Why is this?

[Rob43]

What make following a diabetic diet bad is I have a aunt that 91 years old and has eat everything under sun for years and is a diabetic and now she take insulin shots with pen like shot with a very small needles. And her sugar is still between 130-250 everyday on insulin. Makes me wonder how come she doesn't have back kidney or liver damage from years of eating just anything? Something I wonder if the doctors know what they are talking about when comes high BG and kidney and liver damage.

Rob

[wiseguy]

Make no mistake about it, consistently high BG levels will cause damage to your organs. I don't know how your Aunt escaped the complications but that is definitely the exception and not the rule.

[xMenace]

Trust me Rob, Get those sugars down.

http://www.eyemdlink.com/images/illustrations/vitrectomy.jpg

I am going for a 7 month follow-up exam today. Pray for good news please.

[Gary_W]

There are exceptions to every rule; everyone knows someones Uncle Charlie that smoked 60 a day and lived to be 103. Yet you get some other poor person that has never even smoked passively that dies in their 40's from an illness that mostly gets smokers.

In the healthcare world, it's all about minimising risk. A persons baseline risk factor is due to their DNA. Some families seem to suffer terribly from a particular weakness (everyone gets heart attacks early for example), others may be very robust. What is clear is that, from a DNA point of view, you can do nothing whatsoever about the hand you have been dealt.

The bit you can change is your lifestyle. What is clear is that the vast majority of people who live with a high blood glucose will suffer because of it, just as the vast majority of people who smoke 60 a day will not get away with it completely. The odd one will get away with it but are YOU that odd one?

You can actually 'score' a person for their likelyhood of having a cardiac event (that's a heart attack to the rest of us) within the next 10 years. Their age, weight, family history, diabetes, other conditions and lifestyle all effect this score. Once you've got your number, you roll the dice and play the stats. Altering the lifestyle bits of this improve your odds. Whilst they don't protect you altogether, I'd go with the safe bet than the long shot any day when it comes to my health.

Rather than hoping that the bit of DNA that has helped to protect your aunt is also present in you is nowhere near as reliable a method of ensuring a long happy life as getting yourself under control and staying there.

What you are doing otherwise is playing chicken in the middle of a 6 lane highway just because someone else did it and walked away unscathed.... Not wise.

Gary

[princesslinda]

I understand your frustration Rob, it IS hard to follow a rigid eating pattern...at times, I wonder if it's all really worth it...then I look at my legs and really, really want to keep them. I look at my husband and really, really want to be around for him, I pick up a book or turn on the TV and I really, really want to be able to see the words and pictures. Sure, I know of many people who are large and never get diabetes and can eat what they want...I know of many diabetics who eat what they want. I WATCHED as my mom ate whatever she wanted and then suffered badly for it, finally dying at age 54 with only one leg, bad eyes and kidney failure....NOT how I want to do things.

You can't change the fact that you have diabetes, but you can make your life as a diabetic as long and happy as possible...you deserve the best life has to offer, but as a diabetic, you may have to give up a little as far as foods go in order to get it. You hang in there!!!!! Don't compare yourself to others, there's always going to be someone who is doing better than you and there's always someone much, much worse.

[Rob43]

I think long life has alot do with family history. My aunts father lived to 94 but he didn't have diabetes and her mother lived to 83 with diabetes.

Talking about smoking a guy down the street from me smoked till he was 80. He smoked 3 packs a day and had smoked from age 13. He told me at one time his family had a long life span. He died at age 81 with cancer of the lungs and brain cancer.


Rob

[princesslinda]

Genetics may have a lot to do with determining longevity, but good diabetic control may will make whatever length of time you do get to live much better.

[Penny]

Rob, my MIL who is 89 and a big woman, was told she was Diabetic at 85. She told my husband if she ever had her BS reach 140, she had to go to the ER. She also said if she is lower than 80, she has to hurry and eat something so she doesn't pass out. Most mornings she eats several donuts so she can "keep her numbers up". I don't say anything, she enjoys the attention and she is almost 90, she has been sick with something (that is always worse than anything anyone else ever had) for all her life and has managed to live this long.