Tue
11
Oct '05
I’ve plucked a few facts here and there to share with you about diabetes.
- Fiorello LaGuardia, former New York mayor and the person for whom the airport’ is named was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Dale Evans, actress, singer and wife of Roy Rogers was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Former NBA Basketball player Chris Dudley is diabetic (The Diabetic Athlete)
- As a sophmore in high school, professional football player Tony George was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)
- About 65% of deaths among people with diabetes are due to heart disease and stroke. (National Diabetes Fact Sheet)
- Tommy Lee, of heavy metal band Motley Crue is diabetic…. rock on! (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Bobby Clark, legend of the Philadelphia Flyers, was the first professional hockey player with diabetes (The Diabetic Athlete)
- Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in American adults. Diabetic retinopathy accounts for 12% of all new cases of blindness in the US. ()
- Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death from disease, shortens the average life span by up to 15 years, and is the main cause of new blindness, kidney failure, and amputations in the United States. Interviews with 2 practitioners and 8 individuals with diabetes illustrate how individuals embody their illness. Interviewed persons with diabetes tended to be most closely associated with the disciplined body type and pursued high levels of bodily control, in contrast to an idealized type, the communicative body, which can be considered an ethical ideal. (Understanding the Diabetic Body-Self)
- Menachem Begin, Israeli prime minister was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Sugar Ray Robinson, boxer was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Former professional ballet dancer Zippora Karz was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 21 (The Diabetic Athlete)
- Miles Davis, legendary jazz great was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Nell Carter, of the television show “Gimme a Break” is diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- The honeymoon period is a time when people with type 1 diabetes, shortly after their diagnosis, experience what seems to be a remission of the disease or a restoration of the production of insulin. (About.com Guide to Diabetes)
- Johnny Cash, legendary country singer, known as “the man in black” was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Arthur Ashe, tennis legend was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- David Crosby, member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Jackie Robinson, baseball star who broke the color barrier in the Major Leagues was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Catfish Hunter, pitcher for the Oakland A’s and the New York Yankees was diabetic. I saw him pitch in the 1973 American League Championships, me wiht only 3 years of being diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Anne Rice, “Interview With a Vampire” author is diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Winnie Mandela, South African anti-apartheid leader is diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- 2 million. 8.2% of all Hispanic/Latino Americans aged 20 years or older have diabetes. On average, Hispanic/Latino Americans are 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites of similar age. (National Diabetes Fact Sheet)
- Albert Ellis, psychologist, rational emotive therapy was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Sharon Stone’s diabetes did not stop her wowing us in Basic Instinct (Keeping Well With Diabetes Newsletter)
- Two (2) million adolescents (or 1 in 6 overweight adolescents) aged 12-19 have pre-diabetes. (ADA)
- Jackie Gleason, funny star of “The Honeymooners” and many other movies/shows was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Jerry Mathers, actor of “Leave It To Beaver” fame is/was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- In the U.S. population of adults born between 1931 and 1941, diabetes is associated with a profound negative impact on economic productivity. By 1992, an estimated 60 billion US dollars in lost productivity was associated with diabetes; additional annual losses averaged 7.3 billion US dollars over the next eight years, totaling about 120 billion US dollars by the year 2000 (The impact of diabetes on workforce participation)
- Yuri Andropov, former premier of Soviet Union was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- New findings suggest that poorly controlled diabetes may lead to Alzheimer’s disease. (Medicine.net)
- Diabetes is the fifth-deadliest disease in the United States. Since 1987 the death rate due to diabetes has increased by 45 percent, while the death rates due to heart disease, stroke, and cancer have declined. (ADA The Dangerous Toll of Diabetes)
- Walt Kelly, animator and Disney founder was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Diabetes in the United States has increased by 14 percent in just two years and now affects 7 percent of the population. (In Diabetes Today)
- 118,000 (15.1%) American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 20 years or older have diabetes (both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes). Taking into account population age differences, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.2 times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. (ADA)
- In 250 AD Rome, diabetes was diagnosed by tasting the urine for sweetness. (Accu-Check Diabetes Quiz)
- H.G. Wells, writer, “The Invisible Man” and “War of the Worlds” was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- India has the largest number of diabetics in the world; a total of 10 million. (DoctorNDTV)
- Mario Puzo, author of “The Godfather” was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- In 1924, a 14 year old boy Leonard Thompson was the first human with diabetes to receive insulin (DoctorNDTV)
- One out of every 10 health care dollars is spent on diabetes and its complications. (ADA The Dangerous Toll of Diabetes)
- Diabetic retinopathy causes from 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year (National Diabetes Fact Sheet)
- Almost 1 in 17 people worldwide are diabetic. More than 1800 cases of diabetes are diagnosed everyday. (DoctorNDTV)
- Olympic Gold Medla swimmer Gary Hall, Jr was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1999 (Gary Hall, Jr Bio)
- B.B. King, rhythm and blues star is diabetic and stars in all those LifeScan bloodtesting commercials (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- The total cost of diabetes in the United States, 2002 was $132 billion including $92 billion of Direct medical costs and $40 billion Indirect costs: (disability, work loss, premature mortality) (NNational Diabetes Fact Sheet)
- Thomas Edison, the genius inventor was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Among adults with diagnosed diabetes, 16% take insulin only, 12% take both insulin and oral medication, 57% take oral medication only, and 15% do not take either insulin or oral medications. (ADA The Dangerous Toll of Diabetes)
- Mary Tyler Moore, actress and star of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and other movies is diabetic. She is a chairperson of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (Health Diary)
- Billie Jean King, tennis player is diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Ron Santo, third basemen for the Chicago Cubs was diabetic (Diabetes Health Magazine)
- Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s fast food restaurants was diabetic at the time he bought his first restaurant (Woopidoo! Biographies)
- Non-Hispanic white children have the highest rates of diabetes in the United States, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, and the disease appears to be more common than expected. (Reuters)
- About 210,000 people under 20 years of age have diabetes. This represents 0.26% of all people in this age group. (National Diabetes Fact Sheet)
- LPGA golfer Michelle McGann learned of her diabetes at age 13. (The Diabetic Athlete)
- Diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates in 2000. This is based on the 69,301 death certificates in which diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of death. Altogether, diabetes contributed to 213,062 deaths. (National Diabetes Fact Sheet)
- A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the prevalence of diabetes rose 5% annually since 1990 and ‘and appears to be linked to increasing obesity’. (ADA In Diabetes Today)
- There are 20.8 million people in the United States, or 7.0% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 13 million have been diagnosed, unfortunately, 5.2 million people (or nearly one-third) are unaware that they have the disease. (ADA)
Did you know... LPGA golfer Michelle McGann learned of her diabetes at age 13. (from The Diabetic Athlete)
See more diabetic facts...
January 11th, 2006 at 8:42 am
i need some info on diabetes……can you help me out please???? thenk you if you can…..
January 13th, 2006 at 6:52 am
I am really not an authority, just someone who has lived with it.
Besides the ADA web site, there are a fair number of online support resources… see what you can find:
ttp://www.google.com/search?q=diabetes+online+support
May 27th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Hey! You forgot to mention Meat Loaf!!!
Let me tell you about my favorite rocker singer, Marvin Lee Aday,
AKA “Meat Loaf” who weighs over 300 pounds and is diabetic.
I can identify with Meat Loaf because I’m also diabetic, and I weigh
about 305 pounds, and my height is only 5 ft. 6 in.
He was born September 27, 1951 so he’s only three days older than I
am since I was born September 30, 1951
Marvin Lee Aday was a singer and occasional actor who, for reasons
never definitively answered, recorded under the name Meat Loaf. In
all likelihood a childhood nickname, the tag stuck, and many puns
followed as the performer — who tipped the scales at well over 300
pounds — became one of the biggest chart acts of the 1970s before
enjoying a commercial renaissance two decades later.
Meat Loaf is one of my favorite rock singers. I remember when he was
on the stage singing Like A Bat Out Of Hell. He came out on the stage
looking like a big fat Opera singer and dancing around moving his big
body and beads of perspiration broke out on his plump round face. He
looked sooooooooo cool man!!! He’s one heavy dude!
While doing some research, I found out that not only is he diabetic
but he also suffers from a rare heart condition known as Wolff-
Parkinson-White syndrome.
It is not cause by his obesity but rather Wolff-Parkinson-White
syndrome (WPW) is a syndrome of pre-excitation of the ventricles due
to an accessory pathway known as the bundle of Kent. This accessory
pathway is an abnormal electrical communication from the atria to the
ventricles.
The incidence of WPW syndrome is between 0.1% and 3% percent of the
general population. While the vast majority of individuals with WPW
syndrome remain asymptomatic throughout their entire lives, there is
a risk of sudden death associate with WPW syndrome.
Sudden death due to WPW syndrome is rare (incidence of 0.6% percent
and is due to the effect of the accessory pathway on tachyarrhythmias
in these individuals.
Meat Loaf, known for his size (at times over 300 pounds) and manic
stage presence has suffered from a number of health problems and
injuries. Reportedly he has had at least seventeen concussions. His
most recent problem was during a November 17, 2003, performance at
London’s Wembley Arena. He collapsed of what was later diagnosed as
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. The following week he underwent a
surgical procedure intended to correct the problem.
Back in 1978 he fell off the stage and broke his leg during a concert
at Toronto. He finished the tour in a wheelchair.
He also sufferes from depression and anxiety. He had a very tuff
childhood and growing up as a fat kid, he was often tormented by his
peers. As a child he was clumsy and uncoordinated. His father called
him Meat Loaf because he was so fat.
Also, his father was an alcoholic and was very abusive toward Meat
Loaf and his mother. When he was 15 years old, his mother died of
breast cancer, and sometime after his mother’s death, one evening his
father flew into a drunken rage and came after Meat Loaf with a
butcher knife.
Yes, indeed! I can identify with Meat Loaf. At 5 ft. 6 in. I weigh
about 305 pounds myself. I too had an abusive stepfather who would
beat up on my mother and I whenever he was drunk.
When I was only 15 years old, my weight went up to over 200 pounds,
and I then outweighed my old man by more than 20 pouunds although I
was three inches shorter.
I believe that abuse during childhood can bring on obesity, and
continued emotional stress can contribute to diabetes. Getting fat is
nature’s way of protecting one from physical injury. I find that being
fat feels very comfortable because it feels so soft and warm like a
big hug!
Like Meat Loaf, I too am diabetic and suffer from anxiety and
depression so I know where he’s coming from. I’m also very clumsy and
uncoordinated and I fall very easily, but so far I managed to avoid
serious injuries.
I’m also artistic and creative. I like to do oil paintings, and I’m
building an N Gauge model railroad on a 5 x 8 foot layout which is
wired to run four trains. I also enjoy singing. I use to sing at the
Karaoki and I would do songs by Niel Diamond, Cat Stevens, Simon And
Garfunkle, Pink Floyde, and of course Meat Loaf, my favorite.
My heart really goes out to Meat Loaf. While he looks like a big
strong person, he is very fragile both physically and emotionally.
But then many of us obese persons like me are rather fragile in so
many ways. That is why so many obese people tend to be rather docile,
nonaggressive and gentle creatures. We are also more sensitive to
pain both physical and emotional.
That is probably why we feel hunger more intensely and why it takes
more food to ease the pain of the hunger we feel.
Also junk foods are more harmful to us fat people. So, we need to get
back to natural foods and even if we can’t lose weight we’re still
better off.
Oh! By the way, Meat Loaf is also a vegetarian. Despite his stage
name, Marvin doesn’t like to eat meatloaf.
But eating a vegetarian does not necessarily guarantee that one won’t
become obese. In fact a diabetic can still gain weight on a
vegetarian diet because of the carbohydrates.
I should know from personnel experience, because I once tried a
vegetarian diet, and I still gained weight.
====================================================================
Obese people more sensitive to pain
Obese people may be more sensitive to pain than people who aren’t
obese, a new study suggests.
All of the older adults who completed the study had osteoarthritis of
the knee, a disease that causes inflammation and extreme pain in the
knees.
Participants were given a mild electrical stimulation on their left
ankle to measure their pain reflex. The stimulus was given before and
after the participants took part in a 45-minute coping skills
training session that included a progressive muscle relaxation
exercise.
The obese patients showed a greater physical response to the
electrical stimulation than did the non-obese people, both before and
after the training session. This indicates they had a lower tolerance
for the painful stimulation despite reporting, in questionnaires,
that they felt no more pain than non-obese people.
“The relaxation procedure helped both groups cope with pain,” said
Charles Emery, the study’s lead author and a professor of psychology
at Ohio State University. “Additionally, our tests showed both groups
had higher physical pain thresholds after the relaxation session. But
the obese participants still had a lower threshold for tolerating the
pain.”
Emery and his colleagues presented their findings on March 4 in
Denver at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.
The researchers wanted to see if coping skills training, including
progressive relaxation techniques would help people with
osteoarthritis to better cope with the pain that the disease can
cause. Also called degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis affects
more than 20 million people in the United States.
But they were particularly interested in seeing how the obese group
responded to pain; according to Emery, a small number of studies have
looked at pain sensitivity in obese people, but many of these studies
report conflicting results.
“Some studies say that obese people are more tolerant of pain, while
other studies say they are less tolerant,” Emery said.
About a third of the study’s 62 participants were obese. Researchers
determined who was obese based on participants’ body mass index (BMI)
scores, which relates height to weight. Obese patients in this study
had a BMI greater than 30 but less than 35. (Scores higher than 35
are considered morbidly obese.)
The participants underwent two rounds of electrical stimulation –
once before, and once after a 45-minute training session where they
learned different ways of coping with pain, including instruction in
progressive muscle relaxation therapy.
The electrical stimulation came from an iPod-sized device that
delivered a slight electrical shock to a patient’s sural nerve, a
nerve that extends along the ankle and into the calf. This kind of
electrical stimulation causes sensations of tingling and mild pain in
the lower leg.
The researchers determined the body’s response to sural nerve
stimulation by measuring the reflex of the lower leg muscles that
surround the sural nerve. When the brain senses pain, it sends a
message to the body to contract and move the muscles in order to get
away from the source of the pain.
“This kind of evaluation is in some ways a more objective way of
measuring the body’s response to pain, as opposed to simply asking
someone if they feel pain,” Emery said.
But the researchers did ask participants how much pain they felt.
Participants completed questionnaires about anxiety and pain
perception after each round of electrical stimulations. All
participants, obese or not, reported that they felt less pain after
the relaxation session than they did before.
Yet results of the sural nerve stimulus test showed that the obese
participants did not tolerate the painful stimulus as well as the non-
obese individuals.
“Our findings show the importance of looking at objective as well as
subjective measurements of how the body responds to pain stimuli,”
Emery said.
Emery conducted the study with colleagues from Ohio State, Ohio and
Duke universities.
From Ohio State University
===================================================================
Poor Meat Loaf. His life has been so full of pain, yet despite all
that he is a very jolly fat person with a great sense of humor
Some of the songs he sings are a reflection of his own life.
Here is the lyrics to one of his many songs.
—————————————————————–
Objects In The Rear View Mirror My Appear Closer Than They Are.
The skys were pure and the fields were green,
and the sun was brighter than it’s ever been
When I grew up with my best friend, Kenny,
we were close as any brothers that you ever knew
It was always summer and the future called
We were ready for adventures and we wanted them all,
and there was so much left to dream,
and so much time to make it real
But I can still recall the sting of all the tears when he was gone
They say he crashed and burned, I swear I’ll never learn,
why any boy should die so young
We were racing; we were soldiers of fortune
We got in trouble but we sure got around
There are times I think I see him peeling out of the dark
I think he’s right behind me now, and he’s gaining ground
But it was long ago, and it was far away
Oh God, it seems so very far,
and if life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
They are
And when the sun descended and the night arose
I heard my father cursing everyone he knows
He was dangerous and drunk and defeated,
and corroded by failure and envy and hate
There were endless winters and the dreams would freeze
No where to hide and no leaves on the trees,
and my father’s eyes were blank as he hit me again and again and again
I know I still believe he’d never let me leave, I had to run away
alone
So many threats and fears, so many wasted years,
before my life became my own
And though the nightmares should be over,
some of the terrors are still intact
I’ll hear that ugly, coarse, and violent voice,
and then he grabs me from behind, and then he pulls me back
But it was long ago, and it was far away
Oh God, it seems so very far,
and if life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
They are
[Instrumental solo]
There was a beauty living on the edge of town
She always put the top up and the hammer down,
and she taught me everything I’ll ever know,
about the mystery and the muscle of love
The stars would glimmer and the moon would glow
I’m in the back seat with my Julie like Romeo
And the signs along the highway all said
Caution! Kids at play!
Those were the rights of spring and we did everything;
There was salvation every night
We got dreams reborn and our upholstery torn,
but everything we tried was right
She used her body just like a bandage
She use my body just like a wound
I’ll probably never know where she disappeared,
but I can see rising up out of the back seat now,
just like an angel rising out of a tomb
But it was long ago, and it was far away
Oh God, it seems so very far,
and if life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are
She used her body just like a bandage
She used my body just like a wound
I’ll probably never know where she disappeared,
but I can see her rising up out of the back seat now…
—————————————————————
Oh yes indeed!
If life is like a highway, then the soul is just a car!
My soul is a big Mack Truck!!!
November 20th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
will gerald st. germaine please shut up and stop hogging the whole page? just because you have to hog the bus seats, doesnt mean you should hog a website! mwah!
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:53 am
Think you should go for a spelling marathon instead
December 12th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
[...] not to know a family member, friend, co-worker affected by the disease. My blog has a whole set of random facts and trivia if that helps. Or that our local group that runs this is very grass roots and does not spend much [...]
April 12th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Your diabetes facts are bull**it, as most of them make no distinction between type I and type II diabetes. The difference is huge, and they are quite different diseases.
April 12th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
So tell me Tom, what is your point? They are not MY facts, each one has an attribution to a source. And I fail see what the ****** difference it makes; these are presented merely as a means of throwing some light on the impact of any kind diabetes.
Write back if you have something constructive to say, otherwise go take a hike or go for a run.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:06 am
Well first of all, having a source doesn’t really mean anything. I can create a web page that says the moon is made out of cheese, and you can make a reference to it, but that doesn’t make it true you know
One has to have a critical mind when dealing with these things.
As for the other issue, the difference is that people have A LOT of ignorance when it comes to diabetes, and it doesn’t help at all when diabetes I and II are simply lumped together like that… Type I is an autoimmune disease that can impact a completely healthy, thin person who takes care of him/herself. Type II is more of a metabolic disease that is the result of a lack of exercise, obesity, and an unhealthy diet. Many doctors agree that the naming is quite misleading, as the two versions of diabetes are very different beasts.