Senior Evan Willet must give himself insulin injections daily to control his diabetes. Photos by Billie Zito/Old Gold and Black

Dealing with Diabetes
By Jaclyn Elledge
Perspectives Editor

On Feb. 13, 2001, Senior Evan Willet feasted on candy and insulin in Geneva, Switzerland to celebrate his 10-year anniversary with diabetes. At 11 years old, Willet was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, and for a decade, the chronic and potentially fatal disease has defined his life.

“It’s not like it affects my day-to-day life at certain points,” Willet said. “It affects my life all the time. I’m always thinking, ‘What is my blood sugar? When can I eat again? When did I eat last? What am I going to eat? What did I just eat?’”
“I constantly I have to be on the look out about my blood sugar. If I don’t feel OK, I have to give myself a shot,” he said. “Usually, I give myself about four or five shots a day. What I’ve just eaten and what I’m going to eat are constant considerations. Diabetes is basically my life. Somebody else might say, ‘Hey, I’m Tom.’ I say, ‘Hey, I’m diabetic.’”

November is American Diabetes Month, sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. The goal of American Diabetes Month is to increase awareness about the disease and to encourage preventative measures such as annual dilated eye exams, routine foot exams, and good blood glucose and blood pressure control for diabetics.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body fails to produce or properly use insulin, a hormone in the pancreas necessary to convert sugar, starches and other food into usable energy essential to daily living. In the United States, diabetes, a chronic disease still lacking a cure, affects nearly six percent of the population, or 15.7 million Americans, although 5.4 million suffer from the disease unknowingly. Individuals are diagnosed with the disease at a rate of 2,200 per day and approximately 798,000 per year.

A potentially fatal disease, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death and the sixth leading cause of death by disease. While diabetes contributed to 198,140 deaths in 1996, many sufferers do not become aware that they have diabetes until they develop one of the disease’s life-threatening complications — blindness, kidney disease, nerve disease, heart disease and stroke.

Diabetes causes 12,000 to 24,000 people to lose their vision annually, and it is the leading cause of the onset of blindness in individuals ages 20 to 74. Diabetes, the leading cause of end-stage renal failure, or kidney disease, also accounts for 40 percent of new cases each year. In 1995, diabetes caused kidney failure in approximately 27,900 people.

Diabetes, the leading cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations, leads to nerve damage in approximately 65 percent of its sufferers. Those who suffer from severe forms of diabetic nerve damage have an increased risk of leg amputation. In fact, a diabetic has a 15 to 40 times greater risk of leg amputation than a non-diabetic, and annually, more than 56,000 amputations are performed among diabetics.

Individuals who suffer from diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop heart disease and suffer a stroke than non-diabetics. Every year, more than 77,000 deaths are due to heart disease, which is a factor in 75 percent of deaths related to diabetes.
A diabetic’s body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone generated by the pancreas that is required to convert sugars, starches and other foods into energy utilized in everyday life. While the exact cause of diabetes remains an enigma, both genetics and lifestyle factors contribute to the disease.

Scientists identify genetics as the primary cause of Type I diabetes. Type I diabetes occurs when the body does not produce insulin. The disease is characterized by frequent urination, uncharacteristic thirst, insatiable hunger, atypical weight loss, extraordinary fatigue and irritability.

Approximately 7 percent of diabetics suffer from Type I diabetes. The auto-immune disease occurs mostly in children and young adults. Siblings and children of individuals who suffer from Type I diabetes are at the greatest risk for contracting the disease. In order to combat Type I diabetes, sufferers must take insulin injections every day.
Environmental factors have been suggested as the primary causes of Type 2 diabetes. A Type 2 diabetic is unable to make sufficient insulin or properly use insulin. Type 2 is the most common form of the disease and accounts for approximately 93 percent of diabetes patients. Increasing levels of age, obesity and sedentary lifestyles have led to an increase in Type 2 diabetes. People over age 45, have a family history of diabetes, are overweight, do not engage in regular exercise, have low HDL cholesterol, belong to racial and ethnic groups such as African Americans, Latinos, Asian and Pacific islanders and Native Americans and women who had gestational diabetes during pregnancies have the highest risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.

Individuals who have Type 2 diabetes often develop no symptoms, but if they do, the symptoms include infections, blurred vision, long-lasting cuts and bruises and numbness in extremities.

Willet was diagnosed with Type I diabetes 10 years ago. Because his older brother was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age four, Willet said, “I was really, really lucky. My parents both knew what high blood sugar was. I was really dehydrated, really thirsty, had to go to the bathroom all the time. Then I think they finally knew that I was diabetic when I said, ‘I could drink this whole gallon of orange juice’ one day.”
Willet had only minor symptoms for one or two weeks. He said that many diabetics become extremely nauseous and dehydrated, pass out and necessitate emergency medical attention preceding their diagnoses.

While Willet did not suffer severe symptoms prior to his diagnosis, he has dealt with monitoring his blood sugar levels and injecting insulin into his body for an entire decade. Every day, his goal is to keep his blood sugar levels within an acceptable range. A normal range for blood sugar levels is considered to be 80 to 150 milligrams sugar per decaliter of blood, but most diabetics, including Willet, try to maintain a blood sugar level between 100 to 200 milligrams sugar per decaliter of blood.

“I have to be different, not overtly different, but different in how I think and the actions I have and the way I conduct myself,” Willet said. “I have to be different because my body won’t let me do any differently.”

As a college student, being diabetic has been a challenge for Willet who sometimes struggles to maintain the consistent eating and sleeping schedule imperative to the management of diabetes.

“Going out to Waffle House or ordering pizza late at night is quite possibly the worse thing I could do to myself,” Willet said. Pizza has a massive amount of carbohydrates, which causes a prolonged spike in blood sugar level. According to Willet, high or low blood sugar levels result in extreme dehydration, uneasy feelings, headaches, nausea and at times, fainting. Low blood sugar levels are especially dangerous when they occur late at night. Willet said that each of his roommates have saved his life at least twice on nights when his blood sugar level became too low while he slept for him to wake up in the morning.

Willet admits that he takes care of himself differently from other college students. “The first example that comes to mind is drinking,” Willet said. “Having low blood sugar and being drunk has the same effect. I have never been really drunk, but I have blacked out, mumbled and stared blankly from low blood sugar.”

Willet said he has to monitor his blood sugar level in every situation. “If I ever have two beers and start to feel weird, I immediately check my blood sugar, because if it’s not the alcohol and it is low blood sugar, I could go into a coma.” When diabetics consume alcohol, they become intensely dehydrated and experience drastic changes in blood sugar.

Diabetes, a prevalent disease among Americans, is especially dangerous for college students who live by unpredictable schedules. However, Willet claims that diabetes is a manageable disease; ideally, though, he hopes for a cure. In 10 more years, Willet hopes he will be celebrating his diagnosis with candy and no insulin.
The ADA and November as American Diabetes Month seek to raise awareness about the disease and its treatments. Two other organizations, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Insulin Free World Fund, focus on finding a cure for the disease. Donations can me made to JDRF at www.jdf.org and IFWF at www.insulinfree.org. Further information about the disease can be found at www.diabetes.org.