Diabetes hype and "Baddecisionitis"

[Mdub]

When you are first diagnosed (or even before), invariably you will end up talking to someone whose grandmother/uncle/aunt/cousin/bartender (twice removed) "died" from the diabetes. Or, they lost a foot or both, or some other calamity befell them - maybe sprouted a 3rd eye. Yeah, I dunno'. Either way, many of us have been through this with people and honestly, if you don't know any better it can spook you, and how.

Take heart. Typically, what you need to do is ask a few pertinent questions - dig a little deeper so to speak. My experience with these conversations is something like this:

Me: Died from it huh?
Them: Yep.
Me: Were they on medication?
Them: Supposed to be, but they didn't take it all the time...
Me: Hmmm. Ok, did they have a diet plan to reduce BG levels?
Them: No, they kind of ate whatever they wanted because dieting wasn't their thing...
Me: What about insulin?
Them: Well, they were eventually on it but didn't take it on any sort of schedule...
Me: Ok, regular checkups? Tracking A1c?
Them: Not on a regular basis, just sort of as needed.

Ok, I am not making light of the condition, I take it very seriously. That's actually my point, if taken seriously and managed correctly with your doctor and Endo Team, it can be controlled, reversed even and you can live a long and fruitful life. People are proving this every single day. Rant = off.

 

[Lamont D]

I noticed the Marine corps badge, if you have been a Marine, then you have followed orders implicitly.
If you take that with your T2, you should be following the medical advice.
However, if it were me, and didn't question the man who saved my life, not that he wasn't correct and brilliant in the diagnostic tests, finding a rare condition and implementing a low carb diet.
But and it's a big one. But, the level of recommended carbs he recommended was still too high for me. We discussed it, we went over the pros and cons, I experimented, I recorded, tested, tested and proved too him how intolerant I was to carbs.
Because of my inquisitive instincts, the weight dropped off, my health improved dramatically. I stopped having hypos. I am alive today.
Hopefully your doctor and endo team are giving you the tools to improve your health. But be sure, it is not an order, it is advice, which because of the individual nature of diabetes, the advice may not be suitable for you..

The point I making is, depending on your tastes, your availability of fresh food, your religious beliefs, the cost, the willingness to adapt. How you actually respond to the lifestyle choice you make, will impact your future health.
With diabetes, getting older, your dietary regime, your treatment, your balance has to be tailored for you. Only you should make that decision and the likes of stories, wives tales or what suits someone else. Will almost certainly not be beneficial for you.
The medical establishment have got a lot wrong thanks to many factors. Diabetes is the worst example of it.
Keep an open mind with your health.

Best wishes, sir!

 

[Ronancastled]

@Mdub Do you know why that is the prevailling dogma ?

Only 1 in 20 T2s are actually in remission at any one time
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003828

The rest have either been poorly led by their medical team, mis-diagnosed, unwilling to change, unable to source info for themselves.
It's the 19 out of 20 that write the script for the rest of us.
Outliers like ourselves are considered n=1 quacks with our unsustainable diet depriving us of all those healthy wholegrains for brain function, it's no wonder we're mad.

 

[zand]

The worst decisions I ever made health wise were to follow the Eatwell Guide, follow a 1000 calorie a day low fat diet and drink diet drinks. If I had stuck to what I was doing before then I would have been healthier now.

 

[Lamont D]

I had no medical training, very little knowledge about endocrine conditions, a bit of first aid. I had absolute faith in our NHS, doctors, and the knowledge that they dispensed.
It is still going on now.
The general public have no idea what is happening to their bodies because of the message from the propaganda, that healthy foods such as the eat well diet I was on for over a decade was killing me.
A high number of T2s have insulin resistance and high levels of circulating insulin. But the doctors rarely test for insulin levels. Hyperinsulinimia is a more dangerous condition than the so called experts know about.

The levels of ignorance about insulin and how bad it can be for non type 1 diabetics and non diabetic conditions.

When I go the hospital for a non RH problem, such as my stay a couple of years ago. Every nurse, doctors, surgeons, do not know about my condition. The number of times I have had to explain my condition to GP's, dsns, any medical staff, my employers, my insurance, everybody!

The experience I have had leads me to think that without my endocrinologist, I wouldn't be here for definite. And a lot of people have been treated disgracefully and obviously wrong!