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At my age is it worth it ?

T

TuTusweet

Well-Known Member
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55
Bearing in mind that my BG was over 110 in April 2009 and has been slowly rising till it hit 159 in October this year before my GP took any notice or did anything Diabetes must be a slow process.
Also my GP gave me Eucreas and said see me again in one year--she must think it slow moving.

Or she is expecting me to die any day now so she expects me not to turn up.

In any event at my age 72.5 I think i might prefer to fall off my perch clutching an ice cream in one hand and a dirty big white bread jam and French fries sandwich in the other.

At what age does it not matter a toss ?
 
Hello and welcome, TuTusweet.

My mother-in-law is 94 and has diabetes. Her daughters say "at her age it doesn't matter", so they give her cream cakes etc etc.
Why do they do that? because a neighbour of one of the children is a retired nurse told her, "at her age it doesn't matter".

I get so angry each time I hear "age and diabetes" mentioned. They just don't seem to care. I've tried explaining, but I'm ignored.
Being the son-in-law, I'm unable to discuss the subject any further, but you're different. Go back to your doctor and explain how worried you are.

I'm appalled to read your doc said "come back in 1 year".

I wish you better health and happiness, and remember "age does matter", so make an appointment with your doc...tomorrow, or as soon as you can.

Come back and let us all know the outcome.

God bless.

willie.
 
TuTusweet said:
In any event at my age 72.5 I think i might prefer to fall off my perch clutching an ice cream in one hand and a dirty big white bread jam and French fries sandwich in the other.

At what age does it not matter a toss ?
Click to expand...

If a sudden perch plunge was guaranteed then ice cream and French fries might be an interesting way of living the rest of your life (which could be 20 years or more). An equally likely scenario however is a long, slow decline into pain, blindness and amputation, so it probably is worth giving a toss at this late stage.
 
Yes it really does matter whatever age we are.

I am 74 and have been prediabetic for a few years now. This yearly blood test showed my blood glucose levels are creeping up each year ..yes diabetes is slow in developing...this year 6.8 and 6.9 My doctor I will be almost likely to develop type 2 but to try to keep it at bay for as long as possible
Was told I should eat now as a type two diabetic, I have been on a low fat diet for about 8 years because of raised cholesterol not keen on rice pasta or bread and don't have much of a sweet tooth. I am careful what I eat but still have plenty of variety in my diet meat fruit vegetables etc. I love to experiment with the meals I cook to make them interesting I make my own soups and sauces and often bake low carb bread. I do monitor my BG levels now a couple of times a day before and after meals just to keep an eye on it
I want to be around as long as possible I do not have any mobility or any other serious health issues and enjoy walking my dog every day...good excercise my doctor says.

So please don't give up and if you are not happy with your doctor then consider changing to another one
Best Wishes
 
It's not that simple - the older you get, the less you stand to benefit from interventions and the more problematic side effects become simply because elderly people are generally more frail, so eventually you will reach a point where risk of the intervention exceeds the benefits (e.g. age-related kidney issues would make Metformin problematic).

This, of course, does not mean that you should actively try making things worse by binging on cakes.
 
Sugarmog is so right pigging out on ice cream french fries and jam sandwiches would sound good if you want to shuffle of this mortal coil very soon which I am sure you don't.

AlexMBrennan you are putting a bit of a downer on this for elderly people yes we can be a bit more vunerable to problems but not inevitable that every older diabetic will get serious problems and I know a few people in their 70's and 80's with type 2 who are still doing well with the minimum of diabetic side effects
If we are sensible with our diet get some exercise if we are able to then hopefully we will avoid to many problems
 
72.5 isnt that old, you could go on for many many years and who knows what they will invent in the next 30 years to make you live until your 150+ of course it matters, dont let a ****** doctor make you think it isnt worth trying, it is!
 
Having a very bad back problem which causes me a great deal of daily pain to contend with I have on occasion felt that ending this mortal coil would be a better thing to do... however, having just had a bout of psuedogout in my hands which made all my hands and finger joints swell up and extremely painful as well I can tell you that it has brought me to my senses as regards my Db... I really don't want to do anything to bring on another bout of that or anything else along those lines!!
As has been stated.. we never know what our final breath will be encompassed by but far better to take all the precautions we can to try to get a peaceful one...
And btw.. I'm 79.5yo and value seeing my family.. grt grand kids an' all as much as possible.. :clap:
 
Diabetes can have dramatic effects on eye sight. DOnt risk it.

Also read about neuropathy. It is terrifying.

Ok, no-one is perfect, have the occasional treat. But be good for more often you are not.

I'm in my early 40s (or very late 30s). 70 sounds fairly young to me. I want to get eh most out of everyday


Cara
 
It's obviously a personal choice but I think we often overlook the implications it can have others - family, friends, carers and NHS resources.

Coincidentally, in the past few days I've heard 2 stories about people who 'gave up': One was in her 30s who decided she'd had enough of 'not doing what everyone else was able to do'. She then had a hypo but there was no-one around to bring her out of it.

The second was my boss's former work colleague. His funeral was last Friday. According to the boss, 'he was a big bloke in his early 60s who'd been diagnosed T2 five years before, but decided it wasn't going to change his life'. He didn't but it did.
 
but not inevitable that every older diabetic will get serious problems
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That's not what I meant at all - it's a fact that elderly people are more frail and less able to tolerate side effects of medication, and thus an intervention that may have a net benefit for younger people may not be appropriate for the elderly.

For example, look at aspirin: Aspirin increases the risk of potentially dangerous internal bleeding so you would not recommend that everyone in general population should take it; however, for someone at high risk of having a stroke, say, the benefits (reducing the risk of stroke) will outweigh the dangers (increased risk of bleeds). It would not be inconceivable that the best possible treatment for elderly patients would differ from the best possible treatment for a different demographic.
 

All this is of course true, AlexMBrennan, but I'm sorry, you seem to be completely deaf to context and nuance. Read what the OP has been writing here and elsewhere and THINK!
 

You might like to read this article.

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013 ... ostComment

Has your G.P. suggested a target you should be aiming for with your blood sugars?
 
Do what you feel you can to help your health....
Age is just a label .... Kat
 
Kat100 said:
Do what you feel you can to help your health....
Age is just a label .... Kat
Click to expand...



i agree, i know someone (my brother) who is 48 and old but i also know a lady whos 92 and most definately young
 
I'm doing a short course at the moment and the care of 'the elderly' came up. The 2013 evidence based recommendations from the Canada on treatment and guidelines for the elderly is probably the most up to date guidance .
It categorises the 'elderly' as 'sometime after 65 ' ie not easily defined. (I fully intend to run a half marathon for my 65th birthday in 3 years time!)

Healthy elderly people with diabetes should be treated to achieve the same glycemic, blood pressure and lipid targets as younger people with diabetes
Click to expand...
also
Elderly people with type 2 diabetes should perform aerobic exercise and/or resistance training, if not contraindicated, to improve glycemic control
Click to expand...

AGE should not be a factor on it's own.
Common sense really.

There are some cautionary notes about certain drugs ie the dosage and choice of sulfs. and the use of thiazolidinediones (subject to caution or not prescribed here anyway)

So apart from that the assumption is treat as everyone else

People who have lots of other conditions or they are what they categorise as the frail* elderly may have different, higher targets but that is an entirely different matter.
(there is a scale that they suggest is useful to categorise frailty, my 86 year old father doesn't quite reach the first frail category in spite of numerous health problems because he is still self sufficient)

http://guidelines.diabetes.ca/executivesummary/ch37
 
It is not so much a matter of age, but how much longer you can tolerate surviving with this living hell. I have such a visceral hatred for this curse (T1) that getting through the day is a constant struggle. And no, before anyone says it, happy pills or a psychiatrist will not do one iota of good-they cannot get rid of the cause.
 
There was a man of similar age to you on my Desmond course and also one aged 82. The Desmond course is like n information day for newly diagnosed type 2s so obviously 2 different GPs thought it worth bothering with.

The point is that you may live another 10 or 20 years and you want to avoid diabetic complications and that means looking after yourself. You may not want to do the weight loss and exercise thing but being careful with the food that you eat is not difficult to get the hang of.

It's a ridiculous thing for a GP to say and makes one wonder if he is in the right job.
 
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