Diabetees (Just read an article)

[willous1]

Hi

I feel like i am losing it and have a near fear due to just reading an article about diabetees. It says that it can cause blindness cancer etc etc. I am 28 and have always had a fairly bad diet due to being skinny but only recently have started putting on weight. because of this I have improved my diet but I am scared now. There is no info out there to say tell whether the damage can already be done or not. Anyone have any info. How do you know if you have it?

[Mipsy]

I had gestational diabetes and tbh, it's one thing I haven't worried about. Ask for a blood test to rule it out. I'm sure you will be fine. Good luck x

[willous1]

Thank you. Is it just a bad diet that affects the risk. And is it too late to change your diet and lifestyle and stop it from affecting you.?

[Mark13]

I'm pre-diabetic (my fasting blood glucose was 7.0mm/l at one point - 7.1 is diabetes).

I already had a balanced diet, so I cut out the white bread and white rice, replaced with granary bread and basmati. Didn't even lose much weight, only a few pounds - in 18 months my reading was 5.9 - on the high side of normal.

I'm in my 40s and 4 stone overweight, so a pretty high risk of diabetes, but a minor change in my diet sorted it for me.

The "scare stories" about blindness etc are referring to very rare events, probably untreated diabetes.

[Mipsy]

Hi, I agree with Mark, the worst case scenarios are when diabetes is left untreated.
I'm at a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes because I had it in pregnancy recently. However, after the birth of my baby it disappeared. I get 5 yearly check ups now.
Being overweight is also a risk. It's never too late to change your lifestyle. Losing weight and doing some exercise helps with many ailments.
I'm sure you will be fine but if you ate still worried, get a glucose tolerance test from your doc to put your mind at rest.

[Uncertain27]

Untreated diabetes can cause blindness because small blood vessels get damaged, but it's not that common, and I've never heard anything about it causing cancer. That part sounds like nonsense to me. I also know three people who are diabetic, one with each type and one I'm not sure which, none of them have any of what you describe and they seem to have more energy and motivation than I do, even though one is in his 60s. :)

[sarahsarah]

I too had a fasting blood test that put me in the pre-diabetes range but with a bit of exercise and a change in diet (mainly replacing fast carbs with slow) , subsequent tests have put me in the 'normal' range.

Whilst I do realise that one day I could develop diabetes, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world and if it is controlled properly and diligently, you can lead a healthy life. In fact some people who have diabetes say it has improved their lives as they are now fitter and eat better and are regularly monitored medically, whereas they weren't before.

Put your mind at rest and have a test. If it's negative, you're fine. If you do have diabetes, you have likely caught it very early on considering your age and irreversible damage is highly unlikely xx

[unsure_about_this]

Diabetes is another of my fears, I did go for an eye test with opticians which would possible show signs of diabetes and blood pressure was fine (I got asked for my age why I wanted a blood pressure done) I am not overweight or has regularly urine problems during the night.

Nobody in the family has diabetes, my Granddad not blood related he has diabetes but his overweight and had a heart attack a few years ago but is fine.

I am 29 and have worried so much about everything from diabetes, to cancer, to organ failure, to brain tumours, it a none stop rollercoaster spinner corkscrew ride.

[AuntieMoosie]

Hello :)


Please let me offer you some reassurance :)

I am a diabetic, I have diabetes 2 as has my partner.

It's by no means the end of the world or anything you need be terrified of :)

The blindness that you mention is now a very, very rare event in the western world where we live and this is because our diabetic care is so good. We have to have a special little eye scan done once a year.

That scan would pick up any problems straight away and the damage that some diabetics get in their eyes can be 100% treated and stopped from going any further :) and it's for this reason that it is now a very rare event for any diabetic to even partly loose their sight let alone become blind :)

Untreated diabetes is also very rare, because you will eventually get symptoms which will lead you to a doctor at some point, it was the symptoms that lead me to my doctor who picked it up there and then.

I have to take just 4 tablets a day, there's no nasty side effects and I don't even notice that I'm on them, I don't need any injections or anything like that, thankfully :)

In all the years that both myself and my partner have been diabetic, nothing dreadful has ever happened to us :)

It's just a case of watching what you eat, keeping as healthy as you can and taking the medication, we have a check up every 6 months and all is well on the diabetes side with us :)


I'm so glad that you mentioned whether you can avoid becoming diabetic because this subject is now getting well under way here in the UK.

You can indeed, help prevent yourself from becoming diabetic :)

There are 2 types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2.

People who have type 1 are normally diagnosed in childhood or very young adult. These are the people who usually need to have insulin injections and they also have to watch their diabetes much more that people with type 2.

Type 2 usually starts as we get older.

Now the important points to remember are that it has been proved that if we keep ourselves healthy, keep our weight down, eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise, then we are very unlikely to ever become diabetic :)

So it is well worth everyone looking at their lifestyle to see if they need to adjust it so that you can reduce the risk massively :)

Unfortunately once you become diabetic, there's no going back, but all is still not lost :) You can lead a perfectly normal life with diabetes and you can keep yourself healthy, reduce the risks of diabetic damage to your body and can keep yourself well, it's just a case of a little education, then away you go :)

You ask "how do you know if you've got it"?

Well, of course, people will experience different symptoms, it's quite individual really as are most things in life.

The symptoms that I had were an unquenchable thirst..........I was literally drinking like a fish but no matter how much I drank, it just didn't quench my thirst.

Secondly my eyes went a bit weird....I was having trouble focussing on things and it kind of looked like I was looking through this blurry, wobbly fog. It was at this point that I took myself off to the doctors.

No surprise that my blood glucose tests came back very high.

The good news is that as soon as I was started on the medication, my glucose started to fall really quickly back down to near normal. My eyes cleared, there has been no damage done to my eyes at all, those symptoms are only temporary and are due to the high glucose level :)

My advice to you would be to not focus so much on diabetes and what you a afraid of it doing to you, but to do all you can to prevent yourself ever becoming diabetic in the first place, prevention is so much better than cure.

I will end by just saying..........please anyone..........don't be terrified or frightened of diabetes, it's not the big ugly monster that you think it is, it's totally controllable and you can lead an absolute normal life with it :) :hugs:

[willous1]

Thank you all so much for replying. I think the article was to scare people into changing there diets etc. I am starting to change but do not find it easy after years of bad habits. I had a full blood test about a year ago? Would that show anything? I feel better now after reading your posts. Especially AuntieMoosies. As I don't know anyone with diabetes I was naive and this made me more worried.

[sarahsarah]

A full blood test would definitely have shown any cause for concern regarding your blood sugar levels. It's unlikely you've developed diabetes since then, regardless of your diet.

Taking responsibility for your health is a great thing. Eating a bit more thoughtfully and doing some moderate exercise can do absolute wonders for our physical and mental health xx