T6, Wk5, Day 358 cont. - My Take on Diabetes, Type II

The following is copied from an email I sent to my family regarding diabetes.

I don't necessarily think diabetes is caused from obesity per se but perhaps rather what obesity or being overweight may represent, as in a lack of physical activity. In the 2,700 or so hours of classes I've had so far in the DC program at Logan a couple truths keep ringing loud and clear. One is movement and motion are vitally important to our health and well being and Two, Use it or Lose It.

With Type II diabetes I'm thinking about the Use It or Lose It concept and it's relationship to insulin receptors on our cells. So, if we don't make sufficient use of the insulin receptors on our cells then we'll start to lose them.

Secondly, is a simple concept of osmosis - this is when things move from an area of greater concentration to an area of lesser concentration. If I fart in the left corner of a room, that smell will not stay in the left corner of the room (area of greater concentration) it will spread throughout the rest of the room (area of lesser concentration) so everyone may enjoy the scent.

The sugar that floats around in our blood stream is called glucose, the bloodstream is the area of high concentration of glucose. The cells throughout our body are the areas of lesser concentration.

This is where the body is really clever! The glucose will go from the area of higher concentration (the bloodstream) to the area of lesser concentration (the cells) and once the glucose gets inside the cell, it's immediately changed into something else (glucose-6-phosphate) so the area of higher concentration is always in the bloodstream since plain old glucose doesn't exist inside the cell! :)

Insulin helps regulate uptake of glucose into the cell and those cells need insulin receptors to help get the message across to our cells that we've got increased blood sugar levels in the first place.

Here's my thinking, the less of a demand we put on our cells to produce energy, the less likely they're going to be set up to produce energy and, if all we're doing is sitting then how many insulin receptors do our cells need?

So ...what happens when we have excess sugar floating around in our bloodstream? I'm not much of a cook but, I'm pretty sure when you add sugar to a mixture it ends up getting thicker. With the blood, I'm quite certain from what I've been taught that your blood does get thicker. Arteries have several layers to them and the middle, muscular layer is known as the tunica medium. Just like skeletal muscles get bigger and stronger with extra resistance, the muscles in the middle layer of our arteries also get bigger. Now, when the muscles in the arteries get bigger, that means the the opening (lumen) blood travels through is getting smaller so, we've got thicker blood and a smaller hose for the blood to travel through. This is hardly an ideal situation.

Vaso-vasorum - this is Latin for "vessels of the vessels" which, in our bodies mean that large blood vessels actually need their own blood supply hence, vaso vasorum.

vaso nervorum - (vessels of nerves) - Nerves also have their own blood supply and are called vaso nervorum.

As you can imagine, the blood supply to other blood vessels and nerves are quite small, delicate and fragile. The blood supply is the source of nutrients for blood vessels and nerves. What do you think happens when we cut off or diminish the blood supply to a nerve? Well, it gets starved of nutrients and doesn't function so well and we may start seeing signs of neuropathy (damage to the nerves).

TAKING ACTION

Now, I'm thinking of the 2nd line of Hamlet's "To be or Not to Be" soliloquy

"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them."

Type two diabetes is an outrageous fortune -

We can take arms against it's sea of troubles - we can oppose them and we can end them.

However, with chiropractic principles, the propensity is to be Pro-Active instead of Re-Active (as tends to be the case with allopathic medicine)

The proactive move would be to keep the serfs at bay before they ever even begin to think of revolting! :)

The action I would advocate is simply ...Move After Eating.

This is a little bit different than a regular exercise program one might do three times a week as the action is specifically prompted due to a recent ingestion of food.

For example, walk for 10, 15 or 20 minutes after a meal - even 5 minutes of walking after a meal would be preferable to sitting on a couch. After eating might be a good time to run to Target to get some shopping done.

I'm thinking of the biochemical processes that go on - you might have potential energy go into the mitochondria of your cells but, if the demand for energy isn't there, then that energy will get kicked out and stored as fat.

Walk, move, swing your arms in the air, - give your insulin receptors a reason for being! :)

The notion of moving around after you get done eating is pretty basic advice and something my gramdma has told me and understood even with zero hours of advanced education but, as I've learned and tried to share, there's good reasons for it.

What's the Benefit?

Oh, you're wondering what's in it for you? OK. Here's three big scoundrels you'll be able to help keep at bay

1. Renal Complications - kidney failure - you can't live without our kidney shaped super-filtering friends down there.

2. Eye Complications - Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness in the United States.

3. Atherosclerosis - Arteries clog up. Not good. The most common cause of death with diabetes is myocardial infarction. In fact, for diabetics above 60 years of age, 75% of them die due to cardiovascular disease.

The life span for a diabetic patient is about one-third less than that of a person without diabetes.

This is Interesting ....

I consulted that Family Medicine book I recently sent out and here is what it mentioned regarding guidelines for planning an exercise program with respect to diabetes.

1. moderate aerobic activity 3 to 5 times per week along with resistance training 3 times per week.

2. Exercise after meals to reduce postprandial hyperglycemia.

Huh, I guess all one had to do was read point number two in the book to know to exercise after meals but, all the classes kind of are starting to come together and make sense so I was able to figure number 2 out on my own and wanted to share it with loved ones. At least my reasoning is sound. :)

By the Way -

I spent a few years of my life driving for EMT and had one patient in Illinois I picked up three times a week for dialysis. He was diabetic and his kidneys had shut down, hence, the need for dialysis. When I started picking him up he would walk to the car, then due to complications of the diabetes he kept losing body parts - rather important ones too. Over the span of just a couple years he lost his toes, then feet, fingers, and legs ...by the time I finished up my stint with EMT he was in a wheel chair pushing a joystick to move around and stay mobile.

Much love,

Scott :)

p.s. keep in mind this thinking is for type 2 diabetes which results from an insulin resistance. Type 1 diabetes usually presents in younger patients and results from beta cells in the pancreas not being able to produce enough insulin in the first place.