In the meantime, here's an interview with Nat Strand, a fellow type 1 diabetic (and doctor!) who won The Amazing Race last season. I used to watch that show and think, "there's no way they'd let a diabetic on this show." It's the same thing I think about every reality show-- no way, not me. And yet! She WON.
From the dLife blog:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the cameras only showed you testing once throughout the whole race. I'm sure there was a lot that we didn't see. I was hoping you might be able to describe for us what the cameras didn't show us. Did diabetes behave during the race or did you have some challenging moments you might be able to share with us?
Does diabetes ever behave? Oh yeah, there were lots of challenges. During the race I had to carry all of my supplies all of the time. The show's staff wouldn't hold on to any of it. So, that meant issues like trying to keep insulin cold in Ghana. Some of the things the camera didn't show were things like taking my pump off before going into water and then putting back on. Also, lots of blood sugar testing (about 10-12 per day). I had a couple of severe lows during the race. In the craziness of the competition, I went a long time without eating at one point in Hong Kong and started acting funny and feeling very low. I had a continuous glucose monitor, but with blood sugars so up and down, it really wasn't very accurate.
The Amazing Race appears to be insanely stressful. Did you find that the stress of the race affected your blood sugar?
Definitely. It was very stressful. We were doing crazy things that got my adrenalin pumping. Stress from being in last place; stress from the heat; stress from fatigue ... it all affected my blood sugar. I tried to tweak with insulin a bit but chose to be a little on the high side. It was safer than going low.
Was there ever a moment during the race when you were cursing diabetes? When you thought, "Oh no! This blood sugar check or this bolus of insulin might cost us first place or could cost us the race?"
In real life, yes. But not in the race. We were in three time zones in five days. I wasn't expecting to have great blood sugars. I tried to keep expectations realistic.
A frantic race around the world is quite a unique experience for anyone, let alone someone with type 1 diabetes. I'm just curious what sort of planning and preparation was involved for this race.
My endocrinologist and my medical team worked together to help me prepare for the race. My teammate Kat and I each carried a backpack with more than a month's worth of supplies - just in case one of us misplaced one of our bags. I also had letters written in every possible language I could think of to present at the airports which explained that I had type 1 diabetes and why I needed insulin and syringes, etc.
In the diabetes blogosphere we talk a lot about diabetes misconceptions and myths that can sometimes be very frustrating. Did you find any of that while on the race with the other contestants? Did anyone seemingly know what you are going through because they have a cat with diabetes? Did diabetes come up much with the other contestants?
Ha! Funny you say that. I definitely experienced some of that from the other contestants. They say, "you have a pump, right?" acting as if everything is OK if you have a pump. There's a misconception that the pump is just like an external pancreas. They underestimate how hard diabetes is to manage. And yes, there was something about someone's uncle who had diabetes. Very frustrating.
We watched you eat some unusual raw sea creatures while somewhere in Asia. Racing through different countries and cultures at such a pace must have been difficult when one must count carbs as diabetics do. Did you always know how many carbs you were eating or was there a lot of guessing? Did foods from a particular region give you the most trouble?
I like sashimi, so I didn't mind that task. It was very hard to count carbs during the race. When you have no control of your own food, it's a challenge. There were definitely some foods along the way where I was like, "I have no idea how many carbs are in this."
You mentioned that you wear an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor. Would you still have been as successful in the race had you not been relying on this diabetes management technology?
I still think it would be doable. The continuous glucose monitor was really not so helpful. It's really all about frequent testing and the use of short-acting insulin. It would have been impossible to do the race on NPH (long acting insulin). LOTS of test strips.
Did you leave a trail of test strips all over the world? I'm constantly finding used test strips in my car, in my shoes ... everywhere!
Ha! I love that you just said that! I am sure I left a trail of test strips around the world. There's a goat somewhere in Oman choking on a test strip.
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