[felicia42]

Hi! I will try to keep this short. I do not have diabetes. I however have a boss, mother and close friend who do. I am here to try to get something answered about my boss. please excuse my terms that may not be right or my lack of knowledge.

Him - 66 years old. Type one in his mind. but really type two. sugar regularly well over 400, 500, too high to meter. etc. He is often confused, argumentative, angry, paranoid. (please understand i ADORE him and he is much like a father to me so I tolerate this and try to understand and be patient, although the rest of our employees may not be as tolerant as I am, which means i spend more time running interference than running the business) I understand he should see the doctor more often, i understand he should be on insulin, I understand there are medications to help control these things, I understand he is killing himself and his organs and I understand it so much I wake up almost daily wondering if today is THE day I will walk into the office to my worst fear, or if today is the day he will be driving ( we are a transportation based business) and drive off the road or into on coming traffic.

OK, I am getting to the point, I swear.

In addition to the basically uncontrolled diabetes, he has kidney issues that from what I understand go with uncontrolled diabetes. The also has some blood pressure issues. His knee's are shot and it creates alot of pain and there is seasonal swelling to the point he cannot get pants on.

He does have a wife and five grown children who are all well educated, but all but one live several to many hours away.

his wife is a surgical nurse but maybe she is in the ame boat as me, and knows to push him to see the doctor, take better care etc, just makes for a fight and you cannot force him to do anything he doesnt want to.

To make matters worse, the few times he has tried to follow doctors orders, he HAS ended up with worse problems. for instance, two years ago he went to see the doctor for swelling in the legs, they put him on four medications, sent him to two other doctors so then he has a total of 8 meds, some as often as 6 times a day, they made him vomit, pale, weak and worse of all broke him out in rashes that the doctrs said were "normal side effects" but he could not sleep, could not walk, etc. ok so HERE is why i am here asking a question -

with ALL of this in mind, has anyone ever heard of some type of 'winter affliction' ? what i mean is this -

each and every november, for the 6 years i have been with him, he starts getting sick. by mid december he is going home early and by january, he starts staying home for entire days.

every single year. although the ailment is not always the same, they are all real ailments, and they are all debilitating.

this is a man who works 7 days a week, minimum 10 hour days. he is of ukraniun descent, from the coal mines. This is NOT a man looking to get out of work or purposely not caring for himself for attention. If anything, it is almost the opposite. He is more of the mind set that to care for himself is to make a spectacle of himself or ask for pity.

Ok, so what I am looking for is to know if anyone else experiences a surge in side effect ailments in the winter.

My mother and my friend who both have diabetes do not experience this, but my mom has other issues and my friend is much younger than my boss.

THANK you so much for any lights you can shed.

oh and someone please feel free to explain to my, in layman terms the kidney issues, as I have yet to be able to fully understand what is what. I know only that his kidneys are functioning at 50% and that on the blood work sheets that get faxed to the office it says stage III. as the diagnosis. Also that he tells me each time he see's the nephrologist, that the doctor said his kidneys are functioning at the smae, no better, no worse. but he has gone for no studies after the first one except blood work, and he DID lie to me when he was first told he had kidney problems. it was only after a blood sheet came over that I confronted him with the 50% kidney function did he 'fess up that there were kidney issues.

I am not unrealistic about the future, but I am unsure what reality IS in this situation. he truly has been a friend, mentor and father to me over the years and I am not looking to change anythng, just have a better understanding.

THANK YOU!!!!

[ant hill]

Originally Posted by felicia42

Hi! I will try to keep this short. I do not have diabetes. I however have a boss, mother and close friend who do. I am here to try to get something answered about my boss. please excuse my terms that may not be right or my lack of knowledge.

Well you have to start somewhere. For starters, Welcome to DF!!

Him - 66 years old. Type one in his mind. but really type two. sugar regularly well over 400, 500, too high to meter. etc. He is often confused, argumentative, angry, paranoid. (please understand i ADORE him and he is much like a father to me so I tolerate this and try to understand and be patient, although the rest of our employees may not be as tolerant as I am, which means i spend more time running interference than running the business) I understand he should see the doctor more often, i understand he should be on insulin, I understand there are medications to help control these things, I understand he is killing himself and his organs and I understand it so much I wake up almost daily wondering if today is THE day I will walk into the office to my worst fear, or if today is the day he will be driving ( we are a transportation based business) and drive off the road or into on coming traffic.

How heavy is he? or is he thin?? Dose he drink a lot??

OK, I am getting to the point, I swear.

In addition to the basically uncontrolled diabetes, he has kidney issues that from what I understand go with uncontrolled diabetes. The also has some blood pressure issues. His knee's are shot and it creates alot of pain and there is seasonal swelling to the point he cannot get pants on.

OK so he has weight issues and that may be type 2 I think.

He does have a wife and five grown children who are all well educated, but all but one live several to many hours away.

That's a worry for him.

his wife is a surgical nurse but maybe she is in the ame boat as me, and knows to push him to see the doctor, take better care etc, just makes for a fight and you cannot force him to do anything he doesnt want to.

Yes and that's the problem, you cannot force him to do it

To make matters worse, the few times he has tried to follow doctors orders, he HAS ended up with worse problems. for instance, two years ago he went to see the doctor for swelling in the legs, they put him on four medications, sent him to two other doctors so then he has a total of 8 meds, some as often as 6 times a day, they made him vomit, pale, weak and worse of all broke him out in rashes that the doctrs said were "normal side effects" but he could not sleep, could not walk, etc. ok so HERE is why i am here asking a question

Get a referral from a doctor to see an endocrinologist would be the thing to do. Doctor's just guess in my book as they see a broad range of problems as an endo is specialized in this field.

with ALL of this in mind, has anyone ever heard of some type of 'winter affliction' ? what i mean is this -

each and every november, for the 6 years i have been with him, he starts getting sick. by mid december he is going home early and by january, he starts staying home for entire days.

every single year. although the ailment is not always the same, they are all real ailments, and they are all debilitating.

this is a man who works 7 days a week, minimum 10 hour days. he is of ukraniun descent, from the coal mines. This is NOT a man looking to get out of work or purposely not caring for himself for attention. If anything, it is almost the opposite. He is more of the mind set that to care for himself is to make a spectacle of himself or ask for pity.

His attitude is not helping him at all and all I can say is a endo is the way to help him.

Ok, so what I am looking for is to know if anyone else experiences a surge in side effect ailments in the winter.

My mother and my friend who both have diabetes do not experience this, but my mom has other issues and my friend is much younger than my boss.

THANK you so much for any lights you can shed.

oh and someone please feel free to explain to my, in layman terms the kidney issues, as I have yet to be able to fully understand what is what. I know only that his kidneys are functioning at 50% and that on the blood work sheets that get faxed to the office it says stage III. as the diagnosis. Also that he tells me each time he see's the nephrologist, that the doctor said his kidneys are functioning at the smae, no better, no worse. but he has gone for no studies after the first one except blood work, and he DID lie to me when he was first told he had kidney problems. it was only after a blood sheet came over that I confronted him with the 50% kidney function did he 'fess up that there were kidney issues.

Well that's is a relief as if he has lost his kidneys then dialysis is then inevitable.

I am not unrealistic about the future, but I am unsure what reality IS in this situation. he truly has been a friend, mentor and father to me over the years and I am not looking to change anythng, just have a better understanding.

THANK YOU!!!!

See an endo and the kidneys are not going to tolerate the diabetic condition.

[felicia42]

Peter - thank you for your input. He is definately not battling a weight issue at all. As for drinking, he does drink sometimes, but not in excess. The worst of his "habits" are lack of proper diet, lack of medication control, lack of doctor visits, lack of following doctors advice/follow up, etc. neglect I guess is the best way. He is sabatoging himself through neglect.

I appreciate your reply and help in trying to understand.

Happy New Year!

[ant hill]

Originally Posted by felicia42

Peter - thank you for your input. He is definately not battling a weight issue at all.

So he's not fat as I am. Now I am jealous but that's not good ither Felicia.
Why he is thin is because that the glucose is not getting to the mussel tissue and the insulin is the key to get the glucose to be consumed in the mussel.
He may be a type 1.5 a LADA.