Sammy Lagmay and Diabetes

My condolences to the family of comedian Sammy Lagmay who passed away recently. According to reports, he died because of complications from diabetes and he was 55.

The report mentioned that since 2010, he already have complications from diabetes. I don't know if it's type 1 or type 2 diabetes but the news somehow struck me, since I'm diabetic. Prior to being diagnosed with a type 2 diabetes, I'm not usually bothered by deaths due to diabetes.

Now, when a famous person die of diabetes, I tend to get affected and I wanted to know the details. I want to know whether it's type 1 or type 2 and what was the age of the person. I guess that's usually the case -- you don't get affected by certain circumstances or ailments until you experience or have it yourself.

To the family of comedian Sammy Lagmay, my condolences. He was a great comedian and I would always remember him for such TV shows like "Chika Chika Chicks" and "Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata."

Read the complete report here:

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2013/06/26/comedian-sammy-lagmay-passes-away-55-289346

Biking Route

It's more than a month since I bought my mountain bike. Nowadays, I've come up with a biking route that centers on Pinagbuhatan. I live at Nagpayong, Pinagbuhatan and I usually go to Barangay Napindan, Taguig City via Molave Street.

I would pass along the Pasig River and pass the abandoned Pinagbuhatan Ferry Station. Then I would go to the C-6 Road and pass the Napindan Bridge. I would go to the Napindan Road to C-6 Road on my way to Kalawaan, Pasig City. The Napindan Road to C-6 Road is an on-going project from the DPWH, which started November 2012. That road is around 80% complete but somewhere in the middle, it has informal settlers which leaves the project stagnant.

After passing the Napindan Road to C-6 Road and exiting to Barangay Kalawaan, Pasig City, I would continue my journey to the Pasig City Mega Market (Public Market). I would then return to Barangay Pinagbuhatan via the Eusebio Avenue and Sandoval Avenue. I would pass by Villa Alegre near Guzman, then pass Matanza and return home to Nagpayong. That would journey is around 45 minutes which I believe is enough for a daily bike ride for now.

Sometimes, I would go to Taytay, Rizal instead. Nagpayong, Pinabuhatan is on the boundary with San Lorenzo, Taytay. This is also the way to SM Taytay. I would pass the San Juan Resettlement Area as well as the C-6 Road. Sometimes I would go back to Kenneth, Pinagbuhatan via the C-6 Road on the way back to Nagpayong.

These two routes are my usual biking routes for now. Hopefully, I'll travel to other places and exceed my usual 45 minutes bike ride.

 

Where Do I Begin?

My name is Elmer and I'm diabetic. I have type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and I'm trying to keep my blood sugar level at tolerable amount through diet and biking.

I only found out that I'm diabetic just recently. The last 3 jobs I have was in 2009 with Sufferland, then 2012 with Transcom and now with Sitel. My medical exams in Sufferland and Transcom didn't reveal any sign of diabetes (or they failed to inform me about it). The latest medical exam that I had with Sitel (via their authorized clinic Friendly Care) reveal that my blood sugar was 200+ and that it's a sign of Diabetes Milletus.

Photo courtesy of International Diabetes Federation

I had my 2nd Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) test last March 25, 2013 and confirmed that I really have diabetes (my blood sugar was 256.04 mg/dL). I was given Metformin as my medication and was informed to take it twice a day.

My 3rd FBS happened last April 8, 2013 and my blood sugar slightly decreased to 195.68 mg/dL. I was given a new medicine called Glimepiride to be taken in the morning along with my first medicine Metformin. I was also instructed to take 2 pcs of Metformin during supper. That's a total of 4 tablets in a day.

The good news is that the meds are not that expensive. Glimepiride is at P9 per piece and Metformin at P1 for a total of P12/day (both generics). At least I was not asked to inject insulin, which was the thing that I feared most when I learned that I'm diabetic. I'm not comfortable around needles and sharp objects.

The bad news is, I was advised not to eat foods that have high amounts of sugar and also foods that are deep-fried. It's hard for me since I love sweet foods (ice cream, chocolates, Turon, Banana-Q, Yakult, etc.) and fast-food like burgers, French fries and fried chickens. I was also advised to cut my rice intake and limit it to 1/4 of my entire plate (1/2 will be for vegetables, 1/8 for fish and 1/8 for chicken, not including the crispy skin).

In addition to the food restriction, I was advised to do exercise for a minimum of 1 hour a day. Problem is, at that time, I'm not doing any form of exercise except from walking from Shaw Boulevard to Emerald Avenue 5 times a week, back and forth for an approximate 30-40 minutes total. So I purchased a bike for the sole purpose of having a daily exercise (in addition to walking). Thus, the Diabetic Biker was born.

I was very surprised to learn that I'm diabetic because as far as I know, it's a hereditary disease (genetic in origin). Our college thesis is all about genetics and Diabetes Mellitus is one of those genetic disorders. It's just being magnified if an individual's lifestyle is not healthy. I don't have a healthy lifestyle -- I don't exercise, I eat a lot of fast-food and I eat a lot of rice.

As far as genetics is concern, as far as I know, I don't have any close relative that has diabetes in our family clan (father-side). That belief was shattered when I told my mom that I'm diabetic and she told me the story about my aunt and uncle (mother-side).

According to my mom, her sister visited us last December and revealed that she has diabetes along with their younger brother. My aunt (mother-side) also revealed that she's taking insulin injection for her diabetes and that she already loss a lot of weight. My uncle was also diagnosed with diabetes. So that's the genetic explanation on why I'm diabetic.

Photo courtesy of National Diabetes Education Program

Since I don't know that I have diabetic genes in my DNA, I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. Not to mention that I'm working graveyard shift for the last 6 years (being a call center). That's also one of the several advises that the doctor told me -- if I can work on a regular dayshift, that will be beneficial to me. For the meantime, I'll just live my call center life until December this year and hopefully, be on a day-shift account next year.

I received an email from my Czech friend today and it really made my day. The facts about Diabetes Mellitus are finally absorbed by my diabetic brain. I'm already on the stage of acceptance, the final stage of the 5 stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). I'm thankful that it's Type 2 Diabetes and that it's detected early.

According to Yahoo! Philippines, "Diabetes is extremely common in older people, of whom about 15 to 25% have the disease. Statistically, there are about 500 daily diagnosed cases of diabetes in the Philippines ". Furthermore, it was mentioned in the article that "type II diabetes which accounts for 90% of the entire diabetes population worldwide". Since there is no cure for diabetes, the things that I can do as a diabetic person, based on the Yahoo! article, is "proper diet, exercise and weight reduction".

For further reading about diabetes, click on the following link:

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/understanding-diabetes-093359907.html

Technorati Tags: Diabetes,Medicines,Metformin