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To read or not to read......

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Newtothis

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I wish there was a 'pre-warning' post icon - sometimes I read threads that scare the life out of me....just a thought.....
 
I'd rather know what might happen, and what I can do to reduce my own risk of any particular nasty. (My own worst fear is a non-fatal but seriously disabling stroke.)

If something is altogether unavoidable, there's no point worrying about it. Worrying is bad for you, and achieves nothing! Keep smiling. 🙂 Often. 🙂 Did you know that the act of smiling, even if it's forced, can lift the mood? 🙂
 
Did you know that the act of smiling, even if it's forced, can lift the mood?


What a load of beep!! I force smile to my boss every morning and trust me it does not lift my mood!!!! 😛
 
Newtothis I agree with you with regard to posts about diabetes complications. All I seem to be doing at the moment is telling my mum about new ones that I've read with regard to diabetes. We all know that we need to control our diabetes as well as we can - which even with a pump and ten blood tests a day is not easy - but the the posts that were originally posted weren't designed to scare, they were from people afraid - I think that there needs to be more care and sensitivity displayed by those who comment on the original posts.
 
I think that there needs to be more care and sensitivity displayed by those who comment on the original posts.

Just curious but in what way?
 
jalapino said:
I think that there needs to be more care and sensitivity displayed by those who comment on the original posts.

Just curious but in what way?
Click to expand...

I'm trying to be careful not to be specific but one example highlighted that the longer you've had diabetes the higher you're chance of dying from a diabetes complication ie if you got it in the 1970s. You really don't want to hear this when you're only 44 and have had diabetes for 42 years, there are other examples as well
 
example of warning symbol

Interesting & thought provoking thread - thanks for starting Newtothis.

I think that more descriptive thread titles might help, so people can ignore or read, as they choose, without having to open thread. There is a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark can be added to a post at time of writing, but can't be edited to add, I think.

People with complications from diabetes (or any other health problems) also join these boards for support, and are very welcome.

Interpreting statistics is a skill - eg doubling risk from 0.1% to 0.2% still means something is very unlikely to happen.

While reading about complications can be scary, as others have explained, treatment has changed over the decades, so people being diagnosed thes days have less chance of developing complications if they and their medical teams get their treatment right. But even if you do everything right, you lessen your chances of getting complications, rather than guarantee no complications.
 
AJLang said:
I'm trying to be careful not to be specific but one example highlighted that the longer you've had diabetes the higher you're chance of dying from a diabetes complication ie if you got it in the 1970s. You really don't want to hear this when you're only 44 and have had diabetes for 42 years, there are other examples as well
Click to expand...

I truly no what you mean....at 37 it worrys me and scares me what I read....but it makes me want to do better in my diabetes, and also keeps me grounded, as it is easy to think it is not there! 🙂
 
I most definatly agree some posts are scary I am MORE than aware that by having diabetes I have an increased risk of certain illnesses and am even more aware being a nurse but I'm not too fussed on reading scary things posts about diabetes!!

Lets think positive control out glucose levels and love forever 🙂
 
Love forever sounds good to me:D
 
AJLang said:
I'm trying to be careful not to be specific but one example highlighted that the longer you've had diabetes the higher you're chance of dying from a diabetes complication ie if you got it in the 1970s. You really don't want to hear this when you're only 44 and have had diabetes for 42 years, there are other examples as well
Click to expand...

But I don't see how you can get so upset about this. A child born today will have a longer life expectancy than one born in the 1970s - without diabetes. So it's not as if diabetes really has any bearing on this.

Let's also flip this around. It's pretty darn depressing having everyone assume that I am supposedly more at risk of this or that just because those who've had diabetes for longer have skewed the stats.

Then there is the fundamental point that far too many people on this board seem to miss. Complications aren't inevitable. You can stop complications through good blood control. All this stuff about people with diabetes being more at risk of cancer or losing their sight or whatever...it's all utter nonsense if you work for good blood glucose control. Isn't that empowering? Isn't it good to know that your destiny, your long-term prognosis, it's all under your control?

Life is what you make of it. Stats mean nothing. The ONLY thing that matters is what YOU do. So make it worthwhile and make it work for you.
 
LOL - as Mr Wilde said, there are still only two absolute certainties in life - these being:- Death and Taxes !

Personally speaking, I'm jolly glad I know as much as I know about all things medical - and diabetes in particular as it affects me so very much.

I never dwell on complications I could have - I could walk outside and get killed by a bus or an errant motorist; I could get shot in an armed raid whilst innocently queuing in the bank; I could much more likely get cancer (both parents and my only sister, so you'd assume it's almost inevitable innit?) or I could get Alzheimer's/senile dementia; or Parkinson's or anything else.

I could spend my entire life stressing about living ! - why waste my time?
 
DeusXM said:
But I don't see how you can get so upset about this. A child born today will have a longer life expectancy than one born in the 1970s - without diabetes. So it's not as if diabetes really has any bearing on this.

Let's also flip this around. It's pretty darn depressing having everyone assume that I am supposedly more at risk of this or that just because those who've had diabetes for longer have skewed the stats.

Then there is the fundamental point that far too many people on this board seem to miss. Complications aren't inevitable. You can stop complications through good blood control. All this stuff about people with diabetes being more at risk of cancer or losing their sight or whatever...it's all utter nonsense if you work for good blood glucose control. Isn't that empowering? Isn't it good to know that your destiny, your long-term prognosis, it's all under your control?
Click to expand...

PLEASE be more sensitive about what you write. There are people on here who have alaways had EXCELLENT control yet have complications. There are also others who have complications which mean that whatever they do it is not possible to have excellent control. Control can hopefully REDUCE the risk of complications it does not necessarily stop them. Your comments could be interpreted as saying if someone has complications it is their fault, which is not fair and can be hurtful. This is all I have to say with regard to this.
 
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Not on here much these days, but have to second Amanda on this - excellent control is no guarantee that you won't get complications - sorry to depress people but it's just like cancer - having a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk but is no guarantee. So the best you can do is to stack the odds as much as possible in your favour - try & maintain a healthy lifestyle & attitude etc, & try not to let the worries take over your life. Like someone else said, there are plenty of buses etc out there to watch out for too. 😉 It simply is not helpful to make broadly sweeping comments which imply directly or otherwise that complications are somehow self inflicted - I got proliferative retinopathy as a result of pregnancy (known to accelerate retinopathy even with excellent control) ...& the comments from doctors at Leicester eye casualty ("harrumph...you MUST be badly controlled!") sneered at me in comtempt were frankly rather devastating. (HbA1c was 5.8% btw). Sometimes complications just happen, & it's not helpful to pile judgement & condemnation on top of an already distressing situation. If people experiencing complications can't look for moral support on a diabetes forum without being shot down for bringing it on themselves or scare mongering, then it's not much of a support forum anymore.
 
Personally I don't think it's a matter of people looking to be offended.

As ever extreme viewpoints are unhelpful.

The logical conclusion of 'no complications are inevitable at all' is that anyone with complications could have done more to prevent them (and by extension 'only has themselves to blame'). This is an unhelpful viewpoint.

The logical conclusion of 'complications are inevitable for everyone' is that there is no point in trying. This is an unhelpful viewpoint.

This is biology, not maths. Some people given exactly the same assistance, putting in exactly the same effort, being just as careful might encounter an onset of complications that another does not. Even perhaps if the other was reckless in their disregard for control and put in little effort. (my uncle smoked 90 a day and drank scotch like a fish and lived to 126 and other such apocryphal stories)

So while I agree that it is down to each of us to put in all the effort we can sustain to avoid complications, I don't think it's helpful to have an expectation that the effort is guaranteed to be rewarded (or an implicit assumption that a bit more effort could have avoided whatever it is).

There will be clear cases on either end of the spectrum, but most of us will be in the grey area in the middle and need to spend our effort in supporting each other IMO. For myself I don't believe that my life expectancy will be particularly reduced by D as I seem to have managed to keep it relatively under control for much of the time. But I'm not assuming that I'll reach the end of my days without having to face at least some D related problem or other.
 
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This thread has most definitely hit some nerves!! as stated a lot of people have done there best to control there diabetes and still have had complications, end of the day it is a disease and you can try your best but nature will always take its coarse weather it be good or bad, make the most of your life and try your best, and that is all you can do, for me I do not have great control but I try so hard and hopefully I will get it under control with the right meds a support, this forum is so helpful and full of wonderful people and story's that help us all 🙂
 
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