T2 - Judgement Day

             Back in July 2012, I was called by my doctor to discuss some abnormalities in my blood tests. When I reached his office, he explained to me that my fasting sugar was higher than normal and wanted me to undergo some more tests. I asked him by how much was my sugar high ? He said, very high. At least 4 times the normal fasting glucose number. That was a surprise to me. He said, "I had crossed the diabetic range by a huge margin and he needs to confirm if I had Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes."   
             Hearing this was a huge blow to me. I was not prepared for this at all. I kept asking myself where did I go wrong ? I was eating healthy, I was eating home cooked meals, I was not overweight, I was running regularly, I show no symptoms of diabetes, then why these results ? and why me ? 
            My dad was a diabetic. He passed away in 2003. I was aware of the complications he had to suffer being a diabetic. I had tears right in front of the doctor and nurse. I told the doctor, "I had finished a Half marathon with a good timing just weeks before the blood tests. how can I have high sugar ?" (apart from sugar, the tests showed that I had very high Cholesterol and Fats as well). 
He checked my past records and said : 
"You drink ?   No
You smoke?  No
Red Meat ?   No
overweight ? No.
Then I guess it must be genetic. "

That's how I learnt that I was a diabetic. Now it was just a matter of needles or pills for the rest of my life.

           With tears still in my eyes, I told him that I was prepared to be diabetic after 20 years and was ready to accept "genetic" as an answer, But I was not ready to hear this at a young age of 29. Just 2 days ago, my wife's OBGYN confirmed that she was 2 months pregnant. That was a fascinating news for both of us and now I have to deal with this terrible news.  The doctor was very kind and told me that I was better off than some of his other patients that he had to break similar bad news to. He said, "I had a 17 year old boy yesterday who we found out was a type 1 diabetic. You are already living a healthy life. You just need to adjust your diet and you can lead a very healthy life without any complications." He referred me to a nutritionist, prescribed some pills, assured me that I will be fit to run my next marathon if I promised to take the medications regularly and changed my lifestyle.
           With that shock, I let the nurse draw some more blood and I left the doctor's office. Telling this news to my wife was the most difficult task ahead of me. And how do I tell this to my mother ? She has already experienced the horror of losing her husband to diabetes. 
            My wife was patiently sitting at the waiting lounge of the doctor's office. I told her to get ready to leave. As we exited the doctor's office, I told her about my condition. She was brave enough to accept it and promised to help me all the way till I feel better. Imagine how a 24 year old girl will feel when she hears that her husband is diabetic. That too after just 3 years of happily married life and just a few days after her OBGyn tells us that she is 2 months pregnant. We drove home and I went to bed straight away. 
             I was very angry at myself that I let this happen to me. I was so aware of this disease and its family history, still I neglected the symptoms. In fact, when I looked back a few months, I started to realize that I had the typical symptoms but I ignored them saying to myself, "I am not old enough to get diabetes".  I was so wrong. Many times, I woke up at night to take a leak, right after that I drank 2 glasses of water before I went to sleep. I was always hungry and was ready to eat anything in front of me. My teeth were turning yellow, gums turning black, any cuts during shaving would turn black even after healing, My legs were always dry and cracked. I needed to apply moisturizer cream almost daily. If you google symptoms of diabetes, you will see all of this. I was foolish to ignore them and now I was paying the price. 
            Like a video game, I though of resetting my life,  but too bad, we only have one life and I had ruined it. I kept praying that let the next blood reports bring some better news. I was ready to give up sugar and sugar based food items. The doctor had said, "Change your diet, eat more greens and whole grains". Well, I was already doing that. What more am I supposed to do ? I just hoped that I don't have to rely on insulin injections to keep my sugar levels under control. The next blood results were out. In the note, the doctor said, "Good news. No sign of Type 1 diabetes". 

July 2012 Numbers :

Fasting BG      : 256    (Range 65-100)
A1C             : 11.6   (Range 4.0-5.9)


BG = Blood Glucose 

             That's how my life changed. Ask any doctor or diabetic what these numbers mean to them and you will know how bad my health condition was. 

Its been more than 2 years after this incident now. I have a very cute son, understanding wife, supporting family and friends, am maintaining a healthy weight, and still kicking' asphalt when I am on the road for a run. After being diagnosed with T2, my marathon timings have improved for every run. Diabetes has taught me to respect my body, enjoy life and be happy as there is nothing more precious than seeing yourself and your family happy and healthy. I was never a smoker, drinker or obese. Yet, I managed to become diabetic. I don't know if I should blame my genes or myself for it. Instead of playing this blame game, I am very grateful that I know my weakness right now and I deal with it so that this doesn't go out of control the next time. Many Indians just ignore something as simple as a routine blood test. I am happy I did a test and found about this early. Knowledge is power.You study the enemy, find out its weak points and attack it. I knew the numbers that I needed to bring them down. 
        Every morning started with eating a mouthful of fenugreek seeds. Breakfast had blueberries and steel cut oats. Lunch and dinner was home cooked with half the portions than my usual consumption. Lunch and dinner now included a salad. I gave up soda, sweets, bread, potato and all the oily stuff. My doctor had gifted me a glucose meter (worst gift I have ever received). I kept notes of what I ate and what were my sugar levels after 2 hours. This helped me identify food stuffs that I could eat without any problems and which foods to avoid. Turned out that apart from desserts, rice and potatoes were my biggest enemies. I now avoid eating meals that only consist of rice or potato. Apart from the daily prick on my finger, I had to undergo a comprehensive blood test every 3 months to check my cholesterol and A1C. I was showing good progress, the bad numbers were coming down. The results kept motivating me. finally, before heading back to India, my test results were pretty close to normal. My Doctor proudly said, "You are my healthiest patient in the office right now :)"


July 2014 Numbers : 
Fasting BG      : 87    (Range 65-100)
A1C             : 6.0   (Range 4.0-5.9)              
           

Here is a very funny way to describe a diabetic. 

Being a diabetic is like living with a King Cobra. As long as you keep its mouth shut, he is your friend. The moment you let it loose, it will come and bite you.

My life has definitely changed with this incident. But that does not mean that I have to live a dull life. I continue to savor delicacies prepared by my lovely wife. I continue to enjoy my Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav, Bhel, Biryani. In fact, since I know my enemies, I can come prepared to fight them before every meal. I am very close to reversing all the symptoms of diabetes that I had. It has also taught me to be polite and not get angry or aggressive under any situation as stress makes your sugar levels spike. Ask me. I have tested my sugar levels before and after I getting angry with a BG Meter and I confirm that losing your temper is as bad as eating 3 cups of ice cream. So for the rest of my life, I have to listen to my body, be a good husband, dad, son and also be friends with this king cobra. 

If you don't know me and have stumbled upon this blog, I hope I am an inspiration to you and all your diabetic friends. If you know me in person, feel proud that your friend has not given up and is constantly pushing the limits to make himself and you feel even more proud. Every time you get into a conversation about running, cycling or diabetes, don't forget to mention that you have a sweet friend who runs marathons like a piece of cake :)

Half Marathon !

Today, I did something what seemed impossible to me 1 year ago. I finished a Half Marathon. The timing is not very impressive, but trust me, for a newbie, this one is a huge achievement. Now there is no stopping. A Full Marathon is not far, and training for it has already started.

Ironically, when I returned home, and read the newspaper, tomorrow is "World Heart Day" So should I say "Thank you" to my heart ? or say "Sorry" for making it struggle on just before his day ?

So close to a Half Marathon !

Getting closer to my goal. Half marathon is just 5 Kms away. And a full marathon is 27 Kms away. When will I reach 42Kms mark ?!

Run maadi run

Finally, It was race day. I was all set. I knew I was not here to win.(At least in this race) but to finish in the top 200. A total of 20,000 runners had participated, and around 5000 had opted for the 10K run. I saw people warming up. getting their shoe laces tightened, Clipping the bib numbers to their T-shirts, visiting the rest rooms just before the run. I was cool. No worries. I was pretty confident of finishing the run with a good timing. During my practice runs, I could finish 10K with ease, Thanks to my Nike+ipod. I had prepared a "Run Special" playlist which will make me run faster. I saw a couple of guys who used to practice at the same park as i did. All of them were very serious about the run. It seemed, that I was the only one who was taking the run lightly.


It was 8:55 am, and we all gathered near the starting line. At sharp 9.00, the run started. I started with a steady pace. I knew I had taken a lot of efforts for this race, and I will not quit in the middle. 1 Km milestone passed. I saw Kingfisher females giving away water bottles to the runners. Cheer leaders (Yes, like the ones you saw in IPL) cheering you, residents near the road coming out in their balcony, entrance gates and cheering us ! The media van taking live footage of the run, A helicopter taking rounds over your head, An Ambulance, just in case, and above that, 5000 determined runners along with you. It feels great when you are a part of such an event. 2 Kms passed, but my Nike+ipod showed that I had covered 2.5 Kms. I knew, there was something wrong. Till yesterday, I was thinking that the 10Kms counted by the device was exact 10Kms, and based on this, I had done all my calculations. But now, I knew 10 Kms was longer than what I expected. I trusted the milestones on the roads, as this was an international event, the distance ought to be accurate.
At 3 Kms, I saw people slowing down, falling behind, stopping for water. I was not yet tired, I continued. An old man, in his 60s just crossed me and went ahead. he was all sweating, but I couldnt see fatigue on his face. Withing a minute, he was far ahead of me. This incident made me feel ashamed of myself. A 60 year old has the guts and the power to continue, and a 25 year old young blood is slowing down ! In spite of so much of practice, so much of efforts, I was felt that I was not at all worth of doing this run. If I am like this today, at the age of 60, I will not be able to get off a simple chair !! Maybe I might not survive to celebrate my 60th birthday !
Even today, as I write this blog, this incident always makes me bow down in shame. Now I knew, why others were so serious, and I was so cool. At 8 Kms milestone, My nike+ congratulated me for completing 10 Kms. Actually, there were 2 more Kms to go. My device was very badly calibrated. By now, the sun was sucking all the energy of me. I started having stomach pains. I had to slow down. I collected a bottle of water, and started walking on the road. people started overtaking me. A female, about my age crossed me and zoomed. This was another em brassing incident for me. After about 500 mts of walk, i again started running. The stomach pain had reduced. I focused my sight at the finishing line, which still seemed to be very far.
I slowly gained some more speed. I saw cheerleaders again boosting my confidence. Photographers started clicking photos, I saw the timer, as i crossed the finishing line. I took 56 mins to complete the race. My nike+ read that I completed 12.5 kms. My friends were waiting for me just next to the finishing line. They were glad that I completed, they congratulated me. I collected the refreshment kit and went straight towards a bench. My legs didnt seems to get hurt, but I was mentally stressed out. I had expected to finish the run in 45 mins, and i took 11 mins more. The friends said, your position was not bad. the winner had taken around 40 mins. and I was still better than the rest. We went home, had nice lunch and a good nap.

A few days later, I got a courier of my run timings certificate, and a link to the photos which the officials had clicked. I opened the envelope, found out that I took 56:18 to complete.
And my overall rank was 211 !
I didnt expect me to be in the first 200, especially when I had slowed down at the 8 kms mark. But still 211 was not bad at all ! I have not lost hopes. I've done the 10K, now its time for half marathon. People think its crazy, but I think, it is required if I want to live to 60 without any disease or medication. Trust me, events like this can change your life. They will make you stand out in the crowd. At my age, people lose their health to earn money. And at the age of 40+, they lose their money and (try to) earn health. Everybody earns money. Very few earn good health.

The time has come, you dont quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! if you must; but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow;
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit;
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

The spirit of Marathon

Yes, Running can give you a high !

*Article from TOI Bangalore dated 28-03-2008
The reason I decided to copy paste this article was, Sometimes when I am having my 10K run, After 5-6 Kms, I start feeling lighter, and it seems I have no control on myself. My hands and legs continue their motion and I just helplessly witness the "Flight".
Maybe this is what happens to me sometimes :

The runner’s high: Every athlete has heard of it, most seem to believe in it and many say they have experienced it. But for years scientists have reserved judgment because no rigorous test confirmed its existence.
Yes, some people reported that they felt so good when they exercised that it was as if they had taken mood-altering drugs. But was that feeling real or just a delusion? And even if it was real, what was the feeling supposed to be, and what caused it? Some who said they had experienced a runner’s high said it was uncommon. They might feel relaxed or at peace after exercising, but only occasionally did they feel euphoric. Was the calmness itself a runner’s high?
The runner’s-high hypothesis proposed that there were real biochemical effects of exercise on the brain. Chemicals were released that could change an athlete’s mood, and those chemicals were endorphins, the brain’s naturally occurring opiates. Running was not the only way to get the feeling; it could also occur with most intense or endurance exercise.
The problem with the hypothesis was that it was not feasible to do a spinal tap before and after someone exercised to look for a flood of endorphins in the brain. Researchers could detect endorphins in people’s blood after a run, but those endorphins were part of the body’s stress response and could not travel from the blood to the brain. They were not responsible for elevating one’s mood. So for more than 30 years, the runner’s high remained an unproved hypothesis.
But now medical technology has caught up with exercise lore. Researchers from University of Bonn in Germany, using advances in neuroscience, say that the folk belief is true: Running does elicit a flood of endorphins in the brain. The endorphins are associated with mood changes, and the more endorphins a runner’s body pumps out, the greater the effect. Leading endorphin researchers not associated with the study said they accepted its findings. NYT NEWS SERVICE

CHASING EUPHORIA: It has finally been proven that endorphins exist! Getting a high during running or other intense, sustained efforts isn’t a myth anymore

Run dahsiN Run !

In order to reduce my weight and also to keep myself fit, I go for jogging every day. I run around 3-4 kms daily. One day, one of my friend called me up and told that his company is organising a marathon this Saturday. The run was for 4 Kms and 10 Kms. I said, "Lets go for 10 Kms". Even he agreed.

Me at the Registration queue (blue shirt)

Before I start with the actual run, here is something which I request you all to read. These paragraphs are more important than the story of my 10 Km run.

If you are a software engineer, I recommend you to try and run continuously for at least 10 minutes. I've seen my friends saying its easy. And when they hit the road, they are flat in 5-6 minutes. I've also heard stories from friends saying, "I was the top football player of my school" or "I used to run 5 kms daily when in college" or "I cycled 10 Kms to the college and back every day". If you too think you have done all of this when in school, college, Think again. Try doing this today.
Getting up @ 7am, boarding a company bus at 8am coming back home at 6pm watching TV serials,movies having dinner and sleeping at 10 pm. If this is your daily routine, do you think you can still be the top football player of you company ? Do you think you can still cycle 20 kms daily ? do you think you can run 5 kms at a stretch ? You decide whether to say yes or no.
When I asked this question to myself, I got an answer -NO. I used to get tired in just 4 minutes of brisk jogging. My feet would start swelling and start giving pains. I could feel my tummy bounce when I started jogging. That's when I decided, something is not going right for my health. And this was my health condition even though I don't smoke or drink. So I decided to go out for jogging every day. This was decided in April 2007.
Today, its October 2007. 6 months have passed. As promised, I still go out for jogging everyday. Now I have the capacity of running for 10 kms without any break.
Quite a great achievement for me !
If you think 10 Kms is too less, Try this :
on an average, you can cover 1 Km in 5 minutes with a descent running speed. that makes 10 kms= 50 mins of non stop running. Go out on the road and start running. Don't stop till you get tired. when you are done, check for how many minutes you ran ? When I tried this on myself, I had run 4 mins. thats less than 1 Km !!! When you try this out for yourself, you will come to know how fit you are and 10 kms is a lot of distance. My friends and family members often called me fat, overweight, and a lot of things ! , My waist is 34, I weigh 78 Kgs, and I am 5-6 Kgs overweight than an average person with height 5-10. Now when they see me, they dont say I am fat. They say, I have become strong !

Thanks for reading that stuff. If you think the blog is too lengthy, you can skip the rest of the blog, because what's written next is all fun and I am a victim of it !

On 5th October, my friend Pritesh called me and said, the marathon run starts tomorrow at 7 am from his office gates. and his company has arranged for bus transport early in the morning to get to the office. the bus leaves at 5:30 in the morning. I said to myself, is it necessary to get up so early and go for the stupid run ? catching the bus at 5:30 meant, I had to get up at 4:30. Till 5th october night 11 pm, I was thinking whether to go for the event or not. Anyway, I set the alarm and went to sleep. I woke up before the alarm and was ready to run at 5 am. I went to the friend's house. He too was ready. (Just by looking at the enthusiasm in my friend for the marathon run, poured a lot of confidence in me.) He too was excited and we went to the bus stop.
We reached the office by 6 am. I collected my T-shirt and the registration number(which is supposed to be clipped to the T-shirt), plugged in my ipod and was ready to run. I was the 19th Registration for the 10 Km run. Pritesh was still confused whether to go for the 4 km run or the 10 Km. I met some of Pritesh's friends, some of my college friends who had turned up for the event. They were confident of running the 10 km race. So was I. I had attempted this 10 km run 1 month ago. During India-Pakistan 20-20 finals, I had a bet with my room mates, If India wins this match, I will run 10 kms the next day. And as decided, I ran the distance in 45 mins. Before the race, Pritesh was still thinking, running 10 kms is not a very good idea. he kept saying, stay with me till the end. If I fall down, there must be someone to pick me up :-)
The race was to run 5 km on the highway, take a U-turn and run 5 Kms again and finish the race inside the campus.

Me just before the start of the 10 km race. Right side corner.

The race started exactly at 7 am inside the campus. I started my stopwatch in my "Timex-Iron man" and began the run. By the time the mob exited the campus and hit the highway, I was all lost. I couldn't see Pritesh, his friends, no one ! All were dressed in the white shirts provided. There was a media van with cameramen sitting on the roof, there were photographers following us on their bikes - sitting backwards and taking snaps. people from the nearby houses had gathered in their compound/balcony to watch what's going on. There were people at regular intervals to supply water bottles. At first, I saw many people overtaking me. but withing 5 minutes, I noticed people slowing down, and puffing. I kept a constant pace. when i crossed the 1 km mark, I saw Pritesh running. Even he was slowing down. I overtook him and kept running with my pace. when I reached the 2 km mark, I saw at least 50 people ahead of me. and the current leader was at least 500 mts away from me. My aim was to complete the race without stopping. 3 kms done, I looked at my watch, i had run for 17 mins. still 7 to go. I thought this is impossible. I was tired already. But i knew, I could do it, and I had done it before. So I continued.
When I crossed the 4 Km mark, I could see the leader running back towards the office. This means, He had crossed the 5km mark and has already covered 1 km extra. which made him 2 Kms ahead of me. Man, he was an athlete. I saw many people following him. I thought, when will i get here ! I had not even completed 5 Kms. The road was made of tar and was full of ups and downs which made running even more difficult. By now some people had given up. Some people were walking on the track, and some were determined to finish the race.
I saw a group of people standing on the road. I knew this was the 5 Km mark. I hurried myself to there. One guy sprayed some liquid on me. I thought it was water, but later I noticed, My T-shirt had become Blue at he spray applied area. It was an indication that, I had completed half of the race. I was full exhausted, and as decided, I was not to drink a drop of water in the course of the run.
With my body sweating all over, I continued my drag towards the last 4 kms of the race. These 4 kms were the longest (wrt time as well as distance). By now the people ahead of me were not in a mood of quitting, and people behind me were all set to overtake me. Also the sun had started bombarding its morning sun light on my head. Now it was 3 Kms to finish, and people had started overtaking me. A female also overtook me. I was shocked ! She was determined, and was already speeding ahead. That brought some JOSH in me, and I too started running to keep pace with her. My hands were all numb, and I was unable to control my run. I could now see the company Main gate. That's where the race ends. I hurried towards the gate. During the course, I overtook the female. (And I was happy ). When I entered the gate, there was around 200 mts. of ground yet to cover. I could see the crowd cheering, the Media Van in front of me, and a few guys running along with me. I could hear the roar of people even with my ipod on. I thought I was far away from the winner, but in fact, I was one of the early finishers of the race. I just started looking at the chequered flag. even the 200 mts run was like another 10 km run.
After a long and hard time, I crossed the line, and stopped by Timex-Ironman stopwatch. It read 00:50:21. I completed the race in 50 Mins. I turned my head around, and people were clapping. It was for me ! (and others who made it till the end along with me) When I stopped, I started sweating more than when I was running. I grabbed a bottle of Pepsi-Aquafina, and went to the assembly area. People who had opted for the 4Kms race had already completed it and were down on the lawn like wounded soldiers. Even I felt like crashing down. Before that, I went to the rest room to pee. While washing my hands, I looked at myself in the mirror, and what I saw was horrible ! My face was all Black and blue ! First of all I am dark, but still i could see a blue shade on my face. I knew i had lost a lot of water from my body, and had to recover it as soon as possible. I gulped the whole aquafina bottle and joined the other wounded soldiers. By now even Pritesh had finished the race. We then did some warm up, and waited for the prize distribution ceremony.
The winner had clocked a time of 42 mins. and the next 10 to follow were in a gap of 4 mins. So for a time of 50 mins, I predicted, I was among the top 30 runners, and that's why there was all that cheering and clapping ! After all the practice for 6 months had paid off !
3700 rs Reebok shoes, 500 rs Reebok Track pant, 7000 rs ipod, 2000 rs Timex Iron man, so much money spent, all of it put for good use.