I believe that we are here, on this planet, as human beings, to transform ourselves.  Transform means to change in form, appearance, structure, character.  I think this thing called life is set up like a game.  I don’t mean to trivialize it by comparing it to a a game but, nevertheless, I see it as a game.  Every game has an objective.  Every game has rules.  There are strategies involved.  Having continual increasing knowledge about the game helps.  There are skills involved and many who participate in games practice to hone their skills.  There is a way to measure outcomes; to keep score.  I think that the objective in the game of life is to transform.  To change.  Specifically, I believe that, in all areas of life, it is a transformation from a desire to receive for the self alone to the the desire to receive for the sake of sharing with others.  This is a Kabbalistic (From Kabbalah) concept.  But there is a problem.  In order to be here, to experience and engage in life we must have certain needs fulfilled in certain time periods.  A lot of these needs are, most of the time, fulfilled automatically without us even being conscious of it.  When one of these needs fails to be fulfilled then we become conscious of it and it becomes a desire, often times a burning desire.  Most of these needs are physical in nature.  There are a lot that are not depending on the awareness level of the individual.  A few examples perhaps:  We need to breathe, often.  Our bodies are set up in a way that allows oxygen in either through the nose or the mouth.  We have a throat that acts as a tunnel for oxygen to travel to the lungs.  The lungs do their thing and oxygen is transferred into the blood cells and is carried through the veins and vessels to each individual cell and they stay alive and carry on with what they do.  In the absence of oxygen, a blockage in the nose, mouth, throat, a problem with the lungs or a disruption or block in the veins and vessels then this system that fulfills a critical need ceases to work and we quickly become conscious of it, if in fact we are able to stay conscious. Suddenly, this unconscious fulfilled need becomes a burning desire and we will not be very interested in transforming ourselves into a sharing being.  No, we will be pretty focused on getting air and will probably kill another if that would help at all to provide us with even a slight chance of fulfilling our desire to breathe.

Well, this whole Type 1 Diabetes thing can been seen in the same way.  Allow me to elaborate.  If you are a Type 1 Diabetic then one day in the past you learned that you “got” it.  Not a good day.  Not a day easily forgotten and not one that most of us like to revisit.  It was the day that you became conscious that a very critical need stopped being fulfilled; a need that parallels the importance of breathing, albeit with a 3 to 4 month time period prior to fatal malfunction as opposed to a 3 to perhaps, 10 minute time period to solve the breathing thing.  The process involved in Type 1 diabetes is very similar to the process of breathing.  Instead of oxygen being sent to the cells it is glucose. And instead of the lungs being the organ involved it is the pancreas.  Both glucose and oxygen are sent via the blood cells to all of the other cells.  Instead of breathing it involves eating.  And just like if you could not get oxygen to the cells the body will die so it is with not getting nourishment ( in the form of glucose ) to the cells.   An analysis of the situation yields four things to contemplate, in my opinion as someone who was diagnosed 31 years ago.  First, an understanding in the breakdown of the process that resulted in having to address this need.  Second, what is it that needs to get done in order to get the glucose to the cells in the most effective way.  Third, what is the desire that is associated with this situation.  And finally, for extra credit, how do I transform this desire from a desire to receive for the self alone to a desire to receive for the sake sharing with others? Let me give you my understanding of these four areas.  Type 1 Diabetes is an immune deficiency disease.  The immune system decided that the cells within the pancreas that are responsible for the production and distribution of insulin were foreign invaders and killed them.  No more cells that produce insulin.  No more insulin.  No more insulin then no more glucose getting to the cells.  Insulin is a hormone that is released into the blood stream and acts as a kind of key that unlocks the doors to the cells in the body so that the glucose can get in.  While doing this the body maintains its blood sugar in a certain optimal range.  What happens at diagnosis date and a little prior to that is that because there is no insulin the cells start to get hungry and begin to starve.  Because the glucose can’t get from the blood to the cells he blood sugar level begins to rise to dangerous levels.  Other organs and systems begin to react as is their role and duty when these things happening,  The liver begins to break down in an attempt to get food to the cells.  The body tries to eliminate the excess sugar through the kidneys resulting in a drying up of the body.  This is why that pre diagnosis or when blood sugars are high we are thirsty, tired and pee a lot.   So what do we need to do and what is the most effective way to get it done?  Bottom line we need to get insulin into the body.  We got to get the glucose from the blood stream to the cells.  That is task number one.  After that it becomes a balancing act to try and maintain consistent and good control of blood sugar levels.  The difference between breathing and getting insulin into the system is a matter of time.  Breathing must be handled now.  Oxygen is needed more immediately than is glucose.  But after getting the diagnosis and then introducing insulin into the body the “trick” to doing it most effectively is to take account of all the parts involved in the process.  Establish a pre-determined desired blood sugar range, eat good food, exercise aggressively, choose the most effective insulin delivery system, continually test blood sugars ( min 10 times per day) and conduct ongoing experiments and verifications of basal requirements, Insulin sensitivity levels, insulin to carb ratio and effect of exercise.  I would be happy to discuss the effective balancing of blood sugars more with anyone interested.

Now, what is the desire involved?  What is desire?  The dictionary says that desire means to long or hope for.  Synonyms are want, wish, crave or covet.  So what desire does Diabetes reveal?  I hypothesize that each person may have a slightly different revelation when contemplating this.  Do you know that insulin was invented only about 80 years ago? Can you imagine all the people that died from this disease prior to that?.  And there has been a lot of people here, hasn’t there?  Today, manufactured insulin is much superior, the methods of delivery are superior and we can actually test our blood sugar level whenever we want.  Doctors have learned how to help stem the onset of complications and a rumor of a cure has been around for several years.  Technology is advancing at exponential levels and hope is a real thing.  But what is the desire(s) behind this disease.  Remember, the root cause is not sugar in the blood or diet.  The root cause is not even insulin or rather the lack of it.  No, the root cause is that the immune system decided to kill the cells that produce insulin.  Why would an immune system do this?  The body is going to die in a matter of months.  In the time between the immune system attack and death there would have been be great suffering.  A slow starving of the body associated with intense thirst.   However, since the invention of injectable insulin death is not certain.  In fact, life is probable.  A function/system that fulfilled a critical bodily need without our even being conscious of its working must now be handled manually and consciously.  It is like, pre-diagnosis this system was on auto pilot and, post diagnosis the auto pilot has been destroyed and we must manually fly this plane.  Prior to 80 years ago the technology did not exist so that a manual system could be built and operated.  But, today we can.  Now we have the task of becoming pilots.  Not an easy task but doable.   Is the desire a wish to crash or a longing to fly?  I think it is up to you.