From DNR Digest, March 2000 edition
By David Panofsky, Environmental Engineer, WA-Madison
[Editor's note: There are different ways to manage diabetes. None are easy. David uses an
insulin pump and finds it satisfactory. I am also diabetic. I tried a pump and didn't like
it, and I now manage on a low-carbohydrate diet. Please feel free to call David or myself
with your questions, and if you detect signs of diabetes, contact your doctor. - Kathy E.]
It was 1984 and I was 18, in my first semester at the UW, when I began to notice something was wrong. I had lost twenty pounds, yet I was eating voraciously. I also had a thirst I couldn't quench.
A visit to the University Health Service confirmed that I had insulin dependent or Type 1 diabetes. I knew it was a serious diagnosis, if based only on the stuttering demeanor of the resident who gave me the news. I didn't know anyone who had the disease and didn't have a clue what it was all about. But whatever it would take to feel better, I was prepared to do it. Injecting insulin, poking my fingers to test blood sugar, eating sugary stuff to treat insulin reactions, exercising, and now, using an insulin pump - this became part of life, part of my routine.
Diabetes is caused by the body's inability to metabolize glucose, a simple sugar that's contained in virtually all the foods we eat. Glucose is both good and bad. It's needed by cells to function properly, yet if too much circulates in the bloodstream, it can damage internal organs. Diabetes can develop in several ways: either a person's pancreas doesn't produce insulin at all, or the body fails to properly use the insulin it does make. Either way, cells end up being starved while too much glucose circulates just outside their walls. Later in life, complications from that constant excess of glucose can develop, such as blindness, kidney disease, heart disease, among others.
Type 1 diabetics take insulin to provide artificially what their bodies no longer produce on their own. Type 2 diabetics take medications and sometimes insulin to help the body overcome its own unique problems with sugar metabolism. And, of course, figuring out which foods work best with one's own diabetes is a big part of the solution.
Sixteen years ago, the year I was diagnosed, those complications seemed all too inevitable. But I decided to make it my life's mission to try to thwart them, by both accepting my diabetes and by doing my best to take care of myself. In 1993, however, I finally had scientific proof that my efforts would probably pay off. A ten-year scientific study was completed that proved convincingly that the more one maintained healthy blood sugar levels, the longer those complications could be put at bay or possibly avoided. Years later, I realized that despite having a chronic disease, I was a lot luckier than many others who had the problems without the solutions. In some parts of the world, people haven't a team of health professionals, no blood sugar meters, no sterile needles, maybe not even any insulin. (That last can spell death in a matter of days or months – as it did for Americans in the pre-insulin era.) So, in the last two years , I transferred my energies from fighting my own diabetes to trying to see if I could help others in that kind of situation, and I chose Latin America.
Last summer and fall, , while on a three-month leave of absence, I laid the
foundation for a project called IDEA 2000. The name stands for the International
Diabetic Expedition to Aconcagua in the year 2000, and I think my involvement with the
project is my greatest personal contribution to fighting the perceptions that many of us
have regarding diabetes, and to directly helping diabetics who are in need. On
January 1, 2001, a group of diabetic mountaineers from around the world, including yours
truly, will attempt to reach the summit of Cerro Aconcagua, the highest place in the
Western Hemisphere, nearly 23,000 feet. Through the climb, we hope to accomplish more
important goals, including to raise awareness and funds for diabetes programs in Latin
America, and to test the effects of altitude on diabetes.
IDEA 2000 is also working together with other groups, including Insulin for Life (IFL), a non-profit organization based in San Francisco. IFL provides the only fresh, free insulin to diabetics in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala Through the publicity associated with the IDEA 2000 event, we hope to highlight the extreme situation of many diabetics in Latin America and the developing world. IDEA 2000's fundraising goals are $2.1 million and 95% of the money raised will help pay for the work of a few other groups: Insulin for Life , Declaration of the Americas on Diabetes, International Diabetes Federation - South and Central American Region, and the Institut d'Estudis de Medicina de Muntanya for the diabetes and altitude study.
Another important message of IDEA 2000 is that through proper diabetes management, one
can not only maintain good health, but accomplish, in the words of the IDEA 2000 mission,
"..anything we [diabetics] set our minds, hearts, and bodies to do..."
It's hard work and for many with the disease (including me, at times, I easily confess) it
can be a very difficult assignment. But, who isn't up for a challenge? Isn't
life just a series of challenges?
Ironically, diabetes has turned me into an athlete: bicycle road racing, trekking, climbing and mountaineering. Since becoming diabetic, I have climbed in many of the great mountain ranges of the world - the Alps, Pyrenees, Tatras, Adirondacks, Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, and the Andes. In 1998, I reached the summit of the two highest mountains in the Ecuadorian Andes, Chimborazo (20,700 ft) and Cotopaxi (19,370 ft). I have also completed a number of long and difficult treks including one this fall in the Pyrenees of Spain.
For more information on diabetes or IDEA 2000 and its mission and fundraising, please call me. My home telephone number is (608) 256-0590. You can also view IDEA 2000's Website at www.idea2000.org
PS. We are asking for contributions to the project, which are tax-deductible because of
our 501(c)(3) status. I hope to raise $25,000 by the end of the year
2000 and would love for DNR folks to help me reach or exceed that goal. (This may not be
much of an incentive, but we do have IDEA 2000 commemorative Nepali prayer flags for
recognition of donations over $100.)