Diabetes: Just how dangerous is it?

[Nigel Womersle]

I have type 2 diabetes.Have some good & some bad days:(

 

I am exactly the same Tarquin. However, I do follow the clinic's advice to the 'T'. The thing I hate about it is the tiredness. I always go tired around two in the afternoon, but it goes. I just have accepted it, as there's nothing I can do about it. I go to the diabetic clinic twice each year - the optician once each year. I only check my blood sugar once each week. I only have a drink on a special occasion (took some getting used to, but I got there). I have a treat each Thursday as it is supermarket day. Usually a small trifle and a bun - then back to the usual until the next Thursday. Providing the rules are adhered to, most people live a good life. When I first attended the diabetic clinic, I was told that a pint of lager contained a cup and a half of sugar, and for every person who knew they were diabetic, there was one who didn't.

[DIVA]

Diabetes is do diverse. It's like saying how dangerous is asthma? - some folk don't even need an inhaler, whilst others are permamently on oxygen.

 

Some people respond better to treatment than others, too. A lot can depend on how long it took to diagnose the condition. I know someone diagnosed 3 years ago and medical professionals are still trying desparately to get the condition under control but are having great difficulty and this guy was probably outwardly the fittest guy I know, with an extremely healthy lifestyle.

 

For most people, thankfully, it can be controlled pretty well by diet/medication but it's not always true that if someone is affected badly, it's due to them not taking care of themselves.

 

I heard that diabetes will in fact be curable in about 15 years time, due to medical advances, has anyone else heard/know anything about this?

[Dozy]

I have to see her in a month so I'll ask about it did have a test a few years ago and was clear. Thanks:)

 

You can also get a free diabetes test at Lloyds Chemist, and I would imagine other chemists provide the same service.

 

Handy for anybody who has concerns, but has problems getting a doctor's appointment.

[Harleyman]

My neighbour is a diabetic.

 

Last night there was a fuss, an emergency doctor called, then about an hour later, the doc was still there and an ambulance arrived, lights flashing and they carted him off in a sort of chair thing...

 

This seems to be happening more and more, this has happened at least three times so far this year, and hes really starting to look ill. Hes only about 30 yet he staggers about the place as if hes 80, he shudders in fear if I mention taking him for a nice walk up Bardon hill to get him away from the house for a bit and hes skinny as a rake.

 

Hes got a job and everything but he seems to struggle.

 

I knew a bloke a few years ago with diabetes, he had a lot of problems with sex, getting an erection and what have you, and I heared that he died recently with stomach cancer that was probably brought on by his diabetes.

 

He was in his 20s.

 

I dont know much about the condition, Im too lazy to google it so I thought Id ask here for a more human response....

 

Trust me. If it's not taken care of it's deadly.

[HappyHoosier]

I knew someone who died at age 44 from Type I diabetes. Peope with Type I, aka "juvenile diabetes," are often thin -- as in actress Mary Tyler Moore. Many have life-long chronic and serious complications, including poor circulation (requiring amputation of fingers and toes), blindness and gradual failure of kidneys and other organs. The woman I knew had all of these problems.

[Jabberwocky]

Wel, my neighbour who was taken into hospital at around midnight last night is STILL in hospital.

[Ally68]

I knew someone who died at age 44 from Type I diabetes. Peope with Type I, aka "juvenile diabetes," are often thin -- as in actress Mary Tyler Moore. Many have life-long chronic and serious complications, including poor circulation (requiring amputation of fingers and toes), blindness and gradual failure of kidneys and other organs. The woman I knew had all of these problems.

 

My brother too.

[Zebra]

Sometimes the sufferer doesn't take enough meds or forgets, thats when it gets dangerous

Like a couple of months ago, I was driving off one ofthe roads from the Parkway when someone's tyre from oncoming traffic rolls in front of my car causing me to swerve.

NO car stopped, no crash. I called the police and reported a car likely driving on it's rim, driver unaware.

Around 5 miles later on the Parkway they found a driver in a hypnotic state brought on by diabetes and the strange way it can affect you.

So it could have caused me to crash and later could have caused an even bigger issue on the Parkway, thankfully not though.

[Grandad.Malky]

My mother as it and is 78 , my wife went to the funeral of a work colleague who died of diabetic complications last week she was 33, I think that sums it up, it can be managed, it can be fatal.

[medusa]

Can I just point out that not everyone who has diabetes and who has complications and hypos is failing to take their condition seriously?

 

One of my friends is type I diabetic and has been managing her insulin for many years, yet never got decent control of her blood sugars properly (despite lots of measuring and injecting daily) until the NHS paid for an insulin pump for her. Since then the hypos have been much less common, the peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy and retinopathy have all started to gradually recover back towards normal limits and she's a much fitter and happier person.

 

She has invested a lot of time and energy learning how to manage her diabetes yet for her injections just didn't work in the way that the research suggests they should work.

 

I would expect that the majority of the people who get complications do so despite learning, adapting their lifestyle and trying very hard to manage their blood sugar.