He’s not exactly wrong: Type 2 diabetes most commonly occurs in middle-age and older people, according to the National Institutes of Health. Of the more than 30 million people in the United States with diabetes, only 4.6 million are between 18 and 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Diabetes Statistics Report. Making Ibrahim’s diagnosis even more unlikely was the fact that he’d run a marathon just two years before. It’s well known that exercise can help the body use the hormone insulin more effectively, thereby reducing the risk for the disease or halting its progression. But since running the race, Ibrahim had embarked on a new career — starting a company, Nutrition Plus Products, with his pharmacist father — and his healthy eating and exercise habits had fallen by the wayside. “I was traveling all over the place trying to get the business going,” he says. He estimates that he spent 95 nights in a hotel room one year. “That’s the lifestyle I was living, constantly on the road, so I started to eat for comfort and was drinking too much,” Ibrahim says. Pounds started to pile on his 6-foot frame. “I went from 185 [pounds] to over 240,” he says. “I just ballooned.”
Detecting Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms and a Surprise Diagnosis
For Ibrahim, his initial diabetes symptoms manifested as a chronic cough, which surfaced around the same time he began putting on extra weight. His doctor thought it was asthma, even though he’d recently diagnosed Ibrahim’s father with diabetes. (Ibrahim later found out that the cough was the result of a yeast infection in his lungs, a result of high blood sugar.) Diabetes isn’t entirely genetic — the American Diabetes Association notes that lifestyle also plays a role — but “it definitely runs in families,” says Donna Webb, RD, CDE, a diabetes coach at the firm Fit4D, who is based in Springfield, Missouri. So why didn’t doctors immediately think diabetes could be the issue? “I think doctors are slow to recognize it in younger people,” says Webb, though she hasn’t personally treated Ibrahim. The following summer the classic diabetes symptoms set in: fatigue, thirst, a constant need to pee, and vision issues. He visited an eye doctor, who was the first person to suggest he may have diabetes, but Ibrahim brushed him off. “I said, ‘No way. I can’t possibly. I’m way too young for that,’” he recalls. The eye doctor’s suspicions were confirmed when, at his mother’s urging, Ibrahim bought urine test strips to check his glucose level. “I couldn’t believe what I saw,” he says. “I basically was off the charts. If dark, dark brown means you have diabetes, I was like black.” The next day he visited a walk-in clinic and had a doctor check his blood. His fasting blood sugar — a common diagnostic test for type 2 diabetes — was around 22 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), nearly 4 times as high as it should be.
Changing His Bad Habits to Help Reverse Diabetes
After he was diagnosed, Ibrahim started to clean up his diet and tried to cut back on foods known to be bad for diabetes, including starches, candy, and soda. He swapped regular soda for diet soda or sparkling water, and he allowed himself only a fraction of the sweets he used to eat. That helped bring his blood sugar down, and some of his symptoms cleared up, but the transformation didn’t happen overnight. “It wasn’t like I saw the light and turned a corner — it didn’t happen that way,” Ibrahim says. “I was diagnosed at 32 and started to do better with my diet but was still not where I needed to be.” The biggest challenge was his compulsive behavior and a tendency to eat for comfort, he explains. He quit drinking right before his 40th birthday and had his last cigarette two years after that. “Once I dealt with those vices, I slowly got back into running and the weight started to come off,” he says. “My food choices improved over time, and I’ve been eating consistently healthily for about 10 years.” His weight now fluctuates between 206 and 210 pounds. Webb says it’s normal for it to take some time to figure out what works. “There’s a lot of trial and error in the beginning to figure out all of the components that affect the blood sugar,” she says. It’s not only about diet. Stress level, poor sleep, and how active you are can also make a difference, Webb says. “Understand that you’re going to have to figure out a whole lot of things and what works in your body before you’re truly on track and improving,” she says.
Taking an Open-Minded Approach to Managing Diabetes
Ibrahim is now 53 years old and a dad to his 6-month-old son, Jordan. He’s also a glider pilot, which has rigorous medical-exam requirements, such as eye exams with retinol scans and neuropathy tests, that force him to stay on top of his health. “I’ve been able to manage [diabetes] quite successfully,” he says, adding that his fasting blood sugar these days is usually around 6.7 mmol/L. He takes an integrative approach to managing the disease. “I believe you have to use all of the tools in a toolbox,” he says. “I think you have to be open to taking what your doctor prescribes, you have to be open to taking supplements, and you have to do the diet and exercise part — there’s no way around that.” Ibrahim takes Sandoz (metformin) for glucose control, Diovan (valsartan) for blood pressure control, and a few supplements (including his brand’s Kardovite for circulation, alpha lipoic acid to prevent diabetic nerve damage, and Coenzyme Q10 and omega-3s to support healthy heart function). He says that incorporating supplements is a family tradition, passed on by his dad, who has a background in herbal medicine. “I use traditional medications as prescribed by my general practitioner for specific purposes, and I use supplements that research has shown to be beneficial,” Ibrahim says. Some supplements can be a safe part of diabetes management, but Webb says not to rely on them to be an easy fix. It’s important to focus on a clean diet filled with whole foods first, she says. The multifaceted approach to treatment has worked for Ibrahim, so he advises other people with diabetes to be open to trying out different treatments and to proactively learn about the disease and how to manage symptoms. “It’s very important to ask questions and be prepared to negotiate with your doctor,” Ibrahim says. “Do your own research.”
