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Complications piling up.....

Draven619

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, i've been an insulin dependent diabetic for 23 years now and my control was perfect for the first year. Then however it went downhill thanks to my discovery that eating sweets and chocolate only changed a number. I.e my results went from 6's and 7's to 9's and 10's, something i could live with I thought (i was age 11 when diagnosed). Fast forward to the present and my control is worse than ever, my last hb1c was 92 meaning my average bm is around 16 which sounds about right. In the last year and a half I have been told I have the beginning of hardening of the arteries in my legs, I've had 3 sessions of laser surgery to remove burst blood vessels in my eyes and more recently been told my kidneys are leaking protein. Really thought i would be in my fifties before i encountered problems like this. Add to this the fact that i smoke around 30 a day, havn't eaten fruit or veg in years and rarely exercise. I'm only 34 but feel older than my years although I accept its of my own doing. What I want to know now is, taking all this into account, am i likely to experience heart problems in the near future? I've always just ignored signs and advice but now I have a family to think about. Any opinions would be welcome. Thnx
 
So sorry about all bad news that is coming your way but I think you know where you've gone wrong by what you've written above.

I would suggest that you work hard at getting your diabetes under control, to do so your going to have to work closely with your HCP's as you already have diabetic retinopathy and sudden tightening of bg control can make the condition worse.

As for smoking that is big No when you have diabetes, if you Google smoking and diabetes you'll find enough information there to put you off smoking altogether.

As for not eating fruit & veg and not exercising, it's important to eat a balanced diet and that includes at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, exercise is incredibly important too as it improves circulation and aids in weight management, exercise also increases insulin sensitivity so you'd find you'd need a lot less insulin if you got yourself active each day.

As I say, given the problems you have you need to improve things but this should be done under the guidance of your diabetes care teams.
 
It's never too late to start trying to correct things... Some damage can be reversed too. High BG levels are dangerous. Kick it into touch starting now.
 
Hi,
it isnt too late to turn things around and stop things getting worse, you now have a family and they need you to be there as long as possible so kick diabetes **** and turn things around for your families sake, everyone on here will be supportive of you and you have started turning it around by asking for help,
good luck
 
Yes you have got yourself in a bit of a mess, and yes in the future that may lead to complications, BUT. Nothing is yet set in stone, so you can feel LUCKY, But don't get complacent, get your Diabetes in control, or like me find yourself facing far far worse than you are today !


Please read my recently closed thread in the Diabetes Complications Section, it's called Terminal and. Scared,

Don't be too scared, but realise that you need to Take Control. BEFORE it takes control of you and you end up like me where it's too late to save yourself. !
 
It"s not too late. I tell myself that daily. Every day do something that will work towards improvement. Start eating better. get help with cutting cigarettes etc. every little bit helps.
 
Stopping smoking is incredibly easy, much easier than smokers have been lead to believe. I went from 20 a day to zero, with no replacement therapy and I've not had one craving since. Read "Stop Smoking The Easy Way" by Allen Carr, everyone I've spoken to who has read it has stopped smoking.
Just that one positive change could make all the difference to you, like others have said, it's never too late


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Sorry to hear that. I know i'm not in the same situation as you but i DO know what it's like to ignore your health and assume the problems come MUCH later in life. I hope the pain eases up my friend, physically and mentally.
 
Thanks for the advice but the problem is I LIKE smoking. Its my only vice, i dont drink, take drugs or have mad parties. I've tried to stop twice, the first time I ate everything in sight and gained 2 stone in a fortnight. The second time I was just really angry all the time to the point that when i woke in the morning everyone around me was automatically deemed to be a B*****d and incurred my wrath. I know to best quit you have to want to stop but what happens when you DONT want to stop but need to?
 
I agree that giving up smoking would be the best place to start, however if it's not that easy for you, start somewhere else, improve your diet or exercise. It's just important that you gradually start to change habits. Swap some of the 'bad' things you eat for better ones. maybe you could cut down smoking a little to start with. Once you have started some where it will be easer to make other changes.

I used to have a problem with eating crisps, lots of them, since childhood. Then a friend lost a leg through diabetes. Now I think do I really want the crisps? Or do I really want to keep both legs?
 
Yes I did that after 40 years of smoking no replacment therapy either and much easier than I thought it would be
 
Exactly what I did as well, no ciggies now for 36 years. mrs Bear said she didnt like me smoking so I smashed the pack I had in my hand and threw it away. Would have been a little happier if she had said this 10 minutes earlier, before I had purchased said pack.


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Draven619 said:
Thanks for the advice but the problem is I LIKE smoking. Its my only vice, i dont drink, take drugs or have mad parties.
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Have you tried the electronic cigs? They're free of the CO, tar and most of the other 1001 nasties found in normal ones but do give full measure of nicotine.

I went cold turkey on cigarettes 9 months ago and I've managed to stay off them. My wife and her brother (now he was a real 60-a-day chain-smoker) couldn't follow suit but they did go for the electronic cigarettes and both of them have stayed off tobacco ever since. The other advantages are they don't leave a lingering smell and work out quite a bit cheaper too.

Must be worth a try, at least?
 
Yeah I bought one of those eshisha electronic things with the oils. Unfortunately i smoked it in between smoking rollups and ended up not cutting down at all. I still have it so I suppose its an option if I manage to try quitting.
 

I promise I'm not lecturing you, you're a grown-up you can make your own decisions

I didn't want to give up either but knew that I had to, I was prescribed Champix by my GP which really wasn't working, I was miserable and craving all the time. A friend of mine lent me the book and just said have a read of it.
There's no "hard sell" in the book, and there's very little mention of the health risks involved, we all know those anyway, what it does is explain WHY you smoke and what will happen if you DON'T smoke, you're even encouraged to carry on smoking while you read it! As smokers we're brainwashed into smoking at certain times, i.e. when we're stressed, what is pointed out is that when we've finished the cigarette the stressful situation is still there.

When I finished the book, I binned the Champix and I haven't looked back since, no cravings at all

Of course it's your choice but it's only a book and you've got nothing to lose by reading it


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Bad diet, smoking, lack of exercise and negative attitude to diabetes? BIG challenge to tackle each one of these...

Why not seek some psychological support eg CBT, which diabetes teams are supposed to provide for people with chronic conditions? Take small steps one at a time, but until your attitude to looking after yourself is positive, it's v difficult to make progress (speaking with nearly 50yrs of T1, with many ups and downs during that time!)

It's never too late to improve ones quality of life, which will hugely improve your control and health - go for it!! Good luck - and good judgement too!


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Dear Draven619

You are not the first person to mistake youth for immortality and indestructibility. We have probably all been guilty of that at some point, so go easy on yourself on that score.

Whatever mistakes you have made in the past can not be helped and should be left behind you. Just as long as you do not perpetuate them by continuously repeating them.

It is never too late to make a fresh start but the best time to do so is now before more damage and complications. You have already had the first signs of what diabetes can do to you if you allow it.

Heed the warnings.

Make the right choices.

As for smoking and liking it too much to want to give it up, my advice is "Find something else to like, something that will not rush you to an early grave."

You know that smoking and diabetes combine to compound the risk of cardiovascular disease. So why do it?

You are an adult and have the right to make you are own decisions no matter how suicidal they may appear to the rest of us.

All I ask is that in making these decisions, you recognize and take into consideration, as a responsible adult, the consequences of your decisions not only on yourself but on the rest of your family.

Change is never easy, but it is near impossible unless you want to happen.

So make the right decision now and I am sure that you will be given plenty of support here to make the change happen,

Best wishes

Pavlos


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Last edited by a moderator:
Hi

I agree very much with all the above posts re... smoking. But stopping smoking is not going to alter your bg levels..

What will alter them, is you doing more bg tests, taking notice of the results and then either altering the insulin doseage or reducing
or increasing the amount of carbohydrate eaten. Once youve been able to shift the balance a bit more on how high your bg levels go about 3hrs after eating food or how low as well, your overal range of bg control will get much better and not worse.

How many times per day are you testing your bg levels and do you bother to calculate the carb in the food you are going to eat or just use guesswork and eat what you want?

Once youve been able to get your insulin correct for the food that you eat, you can then tackle the smoking problem.

Hope this helps and makes you have a think
 
iHs said:
Once youve been able to shift the balance a bit more on how high your bg levels go about 3hrs after eating food or how low as well, your overal range of bg control will get much better and not worse.
Click to expand...

Fully agree about the need to get insulin dosage/carbs consumption right in order to get better glycemic control, as well as the vital role of self testing in doing that. In fact I consider it so vital that I perhaps naively assumed that all T1 diabetics would be self monitoring blood glucose levels as a matter of routine.

Incidentally is it not more usual to test two rather than three hours after a meal or is that for t2s like myself only?

Pavlos


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Having used CGM for the past 5 mths, I would recommend everyone tries testing more regularly for brief periods (if you can get the strips that is!). You will be staggered by the huge fluctuations that occur - the ups and downs you previously didn't realise were happening! This provides you with a huge amount of additional info (inc the effects of different food combinations, exercise, hormonal effects, timing of injections etc etc) on which to make future decisions. Requires dedication and planning, but worth the effort in my view! Big rewards.


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