Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, November 18. 1999
Temptations of college can harm diabetics' health
Continued from page 1A
keep his blood sugars in check.
But as elementary school turned into middle school and middle school turned into high school, Obermeller began to test the limits of the disease. He wouldn't give himself shots. He would eat sugary snacks.
"I've never just had just a solid lock on control," he said.
It would soon get worse.
A would soon get worse.
Obermueller came to the University in the fall of 1994, joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity and started to live the college life.
"Obviously as your freedom grows, your access to temptation grows," Obermuelter said. "That's a difficult thing to manage."
His freshman year, Obermueller ended up in the hospital.
He said he was under stress, involved in too many activities with his fraternity and in general was spread too thin.
After being taken to the hospital by his pledge brothers, Obermuelter's blood sugar level was measured in the 500s or 600s. The blood sugar level of a non-diabetic is between 80 and 120.
Type 1 diabetics require regular injections of
injections of insulin so their bodies can absorb sugar from the foods they eat. Depending on their treatment plan, diabetics can give them self-up to four shots a day.
His poor control of his disease continued. He drank too much. An alcohol problem his senior year not only caused Obermuelter to smash his car into a tree and break his neck, but also threatened his health as a diabetic.
Drinking first raises blood sugar levels because most alcoholic drinks
contain sugar. The alcohol then drops blood sugars to dangerous lows because it blocks the liver from
making glucose for the body. The American Diabetes Association recommends diabetics consume no more than two drinks throughout an entire evening.
Despite being out of control, Obermuelier didn't ask for help.
"There's a part of you that says you're not going to be noticed for your disabilities," he said. "You don't want to have anyone worrying about you. You don't want to bother anyone with your problem."
Obermuelmer eventually resigned his position at the Kansan his senior year. He withdrew from student politics. All the while, he still refused to take control of his disease.
"I don't think I ever evaluated it," he said. "There was never a time I
thought I was going to kill myself if I didn't do whatever."
After graduating from the University, Obermuelier interned at the Philadelphia Inquirer for a year. He then moved to Colorado Springs, Colo. He began to lose his sight last summer.
After seven or eight surgeries, Obermuller is no longer able to focus his right eye. He can see with his left eye, but the brownish streak follows him everywhere. He no longer drives
Obermummel said he now is forced to concentrate on his disease.
"I'm a lot better than I used to be," he said. "It's never very far from my mind."
Treating the problems
Richard Guthrie has seen the toll of diabetes on college students first hand.
As the founder and chief physician of Mid-America Diabetes Associates, a Wichita clinic specializing in treatment of the disease, Guthrie and another specialist oversee the care of some 12,000 active patients. Of those, 3,000 are college age or younger.
"They all want to try drinking and all sorts of things." Guthrie said. "A fairly large percentage of them end up in ketoacidosis."
Most college students have type 1 diabetes, which is distinct and different from type 2 diabetes — the variety of the disease caused by excess weight and poor lifestyle decisions. The more severe, incurable type 1 is unrelated to lifestyle, and it generally occurs in young people.
Ketoacidosis develops when blood sugar is extremely high, and dangerous acids called ketones build up in the body. The diabetic feels thirsty, urinates often, is tired and may vomit, act confused, or have difficulty breathing. It can result in a coma.
Guthrie said college posed significant challenges for diabetics — particularly in the first semester of freshman year.
The list of potential problems for a diabetic college student is long.
"Finals are a problem," he said. "Finals are stress, and stress means blood sugars go up."
Guthrie pointed to finals period as a potential time of trouble.
Alcohol also can be a major problem. As Obermeller's experience
QUICK FACTS ABOUT DIABETES
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1. 5.7 million people - 5.9 % of the US population - have some form of diabetes.
- Of these, 500,000 to 1 million people have type 1 diabetes.
The risk of type 1 diabetes is higher for children than almost all other severe chronic childhood diseases
Type 2 diabetes usually develops after the age of 45.
$92 billion is spent annually on diabetic health care.
Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the US (about 190,000 people each year).
shows, heavy drinking can be very harmful for a diabetic.
Injections of insulin are still the only treatment for type 1 diabetes.
Source: American Diabetes Association
"It doesn't go well with diabetes," Guthrie said. "We strongly discourage alcohol."
Randall Rock, chief of staff at Watkins Health Center, said last semester students with both kinds of diabetes visited Watkins 80 times. The health center saw few cases of ketoacidosis or other severe problems caused by mismanagement of the disease.
"That happens rarely, that we see that," Rock said. "Most students at KU tend to be under pretty good control."
Best-case scenarios
Not all diabetics in college have Obermueler's difficulties.
Brian Harries, Vassar sophomore, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the middle of his freshman year in high school. It wasn't a surprise because Harries' mother and grandfather were diabetic as well.
Six-foot,5. 198-pound Harries eats around 3,000 calories each day. He also injects himself with insulin four times a day. He sees his diabetic specialist in Kansas City, Mo., every two or three months.
Harries has kept relatively tight control during his five years with the disease. College posed a challenge, he said, but not an overwhelming one.
"In college it has times where it gets of hand," Harries said. "I've never had it where it's been out of hand for a long period of time."
He agreed that stress was difficult for diabetics.
"That one screwed me over so many times last year," Harries said. "I'd have a nice even keel going on the blood sugars, and something would stress me out, and they'd just shoot right up."
Pam Wyssenbach, Wichita sophomore, also in control.
After tests revealed that Wyssenbach was at risk for developing type 1 diabetes, she was put on a two-shot-a-day schedule. She takes very little insulin, but so far, the treatment — meant to prevent the onset of full-blown diabetes — has been effective.
"It's kind of a struggle, and it can be really frustrating sometimes," she said. "I have this weird mental thing that whenever I have sugar, it's like cutting off five minutes of my life that I'd rather keep."
Poor-quality food and the irregular schedule of college take their toll, Wyssenbach said.
Diabetes specialist Guthrie is looking forward to the future.
Looking ahead
He said many advances in diabetic care were on the horizon. None could be considered a cure, but all would make treatment of the disease simpler.
New, long-acting insulins are a possibility in the very near future. Inhalable insulin, wristwatches that give a constant blood sugar readout, and a surgically implanted insulin pump and blood-glucose sensor combination all are possible.
"In general, I'm optimistic," Guthrie said. "I think life is going to get better for people with diabetes."
It's a mixed picture for Obermuelter, though. All he can hope for now is to stop further loss of eyesight and to stave off other complications, he said.
He's controlling his diabetes better now. He said if his blood sugar gets too high, it affects the sight of his good eye. He's drinking less, too, although he still has no regular diabetic doctor.
glos • sa • ry
blood sugar level — Number that indicates the absorption of glucose (or sugar) into the bloodstream. The higher the blood sugar level is, the more sugar is in the system. The lower it is, the less sugar the body has. Normal blood sugar ranges are between 80 and 120 milligrams per deciliter.
diabetic complications — Adverse health effects caused by poor control of diabetes. They may include kidney failure, circulatory problems, amputation of limbs and retinopathy.
diabetic retinopathy — A diabetic complication. The retinas either are broken or scarred, and sight is damaged.
ketoacidosis — Condition in which blood sugar goes too high, and poisonous acids called ketones build up in the bloodstream. The condition can result in a diabetic coma.
insulin — Hormone that allows the body to absorb the sugar from food. Insulin is naturally produced in non-diabetics, but must be injected by type 1 diabetics.
*pancreas* — Gland that produces insulin.
type 1 diabetes — Chronic disease caused when the immune system attacks and kills the islet cells in the pancreas. The disease stops the pancreas from producing insulin, and insulin must be regularly injected into the body for the person to stay alive.
type 2 diabetes — Disease caused by excess weight and poor lifestyle choices that affects the pancreas' ability to make enough insulin. Generally occurs in people above the age of 45.
Obermueller remains unapologetic.
"I don't regret a single thing I did in college," he said. "I needed to get through every bad thing to get to the good things now."
Obermueller has advice for other diabetics, though.
"Don't delude yourself into thinking this is something you can put behind yourself for four years," he said. "Everything you do has a reaction on your wellness, and I mean it in the broadest sense of the term."
—Edited by Kerri Sh fer
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