Canada is seeing its number of type 1 diabetes diagnoses grow across the country. According to beyond type 1, 300 000 Canadians have type 1 diabetes with the number continuing to rise. Type 1 diabetes is the disease that involves your pancreas creating little or no insulin, the hormone required to allow sugar into cells and create energy.
Among those diagnosed are often early adolescents with the peak age of symptoms being 14. While the event of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes early in life would add stress in an already strenuous transitional phase, being a type 1 athlete would create numerous other factors to consider.
“Considerations for an athlete with type 1 diabetes are what your current blood sugar is, how much insulin they have on board, their past experiences.” Said Lisa Jorgensen, a clinical nutritionist with the Diabetes Education Centre at St. Joseph’s hospital.
Diabetics are required to check their blood sugar levels on a regular basis, an action that would be made more difficult when participating in physical activity. The result of not testing blood sugar levels could be hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Hyperglycemia is to have high levels of sugar in your blood while hypoglycemia is the result having of low amounts of sugar in your blood. Both can have a negative impact on an athlete’s performance.
“When his blood sugar levels were way to high he tended to be more aggressive, where when his levels were lower he would be way more subdued” Said London Knights trainer about Max Domi.
Domi played 4 seasons with the Knights tallying 331 regular season points before being drafted in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Like many others Domi was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at a young age but refused to let the disease take him out of the game; however, despite being an advocate for young type 1 athletes he wasn’t always open about his situation.
“At first he didn’t like to talk about it at all but when he realized how much of a role model was for other kids, he started to embrace it” said Doug Stacey.
The importance of talking about such a serious topic becomes even more significant when considering the young and impressionable minds being influenced. Being surrounded by the right people could be the difference between a type 1 diabetic continuing in sports or choosing to move on.
“find your way to deal with it, find a support system around you, and that’s all you can really do. You just have to make the best out of a crap situation” said type 1 diabetic and student athlete Michael Jagoe.
With the rise of type 1 diabetes in Canada and around the world, it’s important for people to educate themselves on a topic that could one day affect them too.
