DIABETES
I have diabetes. There. I said it! I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 three years ago, after being borderline for several years. Diabetes is an epidemic in this country, affecting the young and the old, and those in between. It affects 1 out of every 7 Americans. Its the number one cause of blindness, limb amputations and kidney failure and its a major contributor to heart disease. And it affects all economic strata. And now I am part of it.
We all know what we have to do. We have to eat less, eat better and exercise more, but I am not going to talk about that very much. I thought I would just share a few things I have gone through in my journey with this disease and share some of my frustrations. Maybe there are some others going through this and maybe this post will help you and you can help me.
The major reason I have diabetes, per my doctor, is genetics, not that I have abused myself the past 50 plus years. My father had Type 2 and took insulin shots for the rest of his life. He used to be very athletic and was a great sportsman and outdoorsman. He was the unofficial arm wrestling champion of Cape Cod back in the 50's. But he let himself go in mid life and developed diabetes. He also smoked 3 packs of Pall Malls a day which contributed to poor circulation as well. He eventually had his toes cut off on one foot and then half of that same foot. It pained me greatly to see this handsome, athletic, outdoor man reduced to a wheelchair to get around in. The diabetes and smoking led to heart disease and Dad died at 66 years old.
One time we were visiting my parents on Cape Cod in the late 1970's. We lived in Danbury Ct. at the time. I was saying good bye to my father as he was lying in his bed. He told me he had lived his life and don't worry about him. I bent over and gave him a kiss and told him I loved him. When we were leaving I beeped the horn, and looked in his bedroom window. I was going home with my beautiful family, could work in the yard and garden, split wood, go for a run and had the big part of my life still ahead of me.
But that vision of my father laying there with half his foot off, moving around in a wheelchair stayed with me. I vowed to never let that happen to me. I never smoked, exercised 6 days a week all my life, even when I had long commutes and traveled on business. I watched what I ate, had plenty of fruits, veggies, fish, grain, etc. Sure I had some treats and ate some junk food. We have to have some fun eating!! So it was quite a shock to me when I was officially diagnosed. I said to my doctor that I know guys that are 50 pounds overweight and have the half moon belly and they don't have diabetes. He said they could down the road and if they don't get it, they will have all kinds of other health problems. He said I had it because of genetics and if I hadn't been exercising all those years and watching what I ate, I would have a lot worse case of diabetes.
So for the past 3 years I have been taking medicine, but not insulin. But I can't get the blood sugar numbers down to where they should be. The doctor has increased the medicine and I will be trying another one as well. I am also taking Niacin and have cut out even more sugar or high fructose corn syrup from what I eat. I used to sprinkle a little sugar on my cereal but now I skip that and just sprinkle fresh fruit on. I have cut out most bread and anything white-white sugar, white rice, white bread, white flour, etc. I am eating smaller portions and am on basically a Mediterranean diet and am exercising even more. I recently went 5 weeks without one sweet of any kind and the blood sugar numbers did not go down. So its been pretty frustating. Hopefully the new meds will help drive the numbers down. And its just possible that the pancreas is shutting down as I get older, based on my genetics and I may have to take insulin.
But thats ok. I am living a pretty normal life. I just can't eat anything I want, in any size portions, at any time I want, like years ago!! I am biking, hiking, walking, kayaking, using the treadmill, goingto the Y, snowshoeing in the winter, having lots of baked and broiled seafood and fresh veggies and fruits and working on a lot of projects.
If you see me around town, stop me and I will buy you a cup of coffee. Just no doughnuts or muffins for me. Thanking you for your time, this time, until next time, FRAN
We all know what we have to do. We have to eat less, eat better and exercise more, but I am not going to talk about that very much. I thought I would just share a few things I have gone through in my journey with this disease and share some of my frustrations. Maybe there are some others going through this and maybe this post will help you and you can help me.
The major reason I have diabetes, per my doctor, is genetics, not that I have abused myself the past 50 plus years. My father had Type 2 and took insulin shots for the rest of his life. He used to be very athletic and was a great sportsman and outdoorsman. He was the unofficial arm wrestling champion of Cape Cod back in the 50's. But he let himself go in mid life and developed diabetes. He also smoked 3 packs of Pall Malls a day which contributed to poor circulation as well. He eventually had his toes cut off on one foot and then half of that same foot. It pained me greatly to see this handsome, athletic, outdoor man reduced to a wheelchair to get around in. The diabetes and smoking led to heart disease and Dad died at 66 years old.
One time we were visiting my parents on Cape Cod in the late 1970's. We lived in Danbury Ct. at the time. I was saying good bye to my father as he was lying in his bed. He told me he had lived his life and don't worry about him. I bent over and gave him a kiss and told him I loved him. When we were leaving I beeped the horn, and looked in his bedroom window. I was going home with my beautiful family, could work in the yard and garden, split wood, go for a run and had the big part of my life still ahead of me.
But that vision of my father laying there with half his foot off, moving around in a wheelchair stayed with me. I vowed to never let that happen to me. I never smoked, exercised 6 days a week all my life, even when I had long commutes and traveled on business. I watched what I ate, had plenty of fruits, veggies, fish, grain, etc. Sure I had some treats and ate some junk food. We have to have some fun eating!! So it was quite a shock to me when I was officially diagnosed. I said to my doctor that I know guys that are 50 pounds overweight and have the half moon belly and they don't have diabetes. He said they could down the road and if they don't get it, they will have all kinds of other health problems. He said I had it because of genetics and if I hadn't been exercising all those years and watching what I ate, I would have a lot worse case of diabetes.
So for the past 3 years I have been taking medicine, but not insulin. But I can't get the blood sugar numbers down to where they should be. The doctor has increased the medicine and I will be trying another one as well. I am also taking Niacin and have cut out even more sugar or high fructose corn syrup from what I eat. I used to sprinkle a little sugar on my cereal but now I skip that and just sprinkle fresh fruit on. I have cut out most bread and anything white-white sugar, white rice, white bread, white flour, etc. I am eating smaller portions and am on basically a Mediterranean diet and am exercising even more. I recently went 5 weeks without one sweet of any kind and the blood sugar numbers did not go down. So its been pretty frustating. Hopefully the new meds will help drive the numbers down. And its just possible that the pancreas is shutting down as I get older, based on my genetics and I may have to take insulin.
But thats ok. I am living a pretty normal life. I just can't eat anything I want, in any size portions, at any time I want, like years ago!! I am biking, hiking, walking, kayaking, using the treadmill, goingto the Y, snowshoeing in the winter, having lots of baked and broiled seafood and fresh veggies and fruits and working on a lot of projects.
If you see me around town, stop me and I will buy you a cup of coffee. Just no doughnuts or muffins for me. Thanking you for your time, this time, until next time, FRAN
posted by Fran Larkin at
10:38 AM
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