Your general advice on complications please

[ButtterflyLady]

I've been diagnosed with T2 for less than a year. Have got my BG levels under control with changing what I eat, and taking Metformin. My BP is well controlled. My lipids are within the normal range. Have lost several stone in weight and am progressing towards my target (several more stone). I want to make sure I know enough about preventing complications. I'm nearly 40, so I want the second half of my life to be the best quality possible for me.

Eyes - still to get around to having my baseline eye check (naughty, I know!). I became longsighted several years ago and use glasses for reading. However, lately my vision has changed. No blurring or floaters but I need my glasses more than before, and get headaches if I forget to wear them. I plan to have a full eye check within the next 2 weeks, and will keep you posted.

Kidneys - my blood results for kidney disease are all normal. Will the routine annual diabetes blood tests be sufficient, as long as my BG and BP are well controlled?

Feet - Apart from being increasingly cold, they seem fine. Although I am being careful to avoid injury. I need to ask my GP about foot screening, ie who does it in NZ - GP, nurse or podiatrist. Maybe I should pay for a podiatrist just to be sure of quality.

Neuropathy - I worry about this a lot. I have neuropathy due to another condition, so I know exactly what it is like and believe me, it is to be avoided. I know that diabetic neuropathy can affect any part of the body, including the gut. Will maintaining my diabetes management goals and getting annual checks be enough?

Thank you in advance.

 

[noblehead]

Will maintaining my diabetes management goals and getting annual checks be enough?

We can only hope it is Catlady!

Certainly other lifestyle factors are important too.... as in regular exercise and eating a healthy well balanced diet and not smoking or drinking to excess.

 

[Grazer]

Hi catlady!

Kidneys - my blood results for kidney disease are all normal. Will the routine annual diabetes blood tests be sufficient, as long as my BG and BP are well controlled?

When you have your annual tests, they should do a specific test for kidneys each time - worth asking to check they do. "NEPHROLOGY" is the equivalent issue with the kidneys as retinopathy is for the eyes etc.

Feet - Apart from being increasingly cold, they seem fine. Although I am being careful to avoid injury. I need to ask my GP about foot screening, ie who does it in NZ - GP, nurse or podiatrist. Maybe I should pay for a podiatrist just to be sure of quality.

I have checks with the nurse. However, the checks don't really show much in my view. They look for obvious injuries which we can do ourselves (dangling your foot over a mirror on the floor is quite good), and of course do the "tickle test". Guess that's worth while. But over here at least, there's no more in depth study, unless you have big issues, and even if mild neuropathy is detected the only treatment as such tends to be "lower your BGs", which we try to do anyway. I do have a tingling in one big toe, and have poor circulation (cold feet) but nothing as such you can do. My mum always had (and still has at 93!) the same, and she's not diabetic.

Overall, my attitude is to keep a really good control on BGs, look for obvious injury and then rely on annual blood tests and eye screening (important!). No poiont worrying after that unless something occurs.
By the way, there have been studies that showed peaks in BG over 7.8 start to cause an increase in the likelihood of complications, which is why some of us use that as a target. There was a thread on here with graphs from a study of 18000 plus people showing this, but sadly can't recall where it was. Phoenix will probably know!

 

[shop]

Hi Catlady,

I have my eyes checked annualy at my local optitions ( the same one who alerted me to the fact I could be diabetic .) I currently have background retinopathy with a yearly call back.

My feet were checked at the hospital about a year ago ( within my 6mnthly visit. ) The Doctor felt for a pulse and just looked at the general state of my feet which is good. I look after my own feet ( I am lucky to have good feet although small Size 2. )

Usually at my review at the hosp they just ask me re any probs with feet, injection sites and ask when I last had my eyes checked.

The recent topic of injection sites on here has been a good refresher for me too.

Hope this helps a bit.

Lucy.

 

[Unbeliever]

Agree wih all o he above catlady. Re your eyes certainly get a full eye check up . Your optitian can detect many poential problems but your vision i itself is not an indicator, either way, of diabetic eye disease . At least until it reaches an advanced stage.
I agree wih Grazer about the "feeet business" . Not a grea deal they can do anyhow .

All any of us can do is to be alert and do our best to keep bglevels low,
Unfortunately complicaions can sometimes arise whatever we do.

Personally , I believe that prevention is better than cure and would rather see money put into quality initial care and advice and easier access to expert advice for those of us who have been diagnosed longer than for rafts of tests which are often just shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.