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Introduce Yourself: Answer Some Personal Questions

Contralto said:
Wow! An Hungarian hunting dog in Australia. What's a GSP? Welcome to the forum

Only podiatry question I have for you is what causes thinning of toenails?
Click to expand...
GSP german short haired pointer. Thin nails could just be thin nails. Some folk just have thin nails. Problems are usually when they change from thick to thin, or vice versa. Usually there are other signs such as changes to shape, opacity, brittleness that goes along with it. Vit C deficiency can cause thin nails that have a dip in the middle called spooning. Heart problems can cause the nail to grow around end of toes and fingers, called "clubbing" sometimes that's the only sign of heart lung disease. Lots of things affect nails. But because they are slow growing its usually a long standing problem, or there is no problem at all. Its frustrating.
 
 

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Hi There, Recently moved to England from the US. I was diagnosed with T2 about a year ago...I've been watching the site for a while and came across this forum. Thought I'd give it a go!

- Include a photo here if you wish to.
<<It's there...

- What is your name?
Sidney

- How old are you?
33

- Are you male or female?
Male

- Which country are you from?
US

- Which city/area do you live in?
England

- Are you religious?
Not so much, no.

- Pick three words to describe your personality.
Sarcastic, Sassy and Honest

- Do you have any pets?
Dog (Mille) and Cat (Tigger)

- Microsoft or Apple?
PC: Microsoft Everything Else: Apple

- Which sport(s) (if any) do you like/play?
Hahahahaha

- Do you get angry easily?
Quite

- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where?
2 Tattoos 4 piercings (just ears and no longer worn)

- List your five favourite musicians/bands.
Wow, Um. I'm very eclectic in my taste, I genuinely can't think of any bands or musicians in this moment lol

- What would you say your favourite music genre is?
A little bit of everything..it really depends on the mood I'm in.

- What is your favourite flag?
Sheldon? Is that you?

- Ever gone camping?
Numerous times growing up. Every Spring/Summer. As I've become an adult and I don't agree with getting dirty or creepy crawlies, not so much!

- Ever been in love?
Indeed.

- Ever used fake tan?
Unfortunately, yes. Fortunately, no horrific outcome.

- Which countries have you visited?
All over the East Coast of America (Home), Scotland, England, Italy

- Favourite city?
Rome

- List your five favourite TV programmes.
A Discovery of Witches, Friends, Will & Grace, Doctor Who, TBBT, Shadowhunters, The Flash, The Walking Dead, Gifted, The Originals,The Shannara Chronicles...Anything fantasy related, really...

- List your five favourite films.
Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding, The Labyrinth, Harry Potter, Anything with Melissa McCarthy in it, LOTR, The Hobbit, etc.

- Are you wealthy?
Not even kind of close..

- Do you work? If so, as what?
Generally speaking, yes. Presently, I'm between jobs.

- List the subjects you study/have studied.
I have a standard American Education, which unfortunately isn't much.

- What do you like most about yourself?
My personality. I'm fun, I love to laugh and entertain. I care about people and want to make sure they're taken care of.

- What do you like least about yourself?
My Body, My Anger, Sometimes my brutal honesty and lack of a filter. My lack of motivation..My Diabetes.
 
- Include a photo here if you wish to.
No Thank You!!don't want to frighten anyone off..
- What is your name?
Keith Evans
- How old are you?
71
- Are you male or female?
male
- Which country are you from?
UK
- Which city/area do you live in?
S. Yorkshire
- Are you religious?
Nope
- Pick three words to describe your personality.
happy, friendly, Easy to get on with, (mostly!)
- Do you have any pets?
Yes a cross Springer/Poodle named Jasper
- Microsoft or Apple?
Neither Linux
- Which sport(s) (if any) do you like/play?
Fly Fishing
- Do you get angry easily?
Nope.
- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where?
One tattoo top right arm
- List your five favourite musicians/bands.
canned heat
Little walter
Mulesweat
Stevie ray Vaughan
Johnny Cash
- What would you say your favourite music genre is?
Blues
- What is your favourite flag?
Welsh
- Ever gone camping?
yes
- Ever been in love?
yes
- Ever used fake tan?
No
- Which countries have you visited?
North Africa for work, most of Europe from my Forces days, Australia, singapore etc,.
- Favourite city?
Was Tripoli...
- List your five favourite TV programmes.
None, sorry
- List your five favourite films.
also none sorry
- Are you wealthy?
No
- Do you work? If so, as what?
Retired.
- List the subjects you study/have studied.
Not a whole lot! - The Beano...
What do you like most about yourself?
Easy going..
- What do you like least about yourself?
fat ******...
 
 
Hi my name is Andrea Graham and I’m a podiatrist and lecturer at Salford university. I’m 47 (eek!) and a keen runner/gym go-er ...when I get time! My professional interests lie in patient and health education and making sure that patients are given the opportunity to have a ‘voice’ as part of any research that I do. I love treating patients and I love teaching new students- so I am lucky to be able to do both of those things.
I also love cats, coffee and Game of Thrones - but can’t indulge in two of those things at work... sadly. I hope I can become an active part of the forum here, it looks so supportive!
 
Hello, my name is Christine Greene I am almost 65 and do not work because of medical conditions. I have Ehlers-Danlos so exercise is a bit of a challenge, under active thyroid, other ailments, and now Type 2 diabetes. I love family history and found that my paternal grandmother and maternal ggrandmother both had diabetes, one going blind. I hope to join in when I am a little more educated. Christine
 
Include a photo here if you wish to.
No, thank you. I do not want to be photographed anymore.
- What is your name?
My name is Simha
- How old are you?
I am 59 sometimes going on 99
- Are you male or female?
Proud to say I'm female
- Which country are you from?
The Netherlands
- Which city/area do you live in?
Close to the German border
- Are you religious?
No. I'm spiritual, but choose not to join any organised religion or faith
- Pick three words to describe your personality.
Integer, direct, stubborn
- Do you have any pets?
Yes, a cat
- Microsoft or Apple?
Both
- Which sport(s) (if any) do you like/play?
Not possible any more. Liked gymnastics and any form of dance
- Do you get angry easily?
Too easily, especially these days
- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where?
No. Never wanted them
- List your five favourite musicians/bands.
Queen, Adele
- What would you say your favourite music genre is?
Classical
- What is your favourite flag?
I don't have one
- Ever gone camping?
Yup. Don't mind it, but prefer a static caravan
- Ever been in love?
You bet
- Ever used fake tan?
On my legs, never my face. Didn't work
- Which countries have you visited?
UK, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria
- Favourite city?
Rotterdam
- List your five favourite TV programmes
The Blacklist
- List your five favourite films
That would be more than five
- Are you wealthy
Moneywise...no. I'm one of those just not managing. Wealthy in other areas of my life.
- Do you work? If so, as what?
No. Used to be secretary, then switched to nursing. Now work as a volunteer and am a tutorial writer
- List the subjects you study/have studied
Wow..a lot, throughout my life. I never stop studying
- What do you like most about yourself?
Not a lot, these days
- What do you like least about yourself?
My size. Can't get used to being a size 6/8 until two years ago, now a 16/18. Thanks to insulin. No hope of losing it.

Have fun!
I did
 
Hi Emiliano. Welcome! Only been here 1 day myself, but I think you`ve come to the right place here.
 
Hello everyone.

My name's Tim and I'm 50 years young currently living in West Yorkshire, Bradford, UK. I moved "up north" about 26 years ago when I was 24 from East Sussex UK.

I work in IT in Education. We're a Microsoft site, so I would have to say Microsoft instead of Apple although personally and in my particular area of work I would say more Linux than either and Android for mobile.

I would describe my personality as structured, random, enigma. I can get frustrated sometimes when people don't fit into my structure which at times can be random.

I am married and have one 18 year old "adult" daughter, and two cats (not sure if the cars or the daughter are the hardest work!).

I get frustrated more than angry - but I can be emotional at times (I believe my wife has accused me of being menopausal before now!). I've never wanted any tatoos etc - so it's never even been a consideration to me.

I enjoy a rather eclectic range of Music: a lot of 80s stuff as thats what I heard when I was a teenager, classical (I'm not adverse to enjoying a ballet sometimes -especially if its swan lake), some opera, and at the moment mostly country. I also enjoy singing and do some home recording for my own enjoyment.

The only time I've ever been camping was when I went for a week motorbike "touring" with a friend of mine when I was about 19. We only went about 100 miles in total but spent 2 nights camped on public playing fields etc being moved on by police saying "you cant camp here!". I enjoy static caravans and lodges, cottages these days.

I've been in love twice in my live - once (and still) to my wife of 22 years.

Fake tan? No desire to - personally I cant see the point - and a large proportion of those that do (yes they are using it wrong I know) look like they've been Tango'd!

UK (well not visited), Germany when I was a small child - don't remember it, and France on Honeymoon.

TV Programmes: Stagate SG1/Atlantis/SGU, Farscape, Andromedia, Star Trek, things of that ilk. Movies, far too many. Interstellar, Passengers, many many many more.

Definitely not wealthy, but dont have to watch money the same way as we did 20+ years ago.

Studied AI, Databases, User Design, Object Oriented Pragramming at Open University about 15 years ago.

I am what I am, I don't really think that much about what I like or don't about myself.


As far as my being here is concerned. Currently "undiagnosed" needing to register with new doctor after discovering that what I thought was my current practice told my wife when she tried to make me an appointment that I had been redacted! Hopefully registering with one this evening. Had symptoms that I put together as maybe pointing to diabetes, fatigue, drinking 6 litres+ a day (and obviously the other effect of that!). Leg cramps, weak/wobbly legs and feeling a little lightheaded at times.

Got myself a meter and definitely indicates I am hypoglycemic with fasting readings of around 15mmol/l in the morning the last 3 days, raising to 27.8 mmol/l this afternoon before lunch. Currently drastically reducing my carbs and especially sugar and trying to do some walking every day (which is not easy when my legs feel a bit weak).

Hoping to be diagnosed quickly but not looking forward to taking metformin (if its given to me) as I am going away for a week at the end of the month and dont fancy vomiting the whole holiday.

I guess I am already trying to behave as if I have been diagnosed (I believe with the readings I have there is little doubt anyway). I am doing a lot of reading and think I have a good handle on (most) of the facts (one of which being that for every person telling you not to eat X, someone else says you must eat X). I believe I am treating this seriously but logically but some things are harder than others.

I believe I am going to find some things more of an emotional challenge than a physical one. Thinking "I cant have that anymore - or at least I cant have it often" more of a problem in my mind than reality as it may be something I hardly ever have - but the knowledge that I need to change can sometimes be upsetting.

Ok, well I think thats probably enough of a wall of text for anyone to plod thought, so there we go.

Tim
 
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Hi all, my first post here. Here goes...

I'm a 51 year old male (52 this month). Type 2 - diagnosed 10 years ago.
At diagnosis I was almost off the chart and it was suggested that I had probably already been diabetic for 5+ years based on my lifestyle and what I told my G.P.

At diagnosis I was at 11%.

I was drinking alcohol as part of my job (I work in the music industry) and had a liver scare which, combined with the diabetes diagnosis gave me the impetus to change my lifestyle.
With the help of my incredible wife I got fit, lost weight and reduced my HbA1c from 15% to 6.5% (around 48mmol). Which I stayed at for around 2 years.
A few stressful events in my life affected my levels which went up and down for 5 years.

I have always had a problematic relationship with food. I comfort eat and once I stopped drinking too much I pretty much replaced this with more eating.

My weight and my diabetes has fluctuated a lot in the past 5 years. I've had a very stressful time in the past 3 years since my mother died and my work life became very stressful. I have suffered anxiety because of some unrelated health issues and I am now taking Sertraline for anxiety and Pregabalin for nerve pain.

My HbA1c was 48 in January this year, 46 in July and is now currently 42 which is the lowest it has ever been.
My cholesterol is 3.1 which fantastic and my doctor is really pleased with.

This year has been incredibly stressful, my anxiety has been out of control until a few months ago when the Sertraline started to work.

I am currently questioning the validity of my HbA1c readings this year.
I have a few questions about this and diabetic nerve pain which I will post in the relevant forums and hopefully the good people of the forum will be able to advise me on.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, it took me about 2 hours to type because I had to edit it down from about 4 pages of total waffle. If rambling in emails (posts) was an Olympic sport I would be the World Record, Gold medal champion... can you imagine what my wife has to put up with


Metformin - 1500mg daily
Simvastatin - 40mg daily
Sertraline - 100mg daily
Pregabalin - 225mg daily (increasing weekly).
Lansoprasole - 30mg daily
 
Hi Peter,

Welcome, and I'm solidly in the rambles-ion-camp myself, so I for one don't mind lengthy posts. You know, what really was a bit of a red flag in your list of meds is simvastatin... Some of the things you mention could be side-effects of the statin. Maybe go down the list of side-effects and decide whether you can try to go without them for a few weeks, see what it does for your pain, anxiety and liverproblems. Simvastatin can actually cause T2, so yeah... I don't know the other meds, was only on metformin for a few weeks because it made me ill, but simvastatin, well... It made my depression/anxiety worse, besides aggrivating what I thought/think was my rheumatism, but my joints and muscles and nerves were not happy with it, -as in, the pain kept me away through the night- and returned to normal soon after I dropped it. I'm eating keto now which seems to agree with me, (HbA1c 34! ) and while my cholesterol is ever so slightly elevated, the ratio's are perfection, so I'm all good without that stuff now. What I'm saying is that the diabetic nerve pain might not actually be diabetic nerve pain. It could be, of course... But just in case it isn't, it may be worth trying a little 2 to 4 week experiment to find out for sure. If you don't have to be stuck with pain, after all... Keep in mind, I'm no doctor, but you wouldn't be the first here to have a myread of misdiagnosis while it's all down to statins. @bulkbiker I think is a bit of an expert on this stuff though, so I'll drag him in here to check your post. Just in case I'm way off the mark here.

As for food, there's loads of ketogenic stuff you could absolutely pig out on in terms of comfort-food, and still stay under a certain amount of carbs a day, so that could be worth looking into as well. (www.dietdoctor.com has loads of ideas) All in all though, even with the stress and whatnot, you've been doing great. So congratulations! And if you don't trust the HbA1c.... Do what the bulk of us T2's do: Get your own meter and check your bloods when waking, before a meal and 2 hours after the first bite. (If you go up more than 2.0 mmol/l after a meal it was carbier than your body could process back out again.). That way you know exactly what's going on, and you won't have to rely solely on a test done every 3 months, being in limbo in the meantime.

Again, welcome.
Jo
 
Hello everyone. I just found this site and already logged on! I am overwhelmed with the information and help that one can get from this site!I am new to this also, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 7 weeks ago. If I've got the terminology correct the value of the blood test which confirm the diagnoses of Type 2 was HbA1c 50. To be honest I did not believe it to begin with, if anything it actually made me extremely angry - don't know why- especially when I was told that the condition is here to stay for the rest of my days and that there was no return! Furthermore the nurse told me that it is more than likely that I will have to go on medication to treat it, and possibly (not certainty) that I could end up with insulin at some point later on in life! At that point, I must admit I was fuming! It took me more than a week to accept it, even now it gets me! However, this anger worked quite well for me, I totally went cold Turkey on carbs and sugars, and I mean NO carbs/Sugars. Last week I went back to the surgery for a blood test, the result that come was HbA1c 40. As you can imagine I was very pleased, in fact the nurse asked me how did I achieve this in such short time! No Carbs/Sugars, 3-4 times a week playing badminton and walking everywhere. She actually told me not to go back again for another test until May 2019. It is though hard work, but I am getting use it now! I am 48 years. old 1.77m in height and when diagnosed I weighed circa 100kg with in 6 weeks I,ve lost 7kg and continue to improve.
 

Hi tim.
been there, done that...cutting back so soon is soooo hard, but it is a good learning curve if you can deal with the downsides.

i was lethargic, ached, slept REAL heavy and struggled most days due to brain fog..messy confused thinking and a genral malaise.

Once diagnosed as confirmed, lucky to head out on to the web and find this place.

Has been a revelation in how i feel and now eat.
But even if the fact of diabetes is NOT confirmed, the reduction in carbs and sugar can only have a long term benefit in my eyes.

best of luck on the journey, bad news if it is confirmed, but the good news is YOU can now do something about it from a position of your OWN information and opinion formed by the many, rather then the opinion foisted upon you by the medical profession, lovely though they are.

Knowledge IS Power
 
What is your name?
Theo Koulouriotis

- How old are you?
48

- Are you male or female?
Male
- Which country are you from?
Originally from Crete/Greece, My home is the UK

- Which city/area do you live in?
Leicestershire

- Are you religious?
Not religious at all.. but I have have faith.

- Pick three words to describe your personality.
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing

Do you have any pets?
NO

- Microsoft or Apple?
Both

- Which sport(s) (if any) do you like/play?
I play Badminton

- Do you get angry easily?
Used to. Not any more!

- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where?
I have a Tattoo om my right arm

- Ever gone camping?
Yes - a very long time ago!

- Ever been in love?
Indeed I have, and still I am!

- Ever used fake tan?
No

- Which countries have you visited?
Not many at all! Greece has everything I need - from tropical beaches to winter Alpine environments

- Favourite city?
Rethymnon - Crete/Greece

- List your five favourite TV programmes.
Forge in Fire
Dad's Army
Open all hours
Are you being served
Only Fools

- List your five favourite films.
Star Wars
Star Trek
Star Gate
Spaghetti Westerns
Band of Brothers

- Are you wealthy?
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.

- Do you work? If so, as what?
Yes, for a Dairy Company in commercial

I am attaching a picture of me,taken in Crete, September 2018, approximately 1 month before I was diagnosed with Type 2. I am not a smoker, but I love to smoke shisha pipes when I go on holiday!
 

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Include a photo here if you wish to. Nope!
- What is your name? Laura Cristina
- How old are you? 31
- Are you male or female? Female
- Which country are you from? UK
- Which city/area do you live in? Sussex
- Are you religious? Nope!
- Pick three words to describe your personality. CRAZY CAT LADY?
- Do you have any pets? 3 cats and 20 tanks of exotic insects.
- Microsoft or Apple? Both
- Which sport(s) (if any) do you like/play? Hockey/football.
- Do you get angry easily? Um depends....
- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where? Ears are pierced
- List your five favourite musicians/bands. Thats a secret
- What would you say your favourite music genre is? Pop
- What is your favourite flag? Cats
- Ever gone camping? Yes, and its always rains.
- Ever been in love? With cats
- Ever used fake tan? NO
- Which countries have you visited? Spain!
- Favourite city? Brighton
- List your five favourite TV programmes. Family Guy, Atypical, OITNB, Orphan Black and Black mirror
- List your five favourite films. Vacation, age of Adeline, About Time, The Purge
- Are you wealthy? NO?
- Do you work? If so, as what? Self emplyed dog walker
- List the subjects you study/have studied. Too many
- What do you like most about yourself? Quick learner.
- What do you like least about yourself? Fat tummy.
 
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