No Sunday question today because it’s an international movement day instead. Today is World Diabetes Day, where those of us who wish to participate write something about diabetes, and of course, being diabetic, I’m going to write something.
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I’ve written on this topic a number of times, mainly as it pertains to my life. So, to start off, I’m going to share all those previous links here, just to get them out of the way:
A Bad Day In The Life Of A Diabetic
On Insulin But Not Dependent (from my other blog)
This year’s theme is supposed to be about healthy lifestyles. Well, I’m still going to do it my way. First, let’s talk about things I haven’t talked about before as it pertains to me. Some of these things I can’t prove are related to my diabetes in some fashion, but the timing makes it seem likely. For one, I’m tired often. Over the last 8 years, I feel more tired all the time. Thing is, I don’t sleep more than 5 or 6 hours in a row most of the time, even after I got the CPAP, and I’ve learned that there are times when I wake up feeling pretty good, yet hours later I still feel I need a nap. That didn’t happen before I was diabetic; I only took naps on Sundays back then. Now, sometimes I need to take a nap before I can eat, then want to take another after I eat; strange.
Next there’s hair. The hair on my head has always grown fast, and that continues. However, I now have hair on my chest, hands and arms and a slight bit on my back and shoulders. I never had hair before I started taking diabetic medications in 2003. Now, maybe hair starts growing in certain places as one gets old, like ears and the like, but once again, the timing is suspect. I also shave more; I never used to have to shave more than every 4th day, but now I sometimes need to shave every day.
And my memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be. Now, that one easily could be age and all the things I have on my mind, but it’s strange. I’ll look at someone and not remember their name, and I’m talking about people I just finished talking to that I’ve known for years. I get up from my desk, heading to the kitchen, and will get to the living room and stop because I can’t remember where I was going or why. Now, eventually everything comes back, but it’s still freaky.
Next the healthy part. This was going to be a separate post, but I’ll toss it in now. About 2 months ago I went on a metabolic eating plan to help me with my weight. I’ve been going to the gym now since the last week of May, and I hadn’t lost any weight; I’d actually gained 9 pounds. Since I started this plan I lost all the weight I’d gained and a little bit more. When I was flying back and forth to Ft. Lauderdale last month I noticed immediately how much more comfortable I was sitting on the airplane; sweet! I’ve lost 4 inches off my stomach and some in other areas as well; I’m kind of a happy guy. The weight continues to be my biggest issue (oxymoron), but I stick to the plan during the week, except for meetings, and I get to go off a little bit on the weekends; I can handle that.
Medications… well, that’s dicey. When I remember to take them I do well. My glucose readings have been very good since I went on the eating plan, sometimes to the point where after working out I’ve gone too low and have to immediately eat. My doctor took me off one of the medications, which I see is a positive step forwards. But I still have to remember to take what I have; yeah, I’ll work on that.
Diabetes runs in my family, so I always knew it was coming for me. It doesn’t run in a lot of families, and yet the number of people who are becoming diabetic is growing in leaps and bounds. Some doctors have estimated that by 2050 half the population will either be diabetic or be showing diabetic symptoms; might as well just call you diabetic. If you look through some of those links above you’ll see it’s not easy fighting this thing, or even dealing with it sometimes. But as I wrote in that motivation post some days ago, I try to find something to motivate me and then get back on the plan. And having a friend of mine pass away on Thursday at the age of 42 due to weight issues is enough motivation for me to continue trying to be better when I’m supposed to be.
Everyone’s supposed to be wearing blue today supporting the cause. I don’t always live up to those things (I certainly don’t on days when we’re supposed to wear green or pink because I don’t have those colors), so I’m not going to be out looking for everyone to be wearing these things. All I’m going to say is if you’re not feeling well for a long period of time, especially after eating or drinking something sweet or with a lot of carbs (alcohol), get yourself checked out. The sooner they catch it, the sooner you can get on a program that, if you follow it, can help you live a much longer life After all, just 30 years ago people didn’t live much past 55 with diabetes; these days, if we take care of ourselves, we can live a nice long life without losing a limb or our eyesight.
I’m thankful for that.
Thankfully, no one in my family is a diabetic. My ex was and he takes insulin. I wonder why diabetes stirkes blacks more so than any other ethnic group. Do you know why?
As far your memory goes, I do think that has more to do with aging–although there are probably some medications on the market that kill the brain cells. Of course, I’m sure you don’t want to know about that 🙂
It’s freaky thinking about loss of memory and pills; so no, I’m not thinking about it. lol As for blacks and diabetes, I have no real idea on that one. But it’s prevalent in my family, my dad’s side, drastically.
Hi Mitch, I thought I lost my comment on this post. But I replied to your 2009 post. Toink! Anyways! It’s another year past for me to celebrate this day. I’m very thankful that I still don’t have the complications. Best regards friend.
Jhong, I hope you never have any. As you have seen, I have some here and there, but nothing I can’t control by trying to take care of myself.
At one point i read that stress can cause diabetes, and i have to admit that if this is true a lot of us should be scared. Lately I’ve heard that more and more kids suffer from diabetes – this is the result of a bad lifestyle and lack of info and education when it comes to what to eat.
I trust that we don;t have enough info to prevent this disease, which is pretty bad, and we need to get informed as soon as possible.
Actually Mia, unless it runs in your family, there’s lots of information on how to prevent it, or at least stave it off. But few of us eat the way we’re supposed to, so it’s not all that easy.
Thanks for hitting on this important subject, Mitch.
I have an uncle (66) who is a hemophiliac bleeder(wheelchair bound),had diabetes, and was afflicted with cancer a couple of years ago. This guy is amazing….what modern science can do these days….
My Dad and my grandmother also had diabetes, so I’m on the look out!
BTW- The uncle & Grandmother are both on my maternal side of the family- so I have it on both sides…..
Yeah Carolee, you really do have to be careful. Have to watch out for those french fries and pasta. lol And good for your uncle to be able to survive with all of that.
My grandma have diabetes for more than 35 years, it is a rare form of diabetes through other internal illness. However she could handle daily insulin for more than 20 years. Her vision is weaker now and have problem with her feet. I hope she will be fine for the next 35 years.
Hi Mitch
Way to go with your healthy eating plan…yay 🙂 Well done with the weight loss. My sister-in-law is diabetic and thankfully neither of her children are. She is not insulin dependant and only became tyep2 diabetic after she had her children. I’m sure if you manage to stick to what you should be eating you will begin to feel heaps better. There is lots more I could say but I’ll leave it at that. It’s great that you are heading in the right direction. Keep it up.
Patricia Perth Australia
Thanks Pat. I tell you though, I fight cravings all the time. I’ve gotten used to the routine of exercising, but none of it has curbed my dreams of eating desserts all the time.
It’s true that the incidence of diabetes is growing dramatically. When I was a kid, I don’t think I knew anyone who was diabetic. Now it seems I talk to someone everyday who is either diabetic or has someone in their family. As you said, people are living much longer with the disease, so that may be a partial explanation. Do you know if diabetes would be picked up during a routine check-up with blood work? Or do they have to look for it specifically?
Regarding the occasional memory loss, I wonder if it’s possible that with all of your blogs and workshops and seminars and meetings and newsletters, your mind is juggling nineteen different balls, and it sometimes drops one. In that context, it doesn’t seem so scary. (A different example: Alzheimer’s always involves forgetfulness, but not all forgetfulness indicates Alzheimer’s. Nevertheless, if you’re a worrier, that’s the first thing you think of.)
Keep taking care of yourself. And sorry to hear about your friend.
Thanks Charles. Actually, a routine blood test should pick up at least an anomaly that there’s something wrong. It’s one of the things I believe they automatically test for now, though I could be wrong on that front. It’s really a quick test to see. However, I know so many people who were walking around with symptoms yet never mentioned anything to a doctor, or even went to see a doctor, and suddenly were in the emergency room with issues. That’s why I told my story in one of these links, hoping that someone else won’t go through any of it.
Hey Mitch, I am really proud of you for getting yourself healthy! You know the topic is close to my heart!
You being tired more and having a “cloudy” brain is typical for people with diabetes. I know you have your diet covered and are doing well. Not sure what it consists of but you should be avoiding grains as much as possible. In fact, I have seen studies where subjects who decreased their animal product consumption had tremendous results as well. Focus on a plant based diet and you can’t go wrong- you should also be trying to do activity every single day to help clear the glucose from your bloodstream, if not every other day at a minimum.
If you have not stumbled across them already check out: Anything by Dr. Neil Barnard, Thrive by Brendan Brazier, and The China Study by Dr. Campbell.
And keep up the great work! I look forward to hearing your next update!
Thanks Susan. Actually, the Metabolic diet has this list of foods I can eat, and there’s quite the variety. I was surprised to find potatoes on the list, along with brown rice and wheat products, but it’s there. You probably haven’t been reading this blog for long, but I don’t eat many vegetables, and I eat no fruit unless it’s in a pie (isn’t that a shame), and even then there’s only a couple. So my diet is mainly meat, which has actually helped as I’ve been measuring portions. Turns out I wasn’t eating enough food, of all things. That helps the glucose stay down as well.
I for one am massively proud of you for working out and sticking with it 😉 I would help you with the memory stuff but I forget what I was going to say… maybe if I get up, go in the other room and come back it will hit me 🙂
Sue, what were we talking about? lol And thanks for the other.
I dunno… what’s your name again? (snicker) Oh you’re welcome… but, for what?
I don’t know; I forgot.
By the way Miss Sue, you’re still not putting your blog link in, though you don’t have to obviously.
My blog link? Oh … no it says … Okay, I’m sorry what are we talking about? I put my website up there in the website thing. AND I sorely have to update my blog. Oh, wait, I scrolled up, I put a tag line and my blog… I see 🙂 I hadn’t noticed that before. I will…
Okay but wait until I give it some attention.
Getting type 2 diabetes in your 30’s sucks. You then learn that diabetes will lead to blindness. As you do some research you find that the drugs prescribed to treat diabetes do a lot of harm to your organs and is the reason why doctors tell you not to drink alcohol. So essentially life is over, you cannot drink, you cannot eat tasty stuff such as donuts, chocolate bars, pasta, sodas, cookies, twinkies, or even rice and potatos. Red meat is often off the menu as well. You are left with vegetables and chicken. Then you may develop problems with your nerves and sexual activity and desire is gone or declined. So, essentially you being to live the life of an 80 year old.
Actually Kathy, diabetes leads to a lot of bad stuff, but if you control it, as much as you can, you can still eat all this other stuff, just in moderation.