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Type 2 in 96 year old - help

R

roaming_turtle

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Hello - I'm new here and not sure if I'm on the right forum, but could really do with some help/guidance. My 96 year old gran was diagnosed with Type 2 yesterday. Because of her other medical conditions the dr doesn't want to give medicine but control with diet, which is fine. But . . . she is incredibly tiny and frail, not at all over weight. She main meal of the day is a prepared meal from Wiltshire Farm Foods which I found out last night are suitable for diabetics. My grandad is 93 and her main carer, and does not like change to his/their routine at all. I have been given a leaflet from the dr to read and implement a healthy eating plan. But it is more related to over weight/younger people. I can't really see from the leaflet how to do get a healthy eating plan. Gran doesn't eat a great deal as it is. Who the heck do I do it!?! I'm not sure where to turn, and thought I'd try this forum to see if anyone can point me in the right direction, or give me any words of wisdom. Many thanks, sorry for rambling a bit :roll:
 
Hi,

Well since diagnosis I have totally changed my eating habits cutting at as many carbs as well as obvious sugar as I can. However I am 34. If I was diagnosed at the grand age of 96 I really don't think I would change much. I personally would say just swap any sugar in tea/coffee to sweetner, only eat cakes biscuits etc as a treat and maybe swap white bread, pasta and rice for brown.

But like I say at 96 I probably wouldn't change much. :lol:

Hope I make it to that age!!
 
96? Seriously, I wouldn't change ANYTHING at all. You wonder why they were even testing her, unless she was having uncomfortable symptoms ( eg repeated thrush). Exactly as Lenny said, I would advise that she perhaps cut out sugar in tea, that's about it. Next thing they'll be putting her on statins to " get her cholesterol within diabetes targets". You wonder what's happened to common sense sometimes.

Wish your gran all the best, she's obviously doing something right!


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (11mmol), now between 5 and 6 mmol. 13kg lost so far
 
I think if I was diagnosed at that great age I wouldn't change a thing! Why change habits of a lifetime. Let them live the rest of their lives without any worry!
 
My Mum is 94 and still does most of her own cooking. She passed on the genetic form of T2 that I have. I've had to accept that there is a limit on how much she will accept in the way of advice. However, I have managed to persuade her to have Burgen [soya and linseed] instead of "ordinary white" bread.[she says it tastes nice!] I also told her to keep her potions of potatoes SMALL. However to be absolutely realistic, How many years does a person of this age have left? Is there time to develop complications? Is it not preferable to have comfortable life?
Hana
 
What were your Gran's blood glucose readings that the doctor used to diagnose her? If they were very high it might make sense to tweak her diet a bit to bring them down and possibly make her more comfortable.

If they weren't much too high, then like the others I'd leave well alone. Diabetes is a slow killer; I doubt it will get her.

What a marvellous couple your grandparents must be! As Finzi said, they must both be doing something right! :clap: I wouldn't want to worry either of them unduly.

Viv 8)
 
I recently visited my 86 year old aunt who although she has all her marbles, has very bad osteoarthritis and is mostly housebound, she is not overweight. On mentioning that I have Type 2, said that she had been told by the nurse that she was diabetic, but that she didn't need to do anything about it.

She is on the eye screening programme, so must have been diagnosed. She is quite stuck in her ways, so I can't imagine she would easily take to dietary changes. I'm sure her GP is quite happy to take the extra money for having a diabetic on his list.

I was diagnosed at 47, so hopefully I have some years to live with this, but at 86 she has outlived all her siblings who died in their 50's/60's/70's, so I'm with the nurse on this one, let her carry on the way she has been eating, the nurse would probably tell her that she needed to eat starchy carbs with every meal anyway.
 
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