Hi, my name is Morris & i am a 62yr old Scot.
I've finally decided after more than 20yrs to engage with diabetesUK as i'm not one for joining groups or organisations. i am a 62yr old man & i should have probably read up about diabetes long ago, i wouldn't have ended up with so many misconceptions about the ''illness''? ''condition''? ''disability''? i never know which due to several factors regarding my health.
i know more than i'd like to know about autoimmune conditions. i was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1991 when i was 29 & had to stop working as a trawler skipper at the end of 1994 due to my MS. In 2004 at the age of 42 i was diagnosed with type 2 & spent the next two decades accordingly. i was also diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, another auto-immune condition at the same time, due to the crossover between both the thyroid & diabetes.
Then in August 2021 i had a blackout caused by my menieres, put simply, it's like tinnitus in only one ear, affects my balance, causes dizziness & blackouts, not to mention the projectile vomiting at least three days a week, usually if i've slept at night & wakened lying flat on my back, the nausea can last days at a time, which is why after my hip break i began losing weight as i had no appetite. By January 2022 i'd gone from 15st 4lb to 9st 2lb, of course i know now what caused the weightloss. in the Feb i took very ill & ended up in hospital where i was informed i was type 1 diabetic. This confused me as i know two people who have been type 1 since they were young children & thought you had to be born type 1, obviously not.
Two years later i am still under 10st & haven't exercised since i played american football in my 20's, before the MS, now my exercise only goes as far as using my ''iain botham'' machine, you'll have seen the TV ads? I use it for my legs, naturally, otherwise i'd need to stand on my head to put my hands on it. I use it for my legs as my MS causing muscle spasms & cramps which have prevented me sleeping for over 30 years. After an hour of using my revitive on that first day i slept for seven hours that night, longest sleep i'd had since jan 2009 when i was in a coma for 12days after double pneumonia led to multiple organ failure.
Now i'm living with multiple auto-immune conditions, they are not diseases or illnesses, even if they could kill me.
I know i should eat better but i rarely have an appetite for eating & when i do it's weird combinations like new potatoes & coleslaw, & i've gone off red meat, pork & even bacon!!!!! I had a tub of greek yoghurt for my xmas dinner last year as that was my faddy diet at the time & like all my strange menus i've gone off yoghurts entirely & right now i'm craving a bowl of boiled cabbage with butter & pepper & last month i defrosted my freezer & threw out £100 worth of smoked haddock & scallops from my time craving my homemade cullen skink. I first made it when i was 15 & cooking for a crew of five aboard my late father's trawler, but we'd have it for breakfast at sea, our version of surf & turf as i'd add grilled square sliced sausages to the fish, onions & cubes of potato & it's made not with fresh milk but tinned carnation milk, don't knock it till you try it.
I read here that depression can be a side effect of diabetes but i'm far too Scottish & sarcastic to be depressed, unless it's by manchester united's league position. There is one tiny flaw in this website, asking me to introduce myself. Especially if i've been taking my ''medicine'' prescribed by curaleaf, again you might have seen their ads on TV? I use it for my MS & since starting using prescribid medical cannabis i have cut my intake of opiod painkillers by 75% a day, if i take any painkillers & muscle relaxants at all. My cannabis & revitive machine have replaced things like the 8 dihydrocodiene i used to have to take every day for the last 25yrs & i rarely take any at all. Much better for me even if the prescription from curaleaf costs me over £300 a month, i use it for three weeks then stop for two weeks before getting a repeat prescription. Works for me but how it helps others will be different on a case by case basis.
The one thing my diabetes & other conditions can't do is rob me of my sense of humour & biting sarcasm, but don't worry, i wear a Tshirt that gives anyone approaching a trigger warning like every program on TV these days. It helps warn any of Gen Z & prevent them from having a panic attack or their 'personal space' being compromised, i know how sensitive they can be in the 21st century. Yes, i'm being sarcastic.
I've finally decided after more than 20yrs to engage with diabetesUK as i'm not one for joining groups or organisations. i am a 62yr old man & i should have probably read up about diabetes long ago, i wouldn't have ended up with so many misconceptions about the ''illness''? ''condition''? ''disability''? i never know which due to several factors regarding my health.
i know more than i'd like to know about autoimmune conditions. i was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1991 when i was 29 & had to stop working as a trawler skipper at the end of 1994 due to my MS. In 2004 at the age of 42 i was diagnosed with type 2 & spent the next two decades accordingly. i was also diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, another auto-immune condition at the same time, due to the crossover between both the thyroid & diabetes.
Then in August 2021 i had a blackout caused by my menieres, put simply, it's like tinnitus in only one ear, affects my balance, causes dizziness & blackouts, not to mention the projectile vomiting at least three days a week, usually if i've slept at night & wakened lying flat on my back, the nausea can last days at a time, which is why after my hip break i began losing weight as i had no appetite. By January 2022 i'd gone from 15st 4lb to 9st 2lb, of course i know now what caused the weightloss. in the Feb i took very ill & ended up in hospital where i was informed i was type 1 diabetic. This confused me as i know two people who have been type 1 since they were young children & thought you had to be born type 1, obviously not.
Two years later i am still under 10st & haven't exercised since i played american football in my 20's, before the MS, now my exercise only goes as far as using my ''iain botham'' machine, you'll have seen the TV ads? I use it for my legs, naturally, otherwise i'd need to stand on my head to put my hands on it. I use it for my legs as my MS causing muscle spasms & cramps which have prevented me sleeping for over 30 years. After an hour of using my revitive on that first day i slept for seven hours that night, longest sleep i'd had since jan 2009 when i was in a coma for 12days after double pneumonia led to multiple organ failure.
Now i'm living with multiple auto-immune conditions, they are not diseases or illnesses, even if they could kill me.
I know i should eat better but i rarely have an appetite for eating & when i do it's weird combinations like new potatoes & coleslaw, & i've gone off red meat, pork & even bacon!!!!! I had a tub of greek yoghurt for my xmas dinner last year as that was my faddy diet at the time & like all my strange menus i've gone off yoghurts entirely & right now i'm craving a bowl of boiled cabbage with butter & pepper & last month i defrosted my freezer & threw out £100 worth of smoked haddock & scallops from my time craving my homemade cullen skink. I first made it when i was 15 & cooking for a crew of five aboard my late father's trawler, but we'd have it for breakfast at sea, our version of surf & turf as i'd add grilled square sliced sausages to the fish, onions & cubes of potato & it's made not with fresh milk but tinned carnation milk, don't knock it till you try it.
I read here that depression can be a side effect of diabetes but i'm far too Scottish & sarcastic to be depressed, unless it's by manchester united's league position. There is one tiny flaw in this website, asking me to introduce myself. Especially if i've been taking my ''medicine'' prescribed by curaleaf, again you might have seen their ads on TV? I use it for my MS & since starting using prescribid medical cannabis i have cut my intake of opiod painkillers by 75% a day, if i take any painkillers & muscle relaxants at all. My cannabis & revitive machine have replaced things like the 8 dihydrocodiene i used to have to take every day for the last 25yrs & i rarely take any at all. Much better for me even if the prescription from curaleaf costs me over £300 a month, i use it for three weeks then stop for two weeks before getting a repeat prescription. Works for me but how it helps others will be different on a case by case basis.
The one thing my diabetes & other conditions can't do is rob me of my sense of humour & biting sarcasm, but don't worry, i wear a Tshirt that gives anyone approaching a trigger warning like every program on TV these days. It helps warn any of Gen Z & prevent them from having a panic attack or their 'personal space' being compromised, i know how sensitive they can be in the 21st century. Yes, i'm being sarcastic.
