Worries

[David Forfar]

I am a worrier and am always asking questions i keep reading about diabetes and cancer diabetes and Dementia and all doom and gloom.
I am 69 Hbac 52 on metformin.Someone scared me today saying yes in can cause demtia the sugar gets in your veins and you will eventually have amputations and become fat and need someone to care for you.I go to the gym regularly slightly overweight .Any reassurance please.

 

[CathyB]

Hi David, I am so sorry you are worrying about things that are highly unlikely to ever happen. The great thing about being type 2 is that we can have so much control over our condition by adapting our lifestyle and changing our diet. All you need to know is on these pages so make a cuppa, take a deep breath and read as many of the posts as you can.
Carbohydrates are our enemy, not just the obvious sugars but also potatoes, rice, pasta and bread, although many of us do ok with Burgen bread which is a highly seeded soy and linseed option. Reducing or removing these from your diet will make a huge difference to your blood glucose levels, beware also of fruit as it’s naturally high in sugar, rule of thumb is no more than 2 small pieces a day, especially avoid tropical fruits as they are the worst for sugar.
Lastly I would suggest you get a testing meter if you don’t already have one, code free is the cheapest to buy and to get strips for, by testing before your meal, then again 2 hours later and aiming for a rise of no more than 2 points, you will learn what foods work best for you.
Please relax, don’t believe everything you hear or read......unless it’s on this forum!

 

[CathyB]

P.s. there is some evidence being looked at that claims metformin actually protects against dementia

 

[trophywench]

David - you are clearly doing something right to have an HbA1c of 52 - so just carry on carrying on - keep the carbs down and get the rest of the weight you want to lose off.

WELL controlled diabetes is the cause of absolutely nothing. POORLY controlled diabetes (whatever type it is) is a major cause of all sorts of horrible side effects, weight gain, kidney failure, blindness, amputations etc. For me for the last nearly 50 years now - the latter has been the thing that's always motivated me to try my best to avoid em - in my own personal quest for prevention rather than cure of all these possibilities. It never exempts me from any of them should something happen I can't control - but that's exactly the same as life itself, isn't it?

Things we learn not to do from a very early age - like playing in the traffic - so hopefully we don't get hit by a vehicle and flattened. However it still COULD happen one day however well we follow the green cross code! We don't stop crossing the road, just in case, do we?