You know you're getting old . . .

[allenlook]

Sorry 400, didn't mean to make you type that much of a response

Diabetes took my grandmother, slowly over the course of many years, most of which she could not communicate with us. It's in the process of taking my mother.

Neither was particularly predisposed genetically to diabetes, but both had (have) not cared for themselves over the years, and with the constant onslaught of dietary supplements like high-fructose corn syrup, their insulin resistance syndrome slowly manifested itself as full-blown type 2 diabetes.

Both had plenty of doctors' warnings to eat right and exercise, and in my grandmother's case to stop smoking, but both ignored all of the warnings, both verbal and in the form of signs (mini-strokes, increasing blindness, loss of circulation or sensation in their extremities, etc.) I don't consider either of them to have gotten a disease so much as they were entrenchant and continued to act in ways that destroyed their bodies, much as smoking or drinking to excess can cause systemic failures - so can the intake of sugar(s) apparently.

[400lbsonacubseatspring]

Neither was particularly predisposed genetically to diabetes, but both had (have) not cared for themselves over the years, and with the constant onslaught of dietary supplements like high-fructose corn syrup, their insulin resistance syndrome slowly manifested itself as full-blown type 2 diabetes.

Both had plenty of doctors' warnings to eat right and exercise, and in my grandmother's case to stop smoking, but both ignored all of the warnings, both verbal and in the form of signs (mini-strokes, increasing blindness, loss of circulation or sensation in their extremities, etc.) I don't consider either of them to have gotten a disease so much as they were entrenchant and continued to act in ways that destroyed their bodies, much as smoking or drinking to excess can cause systemic failures - so can the intake of sugar(s) apparently.

Well Allen,

My opinion has always been this:

There are some patients that can totally change their way of lives, and then again, there are some that cannot help but fail. In the case of those that fail, their doctors need to recognize that fact, and treat the disease accordingly.

More than half of the people who have diabetes don't manage it properly, and for good reason-- it's literally hell on earth. In these instances, keeping the blood sugar down AT ANY COST should be the treatment plan, instead of saying to the patient "oh well, you're just not trying hard enough"...... That is a medical school of thought, and not just a personal opinion, by the way. Regrettably, it is not the prevailing school of thought.

It is really easy to look at diabetes as an outsider, and say that one must limit one's carbohydrates to, say, less than 20% of their daily calorie intake, which is probably the optimum level for diabetics. Considering, though that the average american diet consists of 70% of its calories from carbohydrates, you can see how difficult this might be. We've all been taught to "eat up" on the bread, cereal, rice group of foods from the food pyramid for the last 20 years, but to a diabetic, this is not an option.

Imagine only having 2 TOTAL servings of all of the following a day, and see how well you would do. And remember, this is servings by the label, not "real life" servings.

1 slice bread or toast
1 ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes
1/2 cup of rice
4 saltines
6 oyster crackers
2 pretzels
1/2 peach, pear, banana, or apple
1 scoop ice cream
2 oreos
1/12 of an 8" pie
1 cupcake
1 tbspn jelly or jam

oh heck, I could keep on listing, but remember, you're only allowed 2 of these a day.

Life gets pretty darn grim after a while, when you're stuck with such limited carb choices. The other side of the coin is what do you replace all this stuff with?? There's only so much protein, fat, and high-fibre veggies that you can eat, especially safely....too much fat has cholesterol implications...too much protein will blow out your kidneys too much fibre causes irritable bowel syndrome and rectal fissures. Even a cup full of fresh garden peas count as 1 carb serving. When you take something that's supposed to be fun, or at least enjoyable, (and this is built into our instincts for many thousands of years) and turn it into 100 potentially harmful decisions a day, there is an element of depression that creeps in, and that's part of what I used to write about.

I've always recommended that people learn more about diabetes than their doctors actually know, and then come up with their own treatment plans. If your doctor realizes that you know what you're doing, they'll have no choice but to agree or lose you as a patient.

Now my own treatment plan consists of "doing the best I can" in regard to diet, and taking a massive dose of 2 different types of insulin every day. So much, in fact, that I have to order special syringes, or break it down into 6 shots with conventional insulin syringes. This amount, if injected into an elephant, would kill him in a matter of minutes, I'm told, but it keeps my blood sugar within manageable ranges, and now with 13 years under my belt, I'm happy to say that the only real side effects have been some strange neurological occurances from time to time, which seem to come and go, but are helped with medication. My triglyceride levels are 10 times the "high normal" level of humans, but, so far, so good, and all the research points to high triglycerides as a "risk factor indicator" but not a cause of vascular disease. The best part of all of this is that my doctor concurrs, and asks ME how my sugar is doing. Once in a while he'll draw some bloodwork to see how truthful I'm being, I guess, but he's usually pretty happy overall. I take more insulin and have higher triglycerides than anyone he's ever treated or even read about, but there have been worse in my family's history.

So.........if you feel that your mother is really losing the battle to diabetes, I'd recommend taking a proactive approach, and get her a doctor that realizes her shortcomings as a patient, but is willing to treat her to the best of his ability anyway.

In closing, let me tell you about one of my cousins. He has a high-pressure job, but has always been very athletic. Around the age of 40, he developed high cholesterol, mild diabetes, and high bloodpressure (all family traits, sadly). His doctor gave him the choice of medication or improved diet and excercise. Since he is pharmaphobic, he chose the diet and excercise. While things did improve slightly, and his doctor was satisfied, his numbers still ranged above the "high normal" range in all 3 problems. At 43 he took a massive heart attack, which his cardiologist blamed on these 3 factors, and chastised him for believing that diet and excercise can cure everything. He's back at his job, but is no longer athletic, and, in addition to the medication he takes for these problems, he also takes a host of cardiac medications. As I mentioned before, it is important to control these diseases BY WHATEVER MEANS POSSIBLE...natural methods are not necessarily any better than pharmacological methods in clinical analysis.

Best of luck on this one, Allen, and to your mother as well.


--Tom

[allenlook]

Well said Tom, and thank you!

Unfortunately, depression (for other reasons) has had a grip on my mother for 60+ years and there's no changing her ways.