Three years now

[dvandom]

On October 13, 2006 (yes, it was a Friday the 13^th), I was diagnosed with diabetes after several weeks of heartburn and a few really bad faint-y days. And it's been well-controlled for over two years now.

Comments

[1boringperson.livejournal.com]

Congrats! On the controlled part that is, not the diagnosis.

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

And for three years I've been paranoid about being diagnosed with diabetes. :/

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

You were diagnosed on my 26th birthday. Shy of a badly chipped tooth, I really don't have any real health problems. Though I do tend to wake up with bad headaches a lot these days, no doubt a few years working in a chemical factory will eventually catch up to me with some symptoms.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Good on ya!

[foomf.livejournal.com]

What's the obstacle to being tested? Fear of having to make lifestyle changes? It's not a death-and-disfigurement-sentence, when you DO SOMETHING about it, y'know, and the longer you go without knowing, the greater the cumulative damage before you start doing something.

Here's a parallel. You have a brand new shiny car. It's a very nice car and you decide to keep it for 20 years. After the first five years the warranteed dealer services end, but it's still in pretty good shape except for that one ding in the paint (they all eventually happen) and the usual wear and tear from driving.
Then, for the next five years, you simply don't do any maintenance other than driving - oh, you do put in new windshield cleaner fluid when it runs dry, and inflate the tires when they go too flat, but nothing else, no other services.
And then when the acidic coolant and the sludgy, gooey, caustic oil actually make the engine wear out a bit sooner, what do you do? Deal with the cost of a sudden huge maintenance bill or buy a new car?

Voice of mistakes here: do not avoid getting tested. If you show positive, DO get into the necessary reparation mode and fix your lifestyle so that you won't require the drugs as much.
(And yes, I am yelling at myself here too.)

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

I've been tested. I know I'm in the clear, and despite being overweight, aren't at risk (currently).

Doesn't mean I'm not paranoid. It's a "Wow..we have similar life styles and are of a similar age" type thing.

[foomf.livejournal.com]

Yeah... the increase in sedentary lifestyle PLUS the completely bullshit "food pyramid" from the eighties which people STILL follow (trained to do so, haven't learned better, the freaking restaurants ALL serve meals that follow it... ) and the increased amounts of high-fructose corn syrup embedded in Every. Dam. Food. have been identified as "correlated" with increased rates of type 2 diabetes ... with a somewhat stronger correlation than that tying cigarettes to lung and throat cancers and emphysema.

As expected, the response from industries and government agencies designated to protect those industries has been "deny, deny, deny."

But in the meantime. Cut down the HFCS in your diet to as close to 0 as you can get, eat at least the same volume of raw or lightly cooked vegetable as you eat of protein AND starch, and never let the volume of starch exceed the amount of protein, and never more than 60 grams of carb in a single meal (in general) should do 1/2 the job. The other half is at least walking 30 minutes a day. My own fight with this is 90% due to my inability to force myself to do the exercise part.

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too :(

[point5b.livejournal.com]

Kudos, and here's to many more pairs of well-controlled years.