Advice about type 2.

[samade10]

Hi I have a query i need help with.

My nan is in her 70s and she is a type 2 diabetic, she was diagnosed about 3 years ago.

Im a bit worried as she keeps forgetting to take her tablets. Apparently her bloods are ok when she goes for a check up once a year. She doesnt check bs herself, never has.

Im just wondering if shes doing any harm to herself. She got told that one of her kidneys wasnt working properly but wasnt told what was wrong.

My mum is worried as she thinks that because of my nans age, the kidney problem and not taking her meds doesnt seem to bother the doctor?😱

Im not sure how different type 1 diabetes, which i have, is to type 2.
Any advice would be greatly apreciated as we are worried about her.

Samantha.

 

[Copepod]

Hi Samade

It depends on your Nan's priorities, which I can't know, but I'm pretty sure that I'd have reacted differently and been prepared to make different adjustments if I were diagnosed type 2 in my 70s, compared to type 1 aged 30, where I want my organs to be working 50 years into my 80s.

However, there are "tricks" for helping to remember tablets eg "dose-it" boxes with sections for each day, which can be filled weekly by pharmacist or family member - if section is empty, then tablet have been taken, if still there, they need to be taken; also taking a notepad & pen into appointments with questions writtin down before and answers written down during appointment or immediately afterwards.

While dietary advice and practice has changed in our lifetimes, it has changed even more in a lifetime of over 70 years. My own Mum & Dad are in their 70s - she likes cooking, including trying new ingredients (she was buying unfamiliar Caribbean veggies & cheap cuts of meat & offal from London markets in 1950s / 60s) and produces great food, but Dad can't cook anything and likes buying cakes from bakery. However, they keep their weight under control and are pretty active by walking and playing with children mainly. I wouldn't want to tell them how to live their lives 🙂

 

[Mark T]

I guess it depends on what her HbA1c?s look like.

In the Gretchen Becker book (which I don?t have on me right now) there is a table of HbA1c over 6% versus risk of retinopathy ? I seem to recall that for an HbA1c of 8% you have about a 1% risk. The risk is cumulative; therefore over 10 years that risk becomes 10%

(I suspect the table isn?t quite right, since some people seem to be more susceptible to complications then others)

So if she is only slightly high it may be the case that the GP is indeed thinking, well in the time she has left it?s not likely to hurt her.

What medication is she on ? I thought that Metformin wasn?t supposed to be given to anyone with kidney problems.

 

[Andy HB]

I guess it depends on what her HbA1c?s look like.

That's pretty much what I'd say. So long as the HbA1c is 6.5% or below, then I wouldn't worry about it.

But if higher, how about getting one of those pill boxes into which you put one (or however many) pills per day. Then, it should be a little easier to remember whether she's taken them or not. Especially if the box is somewhere visible.

Andy 🙂

 

[cherrypie]

Hi,
I am 72 years young and am hoping that I have a lot of time left as much as 30 years. It is amazing, after reading some of the replies, how the young think we are living on borrowed time.

Kidney function does decline with age regardless of diabetes. Is she taking an ACE inhibitor to protect her kidneys? Ramipril is the usual one given.

Without HBA1c results there is no way of knowing if her control is good. If you are well off for test strips perhaps you could ask her to do a day's testing with your help?

You can get a pill box divided into 7 compartments for a week's worth of pills and they are not expensive. I have sticker on the fridge to prompt me and hubby.

If she is fiercely independent like me then tread carefully as she may see it as an intrusion and you don't want to alienate her. She probably cooks from scratch as most of her generation do and you could make a few suggestions if you notice that she is eating too many carbohydrates.

Hope all works out well for you.

 

[Mark T]

...I am 72 years young and am hoping that I have a lot of time left as much as 30 years...

I'd hope you get more then 30 years I'd like to get well into 3 figures myself.

Although if you use/believe statistics, the current average life expectancy is apparently ~80 years.

 

[cherrypie]

I'd hope you get more then 30 years I'd like to get well into 3 figures myself.

Although if you use/believe statistics, the current average life expectancy is apparently ~80 years.

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital. .....Unknown author.
Statistics are like a drunk with a lamp post. Used more for support than illumination. .....Winston Churchill.

 

[Copepod]

Not meaning to imply that 70 is borrowed time, but it is reasonable to expect that some in their 30s will live for more years into the future than someone in their 70s.

I did explain that I wouldn't want to tell anyone in their 70s (like my parents) how to live their lives and that, like Cherrypie, they cook better than many younger people. I had already mentioned dose-it boxes to help remind to take tablets / know if they've already been taken.

Anyway, hope Samade, her Nan and medics can choose the best course of action for Nan.

 

[Mark T]

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital. .....Unknown author.
Statistics are like a drunk with a lamp post. Used more for support than illumination. .....Winston Churchill.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Disraeli