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Happy Saturday, and welcome back to our weekly advice column, Ask D"Mine, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and educator Wil Dubois. This week, Wil explores the positive side of diabetes... errr, he tries.
Got your own questions? Email us at AskDMine@diabetesmine.com
Tom, type 1 from Virginia, writes: There are many dreaded complications of diabetes: kidney disease, heart disease, blindness. The list goes on and on. I was recently told I have Dupuytren"s Disease, which is apparently on that seemingly endless list of diabetes complications. My question, though, has nothing to do with Dupuytren"s. Wil, in your vast storehouse of knowledge, can you come up with anything good that diabetes does to our bodies? Anything at all? Like, maybe PWD"s are less likely to have excess earwax buildup? I"m just looking for something to feel good about.
Wil@Ask D"Mine answers: Oh dear, I find myself in the unenviable position of being the official bubble-buster again. Research shows that PWDs produce about 19% more earwax than people without diabetes, and are almost twice as likely to suffer earwax impactions.
OK, I just totally made that up.
But you would"ve believed me because I said it with a straight face, and we are so used to hearing how badly we seem to fare on almost any measure taken, compared to people without diabetes.
Really, is that true? Dia
betes must confer at least one biological advantage, right? Until you asked, I had never thought about it. But it"s a great question, so I searched high and low in my vast storehouse of knowledge and came up empty. I couldn"t think of one single damn good thing that diabetes does for our bodies. But, I thought, surely there must be something. So I went on an exhaustive search—including reading up on diabetes and earwax—and couldn"t find a single thing for you to feel good about. By every biological measure, diabetes is just plain bad news.
I started with the big guns and worked my way down to the little stuff. I had hoped I"d discover that our mal-adapted genes confer some unexpected positive side effect so we could all lie down at night and say, "Well, I may have diabetes but at least I"m at reduced risk of ____________."
But I was unable to fill in the blank.
I read up on cancer. With the possible exception of prostrate cancer in men, we get more of every kind of cancer than people without diabetes, and we have worse outcomes, to boot. I looked at diabetes and viral infection rates. I looked at connections between oddball diseases and diabetes. I read up on diabetes and arthritis, diabetes and gallstones, and diabetes and the common cold. We aren"t getting the break we need anywhere.
From the top of our bodies to the bottom, we suffer more eye diseases and disorders, more dementia at earlier ages, more and worse periodontal disease, funky thyroid, more bad heart and cardiovascular crap, more stomach issues, more sexual dysfunction and UTIs (urinary tract infections), more skeletal and joint problems, and even more leg cramps. In desperation I even looked into diabetes and toenails. Don"t ask. You know the answer. We have more toenail issues, too. Ironically, even our taste receptors don"t make the grade.
I thought maybe we at least grow better, stronger hair. Nope.
Well, surely we must be smarter, I decided smugly, and set my superior intelligence on finding proof. It burst my ego bubble to read several studies showing that in general, we PWDs have lower IQs, and that we get dumber with age more quickly than people without diabetes.
Grasping at straws for you (and for me as well at this point) to have something to feel good about, I even checked to see if we might be less prone to be bitten by mosquitos and was horrified to learn that not only do we get bit more often, but that the higher insulin levels seen in most type 2s is suppressing the immune systems of the frickin" mosquitos and might lead to a greater spread of malaria in humans. Just great.
And that earwax thing? PWDs have worse earwax, and I"m not making that up. The truth is that the pH of cerumen—the fancy-pants medical word for earwax—is much higher in PWDs than it is in "sugar-normals," which greatly increases the risk of bacterial infections in the wax. So we don"t have more wax than anyone else, we just have bad wax.
Sorry.
By every biological measure, no good comes from having diabetes. Diabetes just makes everything worse. At least on the "hardware" side. Now let"s talk software.
The one area where some people argue that we shine is not in our bodies but in our adaptations to those malfunctioning bodies. PWDs, at least engaged ones, have greater health literacy, better functional math skills, and increased nutritional awareness. While our biology is a deck stacked against us, there are thousands of people who say they feel better and believe they are healthier post-diagnosis than pre-diagnosis simply because they take better care of themselves in the aftermath of diabetes.
And like steel forged in fire, the challenges of diabetes seems to create stronger people, people who are determined to overcom
e the biological challenges by shear grit and determination.
I also believe we PWDs have a better sense of community, a stronger willingness to help our own kind that exceeds "normal" social behavior.
But is this just feel-good crap? Is this like a runner-up trophy or consolation prize to try to make us feel better about losing the real contest? I think a lot of people might make that argument, but I"m not one of them. I think diabetes is bad for the body, but good for the soul
I think I can feel pretty good about that. I hope you can, too.
This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.
Disclaimer
This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn"t adhere to Healthline"s editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline"s partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.
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