gleevec is prescribed for chronic myelogenous leukemia and Sutent is used to treat advanced kidney cancer and a type of stomach cancer. Read More

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How Hannah Montana Got Into Trouble Over Diabetes

By Sean Kelley | November 16, 2008
hannah-montana-miley-diabetes

Amazon.com

Recently Disney yanked the eagerly anticipated Season 3 opener of Hannah Montana, the popular preteen show starring Miley Cyrus. Among diabetics, the preseason hype was positive: A major star in a major show (its viewers may be small in stature, but the show draws 3.5 million of them) was going to spend significant air time focusing on diabetes.

In prepping the episode, Disney told E!Online that it conferred with medical experts to make sure the show’s content was handled responsibly. And it timed the episode’s airing to coincide with American Diabetes Month.

But the network’s awareness effort was scuttled when a few parents of type 1 diabetics saw an episode preview and ratted it out for promoting diabetic stereotypes. Read More

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What You Can Do Today to Help Fight Diabetes

By Sean Kelley | November 14, 2008
world-diabetes-day

(Worlddiabetesday.org)

In honor of American Diabetes Month and World Diabetes Day, which is today, here’s a quick list of ideas to help you raise awareness of the disease.

1. Put out a blue light, the color that represents World Diabetes Day. Watch this video from TuDiabetes for ideas of how you can help light up the problem and get the word out.

2. Take part in a diabetes event, like a walk or run, in your area.

3. Light a virtual candle—already 70,000 strong and growing!

Read More

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Why New Yorkers Don’t Get Fat

By Sean Kelley | November 9, 2008
new-yorkers-walking

Getty Images

This year I’ve traveled to New York City nearly a dozen times. As I write this, I’m looking out the window onto 50th Street, watching throngs of New Yorkers and tourists shuttling between Rockefeller Center and Broadway.

You can almost always tell the people who live in New York from the people who are visiting: New Yorkers rarely wear sneakers, for one, and in most cases, they are much skinnier than the folks from out of town.

It’s not that New York City dwellers are genetically predisposed to svelteness. In fact, the rate of obesity in the city rose from 19.5% to 22.8% between 2002 and 2004. Still, that’s pretty skinny by Alabama standards; the obesity rate in my state is more than 30%.

Why the disparity? It’s all the walking. Read More

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Little Good About America Spending Twice as Much on Diabetes Drugs

By Sean Kelley | November 2, 2008

Getty Images

A few months back, I wrote a bit mockingly about the power that 24 million diabetics and 57 million Americans with prediabetes might wield if they united under a common banner.

What I didn’t say was what those numbers could mean for our health-care system if everyone in the prediabetes group eventually developed diabetes. Can you imagine the medical resources 71 million diabetics could consume in a country of 300 million? Good luck getting a parking space at your local hospital! Read More

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