Photo: Portrait
I have this silly t-shirt. It shows a little man, in the middle of a circle of pointing hands. They're all saying: “Now, Now NOW!” With an unhappy expression, he's saying: “Later.” It's funny, my “procrastinator” t-shirt, but not if you have diabetes. Years ago, instrumentalist Mike Oldfield did an album titled “The Consequences of Indecision.” There was no singing, but if you have diabetes, I can tell you all the words.
Diabetes is as sneaky as the taxman, and can be far more deadly. Ignore it at
your peril. In a time when testing is cheap and easy, and knowlege is ample
and freely available (you're in the right place!) there is no reason, and no
excuse, for inaction. And don't be telling me: “It'll never happen to ME!”
It will. It can. It might. Russian Roulette, anyone?
Some diseases have an “air of inevitability.” Once you're diagnosed, that's it—you know the path it's going to take. Fate. Diabetes isn't like that, especially not type 2 diabetes—and remember 90% of all diabetes is type 2.
Now it's true that a type 1 diabetic has to inject insulin, or he's going to die pretty quickly. That's pretty serious. People have got this idea that because type 2 won't kill you quickly like that, that type 2 is less serious. That's bunk. Did you know type 2 causes more heart problems than type 1 does? Did you know your body doesn't care how those elevated sugars got there -- if you run "high" from type 2 diabetes, it's just as damaging as if you ran high from type 1. It just takes a bit longer to catch up with you....
A majority of Americans are now overweight or obese. Being too heavy doesn't cause type 2, but it doesn't help things one bit. Plus, if you're type 2, and you lose some of the excess weight, your blood sugar will be easier to manage.
Likewise exercise. Exercise burns excess blood glucose. Diabetes is about excess blood glucose. You need to get that sugar down, by whatever means, and exercise works. Would you rather do something, or pay some doctor to give you a pill, while you sit back and grow cobwebs? Regular exercise (not a marathon!) is the best medicine you'll never have to pay for...
Do you like to eat? Do you like good, healthy food, or do you load up on pizza and beer? Do you know how much is enough for someone of your size, age, and sex, or do you just eat “til you're full?” It's hard to be thinking about how much food is “enough,” when you're used to stuffing it in til just short of bursting. “Damn the calories; full speed ahead...” Right.
Recommendation: Drop that word “full” from your vocabulary—and ask instead “have you had sufficient?” Sorta changes how you look at it, doesn't it? You can change the way you think about food, and learn to eat reasonable portions of healthy, low-impact foods. You'll feel the difference. I did.
Now I know it's easy to change your ways when you're hurting—when your
body sends you clear and unambiguous notice that you'd better do something different—but
by the time you wait for diabetes (even that "“not-so-serious type
2”) to knock on your forehead and get your full attention, a lot of damage
could be done. Why wait for the eye damage, kidney damage, and nerve damage?
Why accept the real risk of a shortened lifespan, if you don't have to? Is it
worth so much to be lazy now—“trade present ease for future pain,”
as the philosophers said? No. You're worth more than that, alive and well.
You can test your blood, cheaply and easily. You should, then take whatever action you need: lifestyle change, oral medications, even insulin, to keep your numbers down where they should be, and preserve your health. Your family, your friends, and your children will thank you.
Diabetes is an irritant, a pain, and a discipline—but by no means is it an impossible burden. You can deal with it, you can cope with it, you can master it, and you can do it now. Remember, the better job you do of coping with your diabetes, now, the less risk of complications you'll face in the future.
Those pointing hands were right, you know: “Now, now, now.”
There's no time like the present.