LAUGHTER AND DIABETES
By Steve Sculley — Directors of a Laughter Therapy business
Tim Scally and I are Directors of a Laughter Therapy business called Powerlaugh®. In early 2000, depression had a tragic impact on Tim’s immediate and extended family. At the same time my partner was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and I became her carer. I later developed Type 1 Diabetes.
I was 47 years of age when I was diagnosed with Diabetes. The inevitable question arises … why is this happening to me? There isn’t an answer, suffice to say I had a genetic pre-disposition.
It was a Friday morning and I wasn’t feeling too well. I had this dry throat, so I went to the local GP. He pricked my finger and said “looks like Diabetes”. Due to my age he believed I had Type 2 Diabetes, he was wrong.
Throughout the weekend I started to throw up. By Monday I had Diabetic Ketoacidosis. As I understand, it’s when your body starts to cannibalise itself cause it can’t get the nutrients out of the cells. The Locum said call an ambulance. By the time I got into casualty the Doc said my blood was like acid! I spent the next week in Hospital.
It was now apparent that I had Type 1 Diabetes and my pancreas had given out and wasn’t producing any insulin. So for the rest of my life I now have to inject insulin everyday. That sounded possible. I didn’t realize when I got out of Hospital the full implications of my new life style. It took about two years to really come to grips with the illness and how to manage it.
I stumbled into Laughter Therapy, I mean Laughter Therapy who would have thought! I was very reluctant and the last thing I felt like doing was laughing. What was there to laugh about? Nothing, I was grumpy but I quickly realized being grumpy and negative wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
These days I’m a Laughter Facilitator and I go around giving workshops and Seminars to Diabetic groups and many other organizations. Laughter is a serious business. Don’t be confused by the notion of laughter. I’m not trivializing Diabetes or Depression or any condition. Laughter saved my life.
After a year of developing smiling and laughing exercises, my business partner Tim Scally and I started business under the title of Powerlaugh.
Everyone knows how to laugh. What Tim and I created was a structure to laugh within. I’ve always been aware of the value of a good laugh but a good sense of humour is useless if it leaves you when situations turn bad. Living with a chronic illness is an ongoing stress, but it can be managed. Laughter has many Physical and Psychological benefits. Over the last two years my HbA1c level has been 6.5 which I’m lead to believe is pretty good.
I don’t worry about whether I’m feeling funny or not. I use laughter as an exercise. The interesting aspect is that once I start laughing the laugh becomes real. By actively practising laughter, humour creeps more into my life, and by consciously pursuing the humorous or positive interpretations of life’s events, my mood becomes elevated and managing my Diabetes becomes easier.
For more information about
Powerlaugh www.powerlaugh.com Laughter training CD available.
Ph 03 8415 1202
