‘Lack of control stresses diabetics out’

Adam Hoult, 34, is a facilities management professional in Abu Dhabi, and has Type 1 diabetes. Adam is training for the gruelling endurance triathlon Ironman Dubai in February

Iam in a really minuscule minority of people who get type 1 at 30. When my son was born four years ago, we had a bit of a stressful period, and I suddenly lost 8-9 kilos in 2 weeks. I also started feeling immensely tired, thirsty…all the usual symptoms of diabetes, and I went to the doctor.

Post diagnosis, it didn’t really sink into me then. I was pretty much like a deer in the headlights, with no idea what was going on. About 2-3 days later I sat down with a brilliant doctor in Dubai, and she thoroughly explained that I now needed to learn my body, and it was going to be trial and error. She also gave me my number 1 rule: if in doubt go high (with blood sugar).

But I think the moment when the diagnosis really struck me was when we were chatting one day and she said that my son is now 12 times more likely to get it. That hit me hard. A few weeks later we found out we were going to have another baby, and I thought “oh great now I’ve got two of them with a higher chance of diabetes.” It hit me then that this is for life and could potentially pass on to my kids and potentially their kids. My parents didn’t have it, but my mum’s brother does.

A dietitian then gave me a great cheat sheet, so I could now figure out how many carbs an apple has, or a small McD fries has. It took a few months, but I learnt that well.

But I then took a psychological hit. Suddenly I went from being me to being a decrepit diabetic.

I used to be heavily into fitness before the diagnosis. I was in the military in the UK, and what I considered a fun weekend was taking a 20k disc from the gym, putting it into a backpack and go running for 14 hours. So post the diabetes diagnosis, I thought it was the end.

I slowly starting drifting away from the person who would do anything. There was a loss of personal identity, and I struggled. I was the Energizer bunny – endurance man who ran and cycled thousand miles for fun, and all of a sudden I had that taken away from me. So I thought: who is Adam now? What did I have to define myself now?

I used to cycle a lot, go rock climbing, swimming, played regular football. After the diagnosis it was all just doing a little bit here and there.

And really, it’s the lack of control that really stresses diabetics out. It amplifies stress tenfold. So the day I decided to make a conscious decision I was going to control the disease, everything changed.

I made a real effort to learn my numbers, my carb ratios. What proved to finally be my window to getting back into fitness was when I got hold of a Libre glucose monitoring system. That device single-handedly proved to be a gamechanger for me.

Until then I would not work out beyond an hour. I’d probably play some football, but run off at half time and check my sugar. I would never do anything remotely endurance. Even walking in the hills back home, I would not stray too far from help, because it was always at the back of my mind that this might go wrong.

‘With the Libre, I started slowly. Cycling 30k, then when I was comfortable doing that, trying 40, then after I was happy with that and my sugars, moving up. That progression went on for a period of about five or six months. I started learning and analysing. What happened to my sugar when I ate a certain type of food, how much hard exercise I could commit to before my sugar started to plummet. Just to be able to learn my body well enough to start pushing myself again was great. And slowly it’s got to a point where now my Friday mornings are spent doing 85k on my bike.

I got progressively endurance focused. Around then, my friend back in the UK just completed his fourth Ironman. And I thought, this was my next challenge. So I decided I’d do the Ironman in Dubai in February.

It’s going to be difficult, but it doesn’t worry me as much. Since I feel like I’ve gotten control of my diabetes, it doesn’t occur to me to allow it to restrict me. Getting over the initial fear was the challenge, and I now feel confident and comfortable. Now there’s never anything I think I won’t do because I’m diabetic. I might think I won’t do it because I’m not fit enough, but not because of diabetes.

‘When I came to know I had diabetes, I took a psychological hit. Suddenly I went from being me to being a decrepit diabetic’

The last couple of years has been a steady progression of ‘I can do it’. I’m now toying with the idea of doing the Frankfurt full Ironman. Someone mentioned tackling Everest recently, and I thought that’d be a great challenge to overcome. Small steady steps.

Keeping active is so important to manage diabetes. My wife and I take turns to run our dog every other day for half an hour, so I get some exercise in regularly. I cycle with a group every Friday morning. I also keep active at the beach and pool with the kids. I got a calisthenics frame custom-built into the side of the wooden frame we built for the kids to play. So I integrate some activity into whatever I do with the kids.

Having diabetes doesn’t change anything, aside from concentrating on what your sugar is doing. I joke that it’s like being on the best diet in the world. I’ve got a 100 per cent control, and that’s the key, mentally getting your head around the fact that you’ve got control.

My sons are just starting to understand now. I hear them telling each other that they can’t eat the sweets in the house because it’s for daddy’s sugar. With my oldest I’m at this point where I can start having the conversation that there is a pretty serious reason for having all those different sweeties lying around the house, that if he finds his dad curled over in a heap on the floor he needs to phone these and these people.

The different legs of Ironman poses different challenges. The swimming doesn’t concern me, I’ll start with some porridge and a slow release of carbs is good earlier on. But eating porridge while hunched over a bike at 35km/h is not going to work. On the bike, if it’s hot, my sugar will plummet, but I can overcome that with the carb powders in my drink. The running is the real challenge; my sugar just nosedives. So I rely on energy gels, but they throw sugar up and down, so it’s a yo-yoing battle. I don’t have a solution for that yet.

You’ve just got to play around and learn. As clichéd as it sounds, knowledge is power with diabetes. Once you’ve got enough knowledge of your body and know how it reacts, you’re fine. It’s like anticipating rash drivers on the road; like a sixth sense. You can see a problem coming.

More than the actual event, it’s the training that really worries my wife, especially when I go out on my own. At an event like the Ironman there’s marshals and help on hand. But if I go to Al Qudra alone and don’t contact her she worries I’ve fallen off my bike and been knocked out of consciousness. A few months ago out running I don’t know what happened, my sugar level suddenly plummeted. I live in the Springs, I was 2k away from my house, and my sugar was dangerously low. I was in a really bad state by the time I got home and got my hands on everything sugar. And I remember thinking on the way, if people could see me they wouldn’t know I’m diabetic and I’d be in a coma before I got to the hospital. That was irresponsible, and I now run with a running kit and a trisuit with pockets that I can load up with sweets.

I eat whatever I want, but in moderation. I’ve realised cutting food off is a recipe for disaster. In my younger days at the military I can’t even fathom how I managed to fit all that food into myself, but now I’m more careful.

It doesn’t occur to me now that my diabetes is a limiting factor. Why should it stop me from anything? It really shouldn’t. What does being diabetic have to do with your ability to do anything? It’s not like I’m missing a leg and have run a marathon.

I enjoy now that not only am I the crazy guy who wakes up at 4am and wants to go cycling on his day off, but that I’m diabetic – I love the look on people’s faces when they find that out. It’s also a positive feedback loop, so as people recognise it you want to keep going.

You can allow yourself to be convinced that diabetes is a limiting factor, but that doesn’t make it true. I’m guilty of having fallen into that mindset, and it’s not fun. Get a grip of it as soon as you are diagnosed, and make a conscious effort to not lose your sense of identity.

You have to maintain the positive attitude. Plan and prep your food and nutrition. Go in steady increments. Give yourself time – don’t wake up after years of inactivity and jump into a 10k run. And if in doubt go high!

At one point you have to stop asking why you should push yourself as a diabetic – the question really is, why not?