All my adult life (I'm 66 now) I've been waiting for the male family curse to hit me. With both grandfathers, my father, three of his brothers and sisters and my brother all having been diagnosed with diabetes, it was a question of when, not if, it would strike me.
A month ago I realised I was losing weight (9lbs in two weeks) and I was having to wear my old glasses because everything was out of focus. Whenever I sat down to watch a TV programme I was only managing to see the first five minutes before dropping off according to my wife!
Off to my GP who pricked my finger to get a reading of 25. Luckily, he gave me a meter and a prescription for strips (as well as the standard lecture about how expensive they were etc) along with the Metformin.
Four weeks later, having cut out the Cadburys Cream Eggs, chocolate biscuits and ice cream and, with my wife, getting to grips with a low carb diet I've managed to more or less keep my BG in the 5-7 range with the lowest reading 4.2. I'm now feeling more optimistic about things and determined to take this condition seriously, having seen my father basically ignore his diagnosis - with the inevitable consequences.
A month ago I realised I was losing weight (9lbs in two weeks) and I was having to wear my old glasses because everything was out of focus. Whenever I sat down to watch a TV programme I was only managing to see the first five minutes before dropping off according to my wife!
Off to my GP who pricked my finger to get a reading of 25. Luckily, he gave me a meter and a prescription for strips (as well as the standard lecture about how expensive they were etc) along with the Metformin.
Four weeks later, having cut out the Cadburys Cream Eggs, chocolate biscuits and ice cream and, with my wife, getting to grips with a low carb diet I've managed to more or less keep my BG in the 5-7 range with the lowest reading 4.2. I'm now feeling more optimistic about things and determined to take this condition seriously, having seen my father basically ignore his diagnosis - with the inevitable consequences.