Man, I sure hate to see you going through this. Diabetes killed my father, and his wife a few years earlier, he was a problem diabetic in that he refused to even consider eating right. I had to learn more about it than I ever wanted to know because I got elected to stay with him and help take care of him the last 2 years of his life. It was not fun, but that was more because he and I never got along than because of his health issues. I won't go into that...
http://www.diabetes.org/
A lot of good info there, and what type is it? I'm guessing type 2, it's more common. Type 1 is when the pancreas stops producing insulin, type 2 is when it still does, but the body loses the ability to utilize it. I really hope it's type 2, if it's type 1 you'll be shooting insulin every day from now on. That really sucks and it's often more difficult to keep under control.
George has already mentioned several of the related problems, but do pay close attention to his comments about your feet. You'll probably also end up on a low salt diet, the main reason being swelling. Salt makes your body retain water and therefore swelling can be a problem.
Nerve damage is the worst problem. diabetes causes damage to all the nerve systems in the body, and usually the first to show signs are the tactile nerves in the extremities - fingers and toes. Tactile means...pick up your guitar. Fret a chord. FEEL those strings? That's tactile nerves. When they lose their ability to send signals to the brain, you don't know you just stepped on a tack, and since diabetes also drags your immune system down, by that time it's also seriously impaired so the tack you don't know about stays there and you walk around on it all day, and it gets infected. If you don't get to a doctor gangrene sets in...40% of the lower leg amputations in this country are caused by diabetes, and the scenario I just described is exactly how it happens. Tight shoes can cause a blister and the same thing happens, even a hangnail, as George said, can do it.
Sorry, I don't really want to scare you, but maybe if I do you'll do a lot better than my father did. His lower legs were swelling almost daily due mostly to a high sodium intake, which he refused to consider watching, and he had lost all feeling in his feet. I'm actually glad it took his life before it took his legs...he wanted to work in his wood shop as often as he could hobble out there, fish and hunt as often as possible, cooked every day because I wouldn't cook enough greasy food for him, and drove daily. Driving with no feeling in his feet really scared me, but he refused to stop. I had taken the keys from him, he had a locksmith make one and had a friend bring it to him. One day I came home in my truck and his was gone...YIKES!!! He was also a very bad driver, which is why I took the keys away, after my entire family told me DO NOT under any circumstances, let him drive...that was before he got out of the hospital when I moved here.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, but I'm sure old fisher guy bob will, find a natural health care practitioner. The website I posted will not tell you a thing about it, but has good basic info on diabetes, none of the websites funded by the AMA will admit it, (and 90% of them are) but natural means of controlling diabetes and most other illnesses are available and usually work well. Be aware though, that you will not see immediate results. Most natural/herbal treatments take at least 2 months to show noticeable results.
A couple of things I can tell you though, ginger, garlic, cayenne and vitamin C all boost the immune system. Ginger and garlic are just generally good for you, as is cayenne. I took a lot of all 4 this winter, and after working with or being around 6 people with the flu a lot, I never even sneezed once. And ginger tea is good. 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger into a cup of just boiled water, cover and steep 15 minutes, add some honey and it's good stuff. I never missed a night without ginger tea last winter, don't plan to miss one this winter either. OK except when I was on the road for a couple of weeks.
Lotsa luck, take care of yourself. And find someone who can deal with it naturally, the chemical drugs doctors feed you will only kill you over time. Drugs cause side effects. 2 years and the doctor will have to prescribe something else to counteract the side effects, another year or two and it's round 3...my father was taking 14 pills in the AM and 11 in the PM when he died. And he steadily went downhill...that's how drugs are killing more people than the diseases they supposedly treat.
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:50 pm
