It was bound to come..

as the wife said, taking delivery of the christmas turkey.

Turning 50 can be a funny experience - unless you're overweight with a tendency to bronchitis...

Turns out my quack of 30 years retired a few years back. His replacement's eyes lit up as if they'd found the only living one in captivity. "What's the problem?" "Problem, doc? Nothing at all, fit a s a fiddle, me. Apart from this chest infection... usually get Amoxycillin... blood test? is that really necessary for bronchitis?. Oh, I see... " Seems as if he's met his screening targets this quarter!

And here I am, caught in the speeding trap of life; overweight (no surprises there), hypertense, high cholesterol, and type 2. Oh, and "if you could give up the booze and the one night stands it'd help". Not that the latter's been a problem lately! (Giving them up that is..)

I'd like to say it came as a shock, but I'd be lying. I suppose I'm a bit depressed about it - but to be honest I'm generally depressed when faced with the realities of immortality (or my lack of it!).. More like disappointed to have been caught, I think.

Anyway, I know have my own little pharmacy; ramipril 10mg, amlovasc 5mg & simvastatin 20mg at night and metformin 850mg three times a day. If I rattle as I pass, you know why.

Funny thing is, when I suggested that I should change my diet and get some exercise, the quack says "don't worry, it won't do any good".

The fun is going to be reconciling the good advice for all those conditions. I think I've got a lot to learn!! And to make it worse, one of the flipping drugs says I can't eat the only fruit worth consuming for breakfast - the grapefuit!!

Thanks, both. I need to do some reading and find out what the important questions are first - getting to grips with the technical terms and measures, might be a good starting point, I suppose, before I go for my "assessment"...

Ken: I believe that Guiness can only really be classed as lo-carb when stood next to the Full Irish on a bin-lid of soda-bread, but it's only hearsay!

Be quick - it's St Patirck's day and if you can get both down by midnight, it's calorie free, too

Trinkwasser said:

Read the success stories thread and then see if you ever want to believe anything he says ever again

Click to expand...

You cynic, you! I'm not sure I believed him to start with - I rather think he thinks he has hit the GP's bonus scheme equivalent of a royal flush. He may be in for a rude awakening

Thanks, I'm just trying to skim round the forums and get my bearings. So much to take in on so many fronts.

That aussie is impressive, but boy, he's prolific! Mind you, so are this lot.

I've only got until Monday to get my story straight for Matron, and I'm struggling to find what to ask! If only there was a "newbies" area (and come to that why do the elite T1's get their own area, eh?)... (Only joking...)

I think I've got enough of a handle on the various measurements to confuse the nurse, but I still reckon she'll go for weight loss before trying for a target height of 7' 11"...

I suppose I want to know for each condition a) what is "normal" or "acceptable", b) what am I, and c) how do I get from here to there? Anything else?

B) should be straight forward enough, I think;

A) might be a matter of opinion... but in order to get a BMI of 24.9 I'd need to lose 45kg (33% of my body weight). I've done it before, but it involved 1-2 hours vigorous exercise 5-6 times a week and I was a) so knackered and b) so disspirited by people telling me how gaunt I looked, I gave it up.

c) I reckon I know as much about weight loss theory as my quack, and the rest of it's anyones guess. But the breadmaker stays!

Maybe I'll ask her to help me fill out the FP whatever it is they haven't told me about - that might break the ice!!

Welcome Mark; Hi hanadr, Saw your very useful guide to metrics, h., thanks, very informative.

A touch harsh on the quack, though. In fairness he did say I could knock the dose back if I felt rough, and work up again. I'll work up to exercise next week - I pulled my back getting on the scales this morning (no, I'm not just saying it for a laugh!)...

That said, he didn't give any details, but now you mention it, he did mention the "possibility" of insulin and he is faster on the draw with the prescription pad than the last one.. He hasn't really advised anything other than take the tablets and see the nurse, to be honest.

Funnily enough, forgot the metformin this morning, and felt as if I'd been felled this afternoon - a good lunch has always sent me to sleep. Don't know whether it's connected.

Re: It was bound to come.. "Meet the nurse..."

Well, what an interesting day! (Warning, too long to be interesting, but therapeutic!)

I learned quite a lot and am now the proud owner of a Diabetes Information Pack. It contains amongst other things

a piece of paper for me write down my doctor's name and address,
a form to get my feet checked
a glossy about Desmond - a "pretty unique" initiative ["pretty unique"? Ed.],
a strangely shaped three-fold that includes an "annual check list" section with space for 12 years
a booklet with space for 8 test readings a day, but only for 156 days

and a range of info cards including diabetes and -

food: eat potatoes
alcohol: don't drink and drive [Eh? Ed.]
your feet: don't moisturise between your toes
exercise: use the stairs
travel: take suncream; it's as important as a hat [???]

But best of all this bundle of delights was encased in a little cardboard folder, somewhat reminiscent of a Blue Peter inspired recipe card holder c. 1967. Perhaps the only distinguishing feature was the black gaffer tape used to bind the whole thing together, rather than the preferred psychedelic sticky backed plastic. Val would turn in her knickers!!

The nurse wasn't diabetic but asthmatic, but it's still a chronic disease and counts as her badge of empathy it seems!!

I am still approximately the same height and weight as I was when we started, and a realistic target weight loss is a stone a year[????].

Next time, she'll give me a monitor and show me how to use it. Well, that's good news; I hope she's got a budget for sharps and strips, because if she thinks I'm following the advice in "D & monitoring" ("you can reuse lancets..."), she is sadly mistaken! Anyway, by that time she'll already be two weeks behind the game.

Then we get to "any other questions":

"What's normal in BG terms - numbers and the like?
"It varies"
"Well, for the test I had - if i didn't have diabetes?"
"Um, 4-7 before breakfast, up to 8 after meals"
"And what was I?"
"11.4"
"On a scale of 10 where 0 is good and 10 is bad, how does that rate?"
"There's no such thing as good diabetes" [****! Ed.]
"Yeah, but if I had a car and it leaked, I'd have a range of management techniques - top it up, repair the leak or perhaps scrap the car - where is 11.4 on that scale?"
"Well, if you fill up a car [she said, seizing the ill-judged automotive metaphor] you need a key... And insulin is the key that opens the cell and lets the glucose in. And yours isn't working."
"Yerse... So is the metaformin dose indicative of really bad or just Dr's wish to hit things hard and hit them fast?"
"Um. Well, the sooner we get things under control the better"
"Yerse..."

She thinks she's stabbing things in me next time; discretion/valor and all that.

So when I've had a fortnight to absorb all that information, we'll start in earnest..

By that time I'll have mastered the meter - or more accurately the pricker - and hopefully it won't take three goes to get a reading..

Yesterday was 5.8 (but admittedly I'd not had brekky and it was nearly 12 before I tested) and this morning was 7.5, so too early to tell really, but better than 11.4...

Now if I could crack the late night snack thing, I'd be laughing!

What do they say about long journeys and short steps?