necklace and/or carrying an identification card can also help in case of an emergency. Information on the illness and what to do in case of insulin reaction or ketoacidosis, as well as the name of the diabetic and the name of someone to contact this may mean the difference between life and death if the diabetic is found unconscious. A nonprofit organization, Medic-Alert Foundation, can provide diabetics with an identification card or tag and maintains a central file containing vital information on every case registered with it. This information can be obtained twenty-four hours a day by a collect telephone call. While doctors routinely encourage exercise to help control Type II diabetes, scientists have recently found that physical exercise may even be useful in preventing the disease entirely in some patients. Harvard University researchers who followed more than 22000 male physicians for a five-year period found that those who exercised vigorously at least once a week were 36 percent less likely to develop diabetes. The study further showed that the more individual exercised the risk of developing Type II diabetes lowered. Some doctors say that diabetics should not have alcohol. Others permit a drink or two. But drinking has some special pitfalls for someone with diabetes. First of all, alcohol has calories, and they count in the diet. In addition, alcohol lowers blood sugar at first. Alcohol also impairs a person’s judgment. Dr. Raymond Herskowitz at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston points out that teens are more likely to have a serious insulin reaction when they’ve been drinking. A person who is “high” may not be alert to the warning signs, and other people might mistake the effects of low blood sugar for drunken behavior. Marijuana, like alcohol, can dull diabetics’ judgements and make them forget about eating a meal or taking an insulin injection. Or it may make them so hungry that they’ll...
