Inmate Central Inmate Central, where civil and family-friendly discourse about off-audio topics (other than religion and politics) is welcome.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Inmate Central ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Some good news for yours truly!

Posted by JoshT (A) on April 24, 2015 at 06:34:43

Last year I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and was pretty down in the dumps. As many of you know, I have a form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy called Miyoshi Myopathy, caused by a deficiency of the protein dysferlin. It's a non-lethal form of MD in that it appears not to result in cardiomyopathy like Duschenne dystrophy, but it does result in being confined to a wheelchair, which of course limits options for exercise, and one must balance the risk of accelerated atrophy from overuse of the muscles with accelerated atrophy from insufficient use.

The diabetes diagnosis was a wake up call for me to get my sh!t together, which ultimately included leaving my law firm and working on a more limited part-time basis for a foundation that funds research into finding a treatment for my particular designer-disease.

Well, in less than a year, my Hemoglobin A1C level has gone from 7.5 last June, to 6.6 last September and now down to 6.0 just the other day. For reference. 6.5 to 7.0 is considered pre-diabetes and 7.0 and above is considered diabetes. So, with better diet, less booze, more rest, less stress, a small amount of the drug Metformin, and a very focused exercise plan, I am no longer even in the diabetic range. And all that while living in a wheelchair.

It's a happy day and I just wanted to share some good news. I consciously decided not to post about my diagnosis a year ago and instead focus on making it go away. (Well, I'm still technically diabetic for life because it would come back if I regress to old habits, but so long as I keep up my regime I might not ever have any of the symptoms.)

(Also, and completely unrelated but really cool, there are now three therapeutic candidates that could help me with maintaining muscle strength, and maybe even increasing muscle strength, that are in clinical trials, with one already approved in the EU, so that's another exciting thing in my life these days.)

Sorry if I'm "Facebooking" here. I'm not on Facebook, so maybe I am a bit!

But one constructive lesson for all of you is to get tested for diabetes if you haven't been already, especially if you are nearing or older than 45 and at all overweight or inactive. Some shocking percentage of people don't know they have diabetes at all until they have physical symptoms that are irreversible, and by then the risk of blindness and amputations is pretty high. If caught early like mine, however, you can literally reverse the glucose level and prevent the risk of symptoms with life style changes (and perhaps a little Metformin).

Yup, you certainly can if I could from a wheelchair. My methods are limited, but have included swimming PT, arm cycles, stationary foot pedals, small weights and stretching. Most people can easily do the equivalent of that and more with little effort. So, get tested and get off yer arses! ;-)
___
"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Herbie's Audio Lab

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---