Positives of having diabetes?

[Tubzi]

Hi all,
I need some positivity at the moment so...
Who thinks having diabetes can add some good points to your life and why?

 

[ladybird64]

Hmm. I don't believe in blessings (or curses come to think of it but anyway..) but I did have a positive experience. I think you're a type 1, I'm type 2, diagnosed late in 2011. After adopting a lower carb diet, I lost a lot of weight, nearly 6 stones over the next couple of years after diagnosis. In 2014, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer and the treatment for it was very aggressive - the Oncologists word was "brutal". It left me with terrible burns, and I was bedridden for a while, it has also left me with long term side effects. I am absolutely positive that if I had been diagnosed at the time I was so big, I would have not healed half as well as I did, would have been susceptible to infection, and would have struggled to get moving too. I went through hell, if I had been 6 stones heavier and less healthy generally, my recovery may have been very different.

So that is the positive thing I have taken from it. I know it's personal to me, but without my diabetes diagnosis, life could have been a lot harder. I hop you find the positivity you need to get you through this difficult patch x

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi all,
I need some positivity at the moment so...
Who thinks having diabetes is a blessing and why?

I found this forum, and it has helped me to improve my way of living. I know I come across as a Grumpuss, but really I enjoy the challenge that diabetes gives me. Testing and improving my diet has given me something to fight for, and taking control of my condition is fun. Doing the research occupies me and amuses me too. It can be humerous sometimes.

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

For sure it's a blessing for me. It made me figure out what healthy foods are and what unhealthy foods are.

 

[RuffsTheShake]

I am happier in some ways now. I pay more attention to my food, have learnt so much about nutrition, completely widened the types of food I can cook. I have finally been able to control my drinking which was something I had been trying to change for a while. Also I'm grateful that I am no longer immediately dying haha.

I think I can empathise more with people with chronic conditions and the experiences of daily management before I had an intellectual understanding but it was not as clear. In addition I knew everyone's experiences are different but I never realised how different our bodies are in the way they react to everyday stuff like food; it's fascinating that there is so much variety. I understood people were the experts in themselves but now I have good evidence to present to people who pull the I had one lecture in [insert whatever condition] during my degree and therefore know everything so I won't listen to your experiences types.

In addition I love puzzles and now everyday is one in a way. I don't treat my numbers as a failure but something to explore. So diabetes has helped me come to terms with my perfectionistic traits.

I don't know about it being a blessing or a curse but I'm OK with having diabetes, it's another part of my life.

 

[paula.nolan42]

Getting my T2 diagnosis has turned out to be a blessing but it doesn't always feel that way Throughout my life I have had depression to varying degrees, but one of the thing that has always stayed with me is Suicide Ideation. The notion that Suicide is my 'get out of jail free' card - its the option my brain suggests when all the **** hits all the fans. (I'm not going to linger on this bit) so when I got my diagnosis I had to have a very serious think about things. My choice was 1. ignore my diabetes and continue my eating and drinking and general lack of movement and suffer the consequences (which in my head meant a long, slow one way ticket to Deathville) or 2. Take control of myself and my life and make change happen

It turns out - I chose Life ! I am beating this - slowly, (yes for sure) - but I'm doing it. I am opting for healthier options (apart from my odd slip) and I am walking as much as possible and I am taking each day at a time and making the best decisions I can make based on the information I have now.

Don't get me wrong, I still have my demons, I just try to ignore them.

I am happier, I feel better in myself. I think it must be a combination of walking & proper food, but its also down to the fact that I choose to be happier and healthier. So yes, it's been a blessing for me.

 

[kokhongw]

My T2D diagnosis and the discovery of LCHF, Intermittent fasting, raw puer tea and tartary buckwheat tea has certainly been a blessing. Wished it had happened a couple of years earlier. Could very well have saved my father from 2 vascular surgery and toe amputation...but everything has its time and place. Just grateful that I may be able to help my child and others prevent this condition in future...

 

[Prem51]

I certainly don't think diabetes is a blessing. I wish I didn't have it, and others didn't too. I hope one day there will be a cure for it, rather than just managing it. But there are some good side effects, I'm eating a healthier diet, exercising more, and generally feeling fitter and better about myself. So it's not all bad.

 

[ladybird64]

Getting my T2 diagnosis has turned out to be a blessing but it doesn't always feel that way Throughout my life I have had depression to varying degrees, but one of the thing that has always stayed with me is Suicide Ideation. The notion that Suicide is my 'get out of jail free' card - its the option my brain suggests when all the **** hits all the fans. (I'm not going to linger on this bit) so when I got my diagnosis I had to have a very serious think about things. My choice was 1. ignore my diabetes and continue my eating and drinking and general lack of movement and suffer the consequences (which in my head meant a long, slow one way ticket to Deathville) or 2. Take control of myself and my life and make change happen

It turns out - I chose Life ! I am beating this - slowly, (yes for sure) - but I'm doing it. I am opting for healthier options (apart from my odd slip) and I am walking as much as possible and I am taking each day at a time and making the best decisions I can make based on the information I have now.

Don't get me wrong, I still have my demons, I just try to ignore them.

I am happier, I feel better in myself. I think it must be a combination of walking & proper food, but its also down to the fact that I choose to be happier and healthier. So yes, it's been a blessing for me.

This all sounds very familiar Paula, I know just how difficult it is to put the thoughts aside, but you're doing it. Well done for coping, and managing. Sending you a hug and strength to continue what you've started x

 

[philchap1]

It's neither a blessing or a curse, it's a condition we have to live with and manage as good as possible and hopefully have a normal life as possible

 

[britishpub]

Yep, I'm not glad that I have T2D, but I am far healthier and feel so much better than I have for over a decade.

I'll never know if how my general well being worsened over that period was due to developing diabetes related problems or caused entirely by my lifestyle, but quite frankly I don't really care now.

Now I know I have the disease I am determined to make the lifestyle choices to combat it as best I can.

 

[Brunneria]

I am exceedingly grateful that I have a manageable condition.
Every time I see/hear of someone in a worse situation I am humbled by my luck. So far.

Something will get us in the end. It always does. But what we do with the time we get is part luck, part good management. I find that quite reassuring, and I don't intend that diabetes will be the something..

 

[Mike d]

I would never assume diabetes is a blessing ... it isn't.

But then I see children afflicted with conditions I've never had, living a life far shorter than mine, people with crippling diseases beyond what I could endure and then slap myself stupid at my selfish attitude.

The passage we must all travel

 

[amgrundy]

Getting my T2 diagnosis has turned out to be a blessing but it doesn't always feel that way Throughout my life I have had depression to varying degrees, but one of the thing that has always stayed with me is Suicide Ideation. The notion that Suicide is my 'get out of jail free' card - its the option my brain suggests when all the **** hits all the fans. (I'm not going to linger on this bit) so when I got my diagnosis I had to have a very serious think about things. My choice was 1. ignore my diabetes and continue my eating and drinking and general lack of movement and suffer the consequences (which in my head meant a long, slow one way ticket to Deathville) or 2. Take control of myself and my life and make change happen

It turns out - I chose Life ! I am beating this - slowly, (yes for sure) - but I'm doing it. I am opting for healthier options (apart from my odd slip) and I am walking as much as possible and I am taking each day at a time and making the best decisions I can make based on the information I have now.

Don't get me wrong, I still have my demons, I just try to ignore them.

I am happier, I feel better in myself. I think it must be a combination of walking & proper food, but its also down to the fact that I choose to be happier and healthier. So yes, it's been a blessing for me.

Hi My heart goes out to you well done you deserve it. Willpower ! Willpower ! Willpower is all it takes.

 

[Tubzi]

Maybe i should have said 'what good have you found in being diagnosed'. Poor choice of words on my part!

 

[ladybird64]

Maybe i should have said 'what good have you found in being diagnosed'. Poor choice of words on my part!

I wouldn't worry about your choice of words - we get what you mean

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

Who thinks having diabetes is a blessing and why?

Blessing isn't quite the word I'd use so I had to have a look to see what it meant. A blessing is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will.

However, it has meant that I have learned more about nutrition and I think I'm more aware of what's good for me and what's not so good.

 

[Chook]

I wouldn't think to call having diabetes a 'blessing' precisely. But, having been struck with it and previously having had my life made a total misery with a lot of the associated symptoms, I do think of the knowledge I now have to live healthily with it as being the blessing.

 

[ickihun]

The only positive I can take from me having diabetes is making my family aware my experience could happen to them if they don't take measures to educate themselves. I check my sons often. Early intervention can make all the difference with this disease.

 

[poshtotty]

I'm the annoying eternal optimist who tries to see the good in everything but two years ago, before finding this forum I was uncharacteristicly very low and convinced I was experiencing situational depression, following a family bereavement. A chance comment from a friend with the suggestion to review my diet led me to this forum and on researching LCHF and choosing to convert immediately to lifestyle changes associated with LCHF, my low mood lifted and has never returned. The most comforting knowledge has been that I wasn't depressed at all, but my diet was wholly wrong for me and causing low mood, sluggishness, sleepiness, apathy and brain fog. Within 3 days all those symptoms had disappeared and I found my equilibrium again.

The bright side is:

• I can manage my condition through diet and exercise, with a little help from Metformin,
  
• The unexpected remission of a second health condition and being able to give up a lot of nasty medications.
• Being told by people in the street and my friends, how well and happy I look
• The knowledge that the power to control and manage my condition/s is entirely within my hands and the future is once again bright.
• Shopping for, preparing and enjoying delicious, healthy and satisfying meals for any situation
• Sharing the LCHF message with non-diabetic friends who tell me I'm inspirational and want to know my secret to looking well and my renewed energy
  
• The new friends I've made on this forum
  
• Being alert to the warning signs of diabetes and associated conditions so that I can help other family members who may be predisposed in the future

In a nutshell - its been empowering