You've heard about the sports stars and the rock stars who succeed in life despite suffering from diabetes. Now, here's something a little more unusual: a circus acrobat! Dolly Jacobs is Circus Sarasota's "Queen of the Air." She recently gave an interview to the Bradenton Herald about her life in the circus.

Trim and petite like a dancer, Jacobs was diagnosed ten years ago. How did it happen? She had the warning signs most type 1s experience: weight loss and a killer thirst she just could not quench. Her mom already had type 1, so during a routine office visit, Jacobs asked the doc to check her blood sugar too. Whoa. It was 260 - way, way above normal. Jacobs was diagnosed not with type 1, but with a rarer form sometimes dubbed "type 1.5" or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of the Adult (LADA). LADA is basically the same as type 1 diabetes, but develops later in life.

So how does one deal with diabetes when your job involves flying through the air with the greatest of ease? Low blood sugar is easy, says Jacobs. Correct it with a soda or juice. High blood sugar is tougher. She says she can go as high as 500 or 600 just from adrenaline. So, just like any other athlete, she depends on testing several times daily and she wears an insulin pump - but not when she's performing. Eating healthy - lean meats, fruits and veg - are important too, she says.

Click here to read more. Kudos, by the way, to the journalist who wrote this article, Roberta C. Nelson, for taking time out to identify the different forms of diabetes and to explain the dangers associated with high vs. low blood sugar. Great!

The results of this study do not surprise me at all. Researchers have found that psychosocial factors like cynical distrust, chronic stress and depression, may be associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers. These inflammatory markers are related to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of premature death among people with diabetes.

The study included 6,814 men and women between the ages of 45 to 84. Participants were assessed for their levels of depression, chronic stress and cynical distrust. Blood samples obtained at the start of the study were analyzed for markers for inflammation. The researchers found associations between all three psychosocial factors and inflammatory markers.

A high stress lifestyle may increase the chance that an individual engages in social behaviors that increase inflammatory markers. The same high stress lifestyle may contribute to obesity and related metabolic problems. Furthermore, socioeconomic position is likely to be a precursor to psychosocial characteristics. True. But let's not wager our lives on a dollar-denominated scale. Consider the Chinese proverb, those who know when they have enough are rich. Now ask yourself where you stand in the socioeconomic parade. If you put it that way - I'm on easy street! Too bad it's in the wrong neighborhood.