Diabetes Robbed My Friend of Her Sight and Life

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  Posted by n Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:17am PDT

  While I feel great sympathy to your friend's condition and eventual death; I still cannot comprehend the large amount of overweight and obese people. You go to the grocery store and if you look in these people's cart it is filled with JUNK, you don't even see any fruit or vegetable. What makes me the most sad is when you look at the overwright/obese parent with overweight kid in tow. What is that kid learning? People are too lazy to wash or cut fruit for their kids it is much easier to let them gorge on cookies and chips. They are too lazy to cook vegetables. When one looks at themselves and see the ravage that their eating has caused to their health don't they care enough to make sure their kids do not grow the same way. Kids eats what their parents purchase and cook. Don't we not care enough or love them enough not to legate a life of sickness and disease to them. People wake up.

  We scorn drug addict, alcholic and cigarette smokers; yet the obesity epidimic is rampant and very little is done to force these people to educate themselves and pay for their own medical expenses if that is the life style they choose for themselves and IMPOSE on their children. I guess diabites, heart disesase, and the myriad of complications associated with them is not enough to make them CARE

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  Posted by Mickey Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:24am PDT

  "survival of the fitest"

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  Posted by Kristina Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:00am PDT

  I agree nyekana. However my husband has been diab. sence he was 3. He's parents are too. And his dad being 6' 3" and weighing about 200lbs he is far from fat. Some people are just born that way.

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  Posted by Katie B Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:31am PDT

  Not always nyekana... my mother was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a few years ago... she was not the model of health for anyone in our family (and she was in denial about a lot of it)... but since she was diagnosed she has at least reigned in what she eats and has lost lots of weight because of it... she could be even better with exercise, but she can't because of underlying health issues she has had since before being diagnosed with diabetes (things like neropathy).

  However, I do agree with you on the shopping cart issue... many people believe it's not affordable to eat fresh fruits and vegetables... when it is possible with a little work (ie finding what's on sale and what's in season) and frozen are just as healthy as fresh.

  Some people truly can't help it being overweight or coming down with a disease (such as diabetes) but most can.

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  Posted by n Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:48am PDT

  kristina, what type of diabetic is he I or II? I agree that at 6"3" he is not fat but I am sure he keeps his weight down with diet and exercise. I am refering to all the people you see at the fast food restaurants, the grocery stores and the fair and other places where you see these people grossly overweight stuffing themselves and their children with these enourmous amount of fatty foods and sodas and are too heavy to exercise

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  Posted by Luna Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:16am PDT

  nyenkana 4 - Type 1 (I have had it almost 28 years) is called "insulin dependent/juvenile diabetes". As per the name, the condition is usually manefested in the young years, and it basically means that your body does not produce ANY insulin AT ALL. Management requires daily blood glucose testing, dietary control, excercise and most importantly, insulin injections to replace the natural insulin hormone that the body no longer produces. While it only accounts for 10 - 15% of all of the diabetes diagnoses in the U.S., it accounts for about 65% of the deaths from diatbetes and its complications. And please note - there are many Type 1 diabetics that are diagnosed well into their adulthood, having counseled 15 40+ year old Type 1's over the years.

  Type 2 diabtetes is called "slow-onset/adult-onset" diabetes; this affects many people as early as their early 30's because of a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet and obesity. Type 2 is when the body is producing insulin, but not enough to help the body metabolize the sugar that it is taking in on a daily basis. Which is why the complications (a) take longer to become apparent and (b) why they are so very severe when they are discovered. Type 2 diabetics make up 85 - 90% of the diabetics in the U.S.A. but because of the slow onset of the illness, there is more of an opportunity to save their lives, albeit with great difficulty.

  For a quick nutshell description of Diabetes generally: Your body's cells require SUGAR as an energy source - like gasoline for an engine. INSULIN, a hormone made in the pancreas is like a key that opens the gas cap for the fuel to enter the engine. If everything is working like it is supposed to, you eat, your body produces insulin and the sugar can get into the cells to power them to do what needs to be done. HOWEVER, if there not enough or no insulin at all, the sugar simply floats around in the blood stream and causes complications, like overwhelming the kidneys by making them work too hard to filter and clean the blood, leading to renal failure (and dialysis), and combining with lipids (fats) in the blood stream and creating fatty deposits and causing strokes, heart attacks, circulation difficulties and vascular difficulties (particularly in the eyes), just to name a few.

  Go to the website www.diabetes.org to get information on both. And there is no such thing as "too heavy to exercise". If they can lift a fork to their face, they can lift a dumbell, or their legs straight out in front of them if they are seated in a chair.

  I have lived with this as I said, almost 28 years. I know a 15 year old that dropped dead from cardiac arrest; after her autopsy, it was discovered that she was a Type 1, undiagnosed. I have known Type 2's that have had limbs amputated due to gangreene, only then to find out that they are diabetic. I fight. Daily, against my temptation - I am a chocoholic that had bosco chocolate syrup in her veins when I was diagnosed. However, I have had a FABULOUS support network, and I dislike being disturbed every 4 hours to have blood drawn from the vein as a patient in a hospital.

  The sadness is...that this disease diabetes, particularly Type 2 is already an epidemic - and it is not going to get any better anytime soon.

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  Posted by n Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:28am PDT

  that's whom I am addressing: MOST CAN

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  Posted by n Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:20am PDT

  Luna, thanks for the explanation. Wish people would pay attention to the danger of obesity and its loads of diseases it brings on. They should realize that it is their duty and obligation to feed their children properly as the child is so dependent on the parent for the outcome of his/her life. We owe it to our children to give them a solid foundation.

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  Posted by KarenF Mon Oct 26, 2009 12:42pm PDT

  The thing is, if you are a type 1 diabetic (and both my mom and my younger brother are) you know to take care of yourself - every day is a balancing act with food, exercise and controlling blood sugar. Diabetics should know what can happen if they don't take care of themselves and go to the doctor regularly.

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  Posted by Luna Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:11pm PDT

  First - exactly how many nyenkana's are there out there?

  Second - KarenF - Type 1, tends to hit in EARLY life; I was 11 1/2 when it hit me. I, personally, thought it was a growth spurt. It does not run in my family at all; cancer does. It turns out that after my Mom (the UberNurse as I lovingly call her) realized what was going on, she tested me herself at her nurses station and then took me to my pediatrician, and I never left the hospital. That was Valentine's day 1982. As I said - I have a FABULOUS support network in her, my Dad, my younger sister, my Best(Sister)Friend and a handful of other people, including my medical care team that make sure that I am taking care of me. HOWEVER, you are right - the person who is a diabetic (Type 1 or 2) has to be very aware and knowledgeable about themselves and the disease that they suffer from. (A begnin, but very large growth ate my isles of langerhans for lunch one day, which rendered me diabetic...no cancerous cells have ever shown up, Thank You Lord!)

  The tragic cases - the ones who are diagnosed as a result of complications - more often than not, they have no "exposure" to the illness in that they have heard of "sugar" but don't know the symptoms. When they go to the doctor, more often than not it is through the ER, and they don't disclose everything that has been going on - they just address the immediate problem that brought them into the ER in the first place. It takes a diagnostician, be it a nurse or a doctor, with a sharp eye and mind, to be able to realize that they are looking at a "in complication/crisis diabetic" within the 1 - 3 minutes they spend in triage or in the treatment visit in one of the trauma/treatment booths - ESPECIALLY if the phyysical manefestations (i.e., cracked/chafing lips, peeling skin on arms/legs/palms/soles of feet due to severe dehydration; sores that are infected and/or are progressing into stages of gangreene and "gummy" eyes that are not a result of pink-eye are the usual red flags) are not present.

  And then, there are some, who do know - have the benefit of all the knowledge and information at their disposal, and yet the live in denial that they have the disease. I counselled a 33 y.o. guy who was diagnosed as a Type 1. Refused to believe that he could not have his 6-pack during the game, or his scotch & soda with his friends on fridays after work. When he asked the hospital to contact me again, it was 18 months later and he had just started dialysis. When I saw him, he was in the screaming at God "this is not fair/why did this happen to me" stage, again. He didn't push me away the second time (and hallelujia, the Lord stopped me from saying "I told you so"). He is 40 now; and holding on for dear life; his son is 3, and he is living for him.

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