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We’ve all been told, at one time or another, that type 1 diabetes means we can’t do something, whether it’s eating a chocolate bar or following a lifelong dream.
It’s not true. And there are plenty of examples to prove it.
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Ryan Reed is a 21-year-old NASCAR driver from North Carolina. At the age of 17, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He was devastated. Growing up, all he had wanted to do was drive, and now his doctors were telling him he would never race again.
Flash forward four years, and Ryan is a champion NASCAR driver and a prominent advocate for diabetes awareness, sponsored by Lilly Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association.
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In 2013, Theresa May was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. But the drugs didn’t work, and further tests revealed that the Home Secretary actually had type 1.
It’s certainly made life more challenging. When speaking at an event or attending a function, May has another thing to worry about. As if being Home Secretary wasn’t demanding enough.
May has worked with the JDRF, campaigned to see more money given to type 1 diabetes research, and ensured that schools in her constituency – Maidenhead – know the support type 1 children require.
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Type 1 diabetes and glam metal don’t sound like easy bedfellows, but Bret Michaels has made it work. The lead singer of Poison has been type 1 since the age of six, but he didn’t openly talk about until collapsing at a gig after a serious hypo.
When Michaels won The Celebrity Apprentice in 2010, he donated his $250,000 prize to the American Diabetes Association. You can watch his interview with Piers Morgan where he tests live on air, too.
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Then there are the people who aren’t so immediately recognisable, but have spent their lives achieving amazing things either for or with type 1 diabetes.
Some of them have lived astonishingly long and rich lives (most of them being born when diabetes management was, it’s fair to say, limited), and some of them have contributed amazing scientific work to the cause.
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Reversing type 2 diabetes can be achieved through weight loss, getting regular exercise and eating a diabetes-friendly diet.
This is not easy to do, but remission from type 2 diabetes enables you to come off your medication, which is a massive accomplishment for anyone.
Staying in remission is just as hard, though. The lifestyle changes you made will need to be continued, but it is far from impossible, you just need the appropriate knowledge and to work extremely hard. |
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Weight loss is a crucial aspect of reversing type 2 diabetes, and one confirmed drug that helps with this is liraglutide (also known as Saxenda).
The injectable drug works by making the body feel fuller, and a recent study from the Columbia University Medical Centre observed weight loss, lower blood sugar and lower cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Liraglutide, which lowers hunger and increases satiety, now has confirmed approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Saxenda, the specific brand of liraglutide that the study focused on, isn’t yet prescribed in the UK. Instead, liraglutide is available as the lower-strength Victoza.
That said, the research is still of great relevance: now we know that Saxenda can support weight loss, future research will no doubt look for similar effects of Victoza. |
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An extreme method of reversing type 2 diabetes is bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery), one type of which is a gastric bypass.
A new study found that gastric bypass surgery can also reduce the symptoms of diabetic nephropathy, also known as kidney disease.
Although the researchers were not clear why gastric bypass surgery reduced nephropathy symptoms, they suspected it was linked to reduced blood pressure, BMI and HbA1c levels. |
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