- Messages
- 784
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I was referred to a vascular specialist by my (excellent) podiatrist due to some lack of sensation in feet and chilly feet and lower legs. Plus I have muscle pain in calves, buttocks and thighs while exercising, particularly uphill. But since going on new dietary regime walking has improved, and pain has lessened, I suspect largely due to not carting around an extra 20-odd pounds (10 + kilos). I have a physical job, particularly for the past 8 months or so, and cope well with that.
Vascular specialist suspects PVD (or PAD peripheral arterial disease) around the groin area as I'm getting pain from the waist down. He is sending me for further tests to confirm diagnosis before deciding what treatment they can offer. He said that they may perform an angioplasty under local anaesthetic or more intrusively, a bypass.
Now the dilemma – he told me to take aspirin, which is OK, to help thin my blood a little.
Then he told me I was go on a statin to lower (control) my cholesterol, which will be prescribed by my doctor when he receives the report from the specialist. This I am less keen on.
He doesn't think things are too urgent because he wants to see if there is improvement in the next couple of months after aspirin and statin.
He also ordered a full blood screen too which was taken at the time which may throw something else up.
I am on a (very) low carb diet, have been losing weight nicely and my self-administered BG levels seem OK. I'm not due for my first HbA1c test since T2 diagnosis for another month and feel that I want to give the new dietary regime chance to work on everything including cholesterol levels / ratios.
I told the specialist that I had refused a stain on T2 diagnosis but he was pretty insistent that I take one for this unrelated condition. BUT although the cause may be unrelated, the management of it may not be. In other words I think it all revolves around cholesterol, insulin and blood sugar control and the clogging effect they have on arteries
Now I know how some of you feel about statins, I also read that some of you take them, and have done so, for years. Personally I am against taking them but when a specialist recommends them for this newly diagnosed condition I have to try and understand things properly.
I've listened to Ivor Cummins and just read a Zoe Harcombe article on cholesterol (and subsequent q and a). Against their theories is a vascular specialist who looked me in the eye and told me how to proceed (a big lad he was too!).
Sorry this is a ramble and I realize that you can't offer medical advice but not only would I value your input but it may be relevant to others too.
Vascular specialist suspects PVD (or PAD peripheral arterial disease) around the groin area as I'm getting pain from the waist down. He is sending me for further tests to confirm diagnosis before deciding what treatment they can offer. He said that they may perform an angioplasty under local anaesthetic or more intrusively, a bypass.
Now the dilemma – he told me to take aspirin, which is OK, to help thin my blood a little.
Then he told me I was go on a statin to lower (control) my cholesterol, which will be prescribed by my doctor when he receives the report from the specialist. This I am less keen on.
He doesn't think things are too urgent because he wants to see if there is improvement in the next couple of months after aspirin and statin.
He also ordered a full blood screen too which was taken at the time which may throw something else up.
I am on a (very) low carb diet, have been losing weight nicely and my self-administered BG levels seem OK. I'm not due for my first HbA1c test since T2 diagnosis for another month and feel that I want to give the new dietary regime chance to work on everything including cholesterol levels / ratios.
I told the specialist that I had refused a stain on T2 diagnosis but he was pretty insistent that I take one for this unrelated condition. BUT although the cause may be unrelated, the management of it may not be. In other words I think it all revolves around cholesterol, insulin and blood sugar control and the clogging effect they have on arteries
Now I know how some of you feel about statins, I also read that some of you take them, and have done so, for years. Personally I am against taking them but when a specialist recommends them for this newly diagnosed condition I have to try and understand things properly.
I've listened to Ivor Cummins and just read a Zoe Harcombe article on cholesterol (and subsequent q and a). Against their theories is a vascular specialist who looked me in the eye and told me how to proceed (a big lad he was too!).
Sorry this is a ramble and I realize that you can't offer medical advice but not only would I value your input but it may be relevant to others too.