Diabetes question?

Question

This whole diabetes thing seems a bit confusing to me - it seems you can have a mild form of it or on your death bed - can someone sort our 'the grey area' for me please?

For example, how do you know if you are going to the loo excessively or if your eye sight is not as good as it was due to problems with your eyes or some form of diabetes.

Basically what is truth and what is political correctness.

I know everyones body is different and all that, but what are the signs you should really look for and what is chaff - if you are overweight, what are the real danger signals please ?

Sometimes I'm suspicious that the motives of doctors are more about their relationship with the drugs companies than it is with their patients!

Answer 1

I will throw something in the mix. I am 64 slightly overweight and all tests have shown my B.S.L always to be of the high side of normal. I do not do anything excessively.

A week ago I woke up and just about attached myself to the tap, interupted with the need to pee.

My two brothers are type 2 and I have checked my self for over 10 years for the fear that I would succome.

When I forced myself to stop drinking I checked my BSL, it was HI. the limit was 33.5.

I spent a day in hospital and felt better with a Insulin injection.

At present my BSL is between 10 and 16 and I do not have the fuzzy head and headaches.

OK instant diabetes overnight. What do I do. Deal with it. It will not go away and I still want an active lifestyle, swimming, walking and the type of activities a 60+ can achieve.

I will live with it, it is now part of my life, it will not beat me and I intend to continue my lifestyle. Obviously there will be changes, Diet and food awareness, Exercise and a more wholeistic approach.

Cons:
It is going to cost me money
I am going to have to inject regulary
I will have to carry a medallion indicating the condition.
(I say condition and not disese as there is no cure)
I will have to carry a emergency kit with me
I will not go on thats negative

Pros:
I will get fit and probably live longer than I would
I am more aware of my body now
I have lost weight and a favourite shirt fits again
The dog is happy he gets walked more often

Best of all ,we all take life for granted, it takes something like this to make one count their blessings and realize that life could be much more cruel.

This actually makes you enjoy life better. I have been married for over 42 tears and in the last few days our relationship has perked up. There's life in the old boy still.

My advice:
Do not sweat the small stuff and remember-

No matter how good you are in this life you will never get out of it alive

I look forward to giving those angels a bit of stick when my time comes.

At least be happy

Terry

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

Okay, first, there is no way a doctor would give a non-diabetic insulin if they were not diabetic to make money. Doing so can be leathal.

Diabetes, pretty much, is diabetes. There is no, "my diabetes is more serious than yours" kind of thing. Some people do have more difficulty controlling it, and it is not always their own fault - things like stress and flu can really throw your diabetes out of whack.

Going to the loo excessively? Believe me, if you have (uncontrolled) diabetes or have been there, you'd understand, because you need to go ALL THE FREAKING TIME. It's like instead of going once every few hrs, you go once every 20minutes.

Personally, I've gotten away with a LOT of stuff over the years, and I should have died several times over. Not because I don't know what to do (I used to work as a nurse as well), but because I didn't care. Now I'm 21 and I can't walk anymore, due to diabetic peripheral neuropthy.

Your eyes etc are meant to be checked. Eyes once a year, kidneys once or twice a year, feet a few times a year etc.

Truth an political correctness? Your blood sugar level (BSL) should be (approx. and this will differ depending on who you ask), 3.5mmol/l (or 63mg/dl) - 8mmol/l (144mg/dl). I've spent the last 8yrs running between 20mmol/l (320mg/dl) - 30mmol/l (540mg/dl). My highest is 792. So, okay, I'm not dead (although I probably should be), but I can't walk. I'm lucky I haven't gone blind.

I take my insulin and do what I'm supposed to, now that it's too late. And I lurk these boards and tell people this, not because I'm proud or because I like to say, "haha, I should be dead but I'm not", but because I understand what it's like to have REALLY poorly controlled diabetes, and because I know what it's like to spend your 21st birthday in a wheelchair out of nothing but pure stupidity.

Answer 5

Well I am glad you ask that question because I am not overweight and I do eat normally but I was told that I was at high risk two years ago and that I was pre-diabetic. Which to me didn't make sense. I figure you are or you aren't. Although, it is a very serious disease and yes giving someone medications that are unecessary are lethal as one person answered and I am sure that the doctors are not getting kickbacks by trying to fake people into the disease. Your sugar counts tell you you are or you aren't. There so many reprecussions you will pay if you don't take care of your self with the disease. But, if someone can clear up the prediabetes thing than i would rest assure. Good luck on getting your answer.

Answer 6

The differences are due to how people take care of themselves. There are also differences in types of diabetes - Type 1 (juvenile, insulin dependent) and Type 2 (adult onset). If you don't take care of yourself properly this can lead to loss of eyesight, gangrene then amputation, kidney failure, and other organ failure.

When I was diagnosed, I was using the restroom every 15 minutes. And I always had something to drink onhand because I was that thirsty. I couldn't sit through a class for too long without needing to urinate. I was also tired all the time. When I came home I slept. All the time.

Answer 7

Get a blood test and find out if you have it. Type two diabetes is where you have some insulin producing cells but they are not functioning well enough to control heavy loads of glucose.
I was very concerned about this because family members were diagnosed so I got tested too. I was given the all clear but I need to control my weight and eat low Glycemic index foods to delay potential onset of the condition.

http://www.glycemicindex.com

Answer 8

Answer --> http://DiabetesGoGo.com/?dVTF