Recent Central Michigan University graduate Jake Zorn, 24, was diagnosed with type-one diabetes at 7 years-old.
For our series, Blood Sugar Rising, Tess DeGayner spoke with Zorn about how he manages living with diabetes.
According to the CDC, type-one diabetes is typically diagnosed in children, teens and young adults. However it can develop at any age.
"My parents had just heard of it, they didn’t really have any idea," Zorn said, recalling on his early memories before a diagnosis. "I would have these episodes where I would get super hungry and then feel like I need food, almost like a starvation-type feel and I’d get lightheaded so then I would eat a bunch of food then I would feel super sick, head was killing me.
"Basically, my blood sugar was going low from needing food then not having insulin my blood sugar would go straight up."
Zorn said after a few days, he went to the doctor. He said he remembered his parents were scared, which made him nervous about his diagnosis.
If you have type-one diabetes your pancreas makes little or if any insulin, the CDC said. Insulin helps blood sugar enter the cells in the body to be used for energy.
"Just always kinda keeping a monitor of your blood sugar is the most important when managing diabetes," Zorn said. "Then of course, taking insulin for the carbs and sugars you eat and being able to basically carb count and take the correct dosage for what you’re eating."
Looking back at that time, Zorn said he quickly got comfortable with managing his health. He would take insulin shots and check his blood sugar on his own.
"You know it’s funny when I was a kid, I was kinda always a people’s person and I would just have my diabetes stuff out or carry it, I wouldn’t try to hide it, like ‘Oh yeah, I have diabetes’ type-of-thing," Zorn said. "I used to take shots and well, not everyone’s comfortable with needles so sometimes I’d try to hide it because if you’re in a lunchroom, you don’t want someone to see it. It’s not like I was self-conscious of myself but more for other people."
Now 17 years later, Zorn said he’s learned how to manage his diabetes and maintain his overall health.
"It’s crazy nowadays, they keep making it easier on people with type-one diabetes," he said. Zorn said has a device that allows him to track his blood sugar on his phone and a pump to update his insulin.
"Now, I have a CGM which is a Constant Glucose Monitor and that reads my blood sugar all day and sends it to my phone," he said. "So, I never even have to take my blood sugar anymore. I also have an insulin pump and so that feeds insulin to me throughout the day, I just hit a couple of buttons when I eat food so I don’t have to take any shots or anything."
In high school, Zorn was on the football, basketball and track and field team. Then in college, he was awarded a scholarship to be a part of the men’s track and field team at CMU.
"I was always an athlete," Zorn said. "I would be taking my blood sugar like all the time throughout a course of a day: before every meal, in between meals, before sporting events, at halftime of sporting events."
Zorn said being an athlete helped shape his idea of health.
"For one, it's the stability of having the same routine," he said. "Your body definitely gets used to that. When you get out of your routine or you start a new routine it can kind of throw your blood sugar off or your body has to get used to it again.
"Also, just with being active your body is using the sugar from your physical activity so I think between the physical part about it and just a routine being an athlete has definitely helped manage my diabetes in a positive way."
Since he graduated college, Zorn said he’s finding new ways to bring stability back into his daily routine. Without sports, he says it’s been difficult, but he finds time to go to the gym or exercise at home.
Zorn said throughout the summer, he made an effort to water ski each day and he said this fall, he coached football.
"Other than that, I really stuck to a workout routine where I can just keep up with the same weight stuff, lighting and running and keeping in shape that’s continued to be a part of my daily routine," Zorn said.
The CDC says type-one is less common than type-two diabetes. They estimate five to ten percent of people have type-one.
Zorn says he doesn’t know anyone else---not close friends, co-workers or even family with type one diabetes. But, he says he doesn’t feel alone.
