Broncos Star Diagnosed With Diabetes By ARNIE STAPLETON,AP Posted: 2008-05-03 06:12:04 http://sports.aol.com/nfl/story/_a/broncos-star-diagnosed-with-diabetes/20080502094209990001 DENVER (May 2) - Jay Cutler realizes he should have recognized something was wrong last season when he lost 35 pounds and some zip on his famous fastballs. "I had no energy," the Denver Broncos' third-year quarterback said Friday. "We thought it might be stress and the grind of going through a whole season. But once I got back here and started working out again, I just wasn't making any improvement. I wasn't getting any stronger. I was still losing weight." Routine blood tests that are required before players participate in the team's offseason strength and conditioning program revealed the answer: His sugars were about five times higher than normal. The 25-year-old quarterback met with doctors last month, who told him he's an insulin-dependent diabetic. He got a crash course in the disease and its ramifications if uncontrolled. "It's a little overwhelming to get that news and realize you're going to have to completely change your life," said Cutler, who accepted his fate after a few days. "It's not something that's going to go away," Cutler said. "It's something I'm going to have to deal with my entire life and you've got to come to grips with that." He said he never worried about his career being in jeopardy. "No. That's the first thing they said to me: 'It's going to affect your lifestyle a little bit, but you'll be able to continue to play football,"' Cutler said. "I'm not the first athlete to get diabetes and I won't be the last." Other professional athletes who dealt with diabetes and had successful careers include NFL quarterback Wade Wilson; tennis stars Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King, Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr., NHL star Bobby Clarke, baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb and boxing greats Joe Frazier and Sugar Ray Robinson. As long as Cutler manages his disease through exercise, medication and diet, there's no medical reason he wouldn't be able to continue performing at the NFL level. He'll have to monitor his blood glucose levels during games and drink some Gatorade if his sugars drop too low or take a shot of insulin if they skyrocket. "I've got a lot of people watching me," Cutler said. "It's not going to affect me on the field. I'm going to make changes off the field, eating and stuff like that." About 21 million Americans have diabetes, meaning their bodies cannot properly turn blood sugar into energy. Either they don't produce enough insulin or don't use it correctly. With the Type 1 form that Cutler has, the body's immune system attacks insulin-producing pancreatic cells, so that patients require insulin injections to survive. It usually, but not always, strikes in childhood. The 6-foot-3 Cutler said he dropped from 238 pounds to 203 by season's end but is back up to 220 since beginning insulin injections after he was diagnosed last month. "I've felt great. I've felt 100 times better," he said. "Just a difference now and four, five weeks ago is tremendous. It's hard to explain what you feel like when your levels are at 400, 500, it's different. You don't have any energy, you don't really want to do anything, you sleep a lot. It's tough to deal with." Cutler said he had all the classic signs of diabetes: unexplained weight loss, frequent urination, constant thirst, lack of energy. Without a family history of the disease, though, he never suspected that was the culprit. Cutler, the 11th pick in the 2006 draft, threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 20 touchdowns last season but the Broncos missed the playoffs for a second straight year. It was obvious as the season wore on that his arm strength wasn't what it was his rookie year, when he started the final five weeks of the season. "I'm not going to blame it on that, but thinking back, there were some throws that didn't have a lot on them," Cutler said. "I was able to go out and perform, I just wasn't that energetic. I was tired. After the games, I was completely wiped out. Some games I didn't do a whole lot. There was something wrong." In the weight room, he couldn't lift as much, and when he and teammates Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler gathered in Atlanta over the winter to work out together, Cutler said there were times he couldn't get out of bed in the morning he was so exhausted. "They would ask me what was up and I would say, 'I don't know. I'm just so tired,"' Cutler recalled. When he went back to campus to visit friends at Vanderbilt, they, too, wondered what was wrong: "I was pale, I was skinny, I couldn't run. It was pretty dramatic." Now, he feels like a million bucks and he's eager to get into practices and exhibitions to see how his body reacts and how he can keep his blood sugars in control during competition. As for his changes in diet, no more eating, as he put it, "anything and everything." "It's a big adjustment," Cutler said. "You're 25 years old, you're used to eating whatever you want, doing whatever you want. If you want to go out to lunch, go ahead and go. Now, you're counting carbs and eating healthier and injecting insulin at the table. You've got to have your insulin, your needles, your glucose meter, yeah, it's a big change. But it's something you have to deal with." Eating less fast food is a silver lining to his diagnosis, said Cutler, who is looking into getting an insulin pump in the next month and plans to expand his charity work to include juvenile diabetes. He also wants fans to know he's going to be all right. "This is a serious, serious disease, and I'm going to have it for the rest of my life," Cutler said. "It's not going to change me on the field. I'm going to have some lifestyle changes, but I'm probably going to be a better quarterback this year than I was last year."
As the article notes, he is at least fortunate in that he will have people monitoring him every step of the way, and can immediately get a treatment if necessary. They're probably right that it doesn't have to affect his NFL career at all (and it reinforces once again how fans usually don't have the slightest clue why a player might not be playing as well as expected). As MSU said, however, in the bigger picture diabetes is a terrible thing to have. Unfortunately, there is a good chance that it will lead to longterm physical problems for him, and even shorten his life. People think that as long as you take your insulin you're okay, but that's not the case - diabetes wears down your body even if you are controlling it.
Yea, my Mom is diabetic. She tires quickly, her weight goes up and down, has to watch what she eats ect.. It does take a toll on the body.
As you said it wears down your body, it weakens your eyesight, making any simple illness turn into something much worse. I just it doesn't get bad enough that he has to go through dialysis. That really wears down the body.
I am type 1, I have had since i was 3 and I am now 28, my son who is now 3 has had Type 1 for 6 months. I hate to say it but I was almost excited when I heard because it gives someone for my son to look up to. When I was young I had Curt Fraser of the Minnesota NorthStars to look up to and I got to meet him and it really gave me some hope in what I could do. I went on the play lacrosse for Team Saskatchewan and play in the Vail Shootout National lacrosse tournament and play at high levels in lacrosse, football, hockey and snowboarding. I knew Adam Morrison was a diabetic, but we are not much of a basketball household. Cutler will be a role model for diabetics and with 21 million Americans and 2 million Canadians, their will be lots of people looking up to him
Like Wolfe, I too am Type 1. Like Cutler, I was diagnosed quite late (age of 20). It's an epidemic, with the number of late Type 1 diagnoses climbing rapidly. I felt fortunate to miss the difficulties of controlling it during, say, puberty. I know a lot of people now who had their toughest years through that period. I use tight control and see a doctor frequently, which has led to zero complications in 8 years (no kidney damage, etc.). It's forced me to make dietary changes and monitor my cholesterol more closely, which is a plus for anyone. I still indulge in the occasional junk food (see the Burgin thread), but eat well most of the time. It's manageable, and I just read a story about 95 year old twins who have been Type 1 since the age of 6 in fantastic health (and this was before the advent of glucometers, etc). The bigger killer is Type 2. Those of you with family members who have major trouble, are they Type 1 or Type 2? A lot of people who develop Type 2 already have health problems because of it before they're diagnosed. It goes hand in hand with other troubles and tends to have a faster rate of problems. Here's hoping Cutler can keep his diabetes under great control.
Mom is type 2. She also has other health problems. Currently battling breast cancer (2 years clean knock wood) high blood pressure, glacoma (sp?) and some type of blood disorder that I can't recall off hand. I agree that diabetes needs more national attention. Is if from the fact the high sugar is in almost all our foods anymore?
I'm sorry to hear about your mom. It's tough when it all comes at once. That's fantastic that she's doing well battling the cancer! As far as Type 2, most doctors blame some combination of a sedentary lifestyle and increasingly poor diets chock full of processed food. With food prices increasing, many more people are going to be settling for poor, processed food. If money's tight and you can feed a family for 2 bucks with some Mac and Cheese, chances are you're going to opt not to pick up the apples instead. I've been fortunate to live in an area with great access to cheaper produce at farmer's markets and health food stores. There's some tasty stuff out there on the healthy kick, but it does tend to cost more.
That's too bad, and best to those similarly afflicted. Three people in my office are diabetics, and two of them have insulin pumps. Said it's made their lives far more manageable.
I have always wondered about using the insulin pump myself but it gives me the willies, so my wife really wants my son to go on it. but i wonder about having a normal life, ie, dating, sports, general weirdness from having a machine hooked into your body, what do your co-workers say about it
They are getting smaller and more compact now. About the size of a small cell phone these days. They really like it, as it frees them up a great deal. I'm sure as your son grows, they'll get even smaller, less detectable. Hopefully by the time he starts dating, there'll be an accessible cure. The next time I run into them, which should be Thursday, I'll get more info. As in make and model(s). I'm really sorry about your baby. You hate to see kids dealing with such things, even thoughthey are a resilient lot. Best, -J
I was convinced I had it but it turned out I just had poor circulation in my feet and legs. Walking and running have cleared up most of my issues. Now my cat on the other hand. He was diagnosed March 22nd. He had all the symptoms, most of which I attributed to the recent move to the desert. So now it's 2 shots a day and a closely monitored diet. I know animals can in some cases "regulate" to the point that food alone keeps their levels in check, to the point that they don't technically have diabetes anymore. Does this ever happen in humans?
I've considered the pump. I do 4 shots a day (3 Humalog, 1 Lantus) right now and don't mind, but the pump really does work more like a true pancreas, but you really need to be careful with kids. One of my niece's friends had a malfunction in hers which left her hospitalized.Just saw this article the other day: http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9j8eu7h1...com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_he_me/insulin_pumps_2
I also have Type 1 Diabetes. I'm 18 and i was diagnosed last year and pretty much went on the pump right away. I went on the Omnipod which doesn't have any wiring because I didn't want to deal with the wiring. If anybody with type 1 wants more info about it let me know and i'll be glad to tell you.
I guess if you would like to PM me with any problems you have had, why you like it, and what is there about "no wiring". I thought they were all wired, that sounds interesting
Wolfetone: I spoke to my co-workers. They both use a MiniMed pump. They got it together, at the same time, about four years ago. http://www.minimed.com/pumptherapy/index.html However, they are thinking of switching to this one in the very near future... http://www.myomnipod.com/products/ And they both highly recommend this site for kids with diabetes. All the info. you might need about pumps for kids all in one spot. http://childrenwithdiabetes.com/pumps/ Good luck.
Wow, check THIS out, WolfeT. Last night after work I was in the Chiropractor's office waiting my turn. So I'm flipping through this old People Magazine (12/07), and there's this article about a young girl with Type I Diabetes. Diagnosed at one month of age, now 7 (little text blurb on the article says 'From Pump To Pills). I ripped the article out of the magazine, but I couldn't find a direct link on the web. However, I followed the link included in the article and found this... http://monogenicdiabetes.org/jaffe_story.html Google Lilly Jaffe.
