Post by daisyd on Feb 27, 2017 20:27:52 GMT
I'm sure I'm not alone in this
I'm an old lady, I am, and I have two serious medical conditions that really do rule my life in almost every way and make me feel even older.
I've passed the mythical 40 years by a small amount, and for more than 30 of my years I've been diabetic. I always liken diabetes to walking along a tightrope, with extra weights being randomly added and removed from my balance pole every day.
Simple things like being late to eat a meal can affect me badly, as can taking my diabetes medication after a meal instead of before it. Even a simple thing like having a cold can affect me, by making my blood sugar go up, which means I either have to eat less food or take more medication. It is truly a day to day balancing act, and it is perilously easy to get it wrong, even after all the years I've been a diabetic.
What makes it even worse is that I am in receipt of another nasty illness that really does affect the diabetes. I have a permanent lung condition which was brought on by a neglected case of the 'flu, that can flare up almost at the drop of a hat. Having two small kids, one at school, means a lot of coughs and colds come into our home, and what would be a simple two or three day mild sniffle for a healthy person, can become a raging chest blocking infection for me That was what was wrong with me at Ponycon last year, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I've had an almost permanent chest infection since my older child started at school last September.
The best way to treat a bad infection is with steroids. Sadly, steroids have the rotten side effect of raising my blood sugar level to an incredibly high level, which is dangerous for me. Prolonged high sugar levels can lead to many rotten things - blindness, reduced blood flow in arms and legs, kidney disease.....yay.
I honestly have days where I wonder how I am still alive There is no cure for either of my illnesses *yet*, I know a lot of research is being done into a cure for diabetes, and I can only hope it happens in my lifetime.
This isn't a sympathy-wanted thread, it's more me trying to explain about my illnesses. The lung disease is a fairly obvious one, when I'm ill most people do know about it, all you gotta do is listen out for me - you'll hear me! But diabetes is one of those horrible 'invisible' illnesses, there are no visible signs. It really can make you feel like you've been repeatedly run over by a bus, yet to the onlooker, you look perfectly fine.
Anyone else out there with rotten illnesses?
I'm an old lady, I am, and I have two serious medical conditions that really do rule my life in almost every way and make me feel even older.
I've passed the mythical 40 years by a small amount, and for more than 30 of my years I've been diabetic. I always liken diabetes to walking along a tightrope, with extra weights being randomly added and removed from my balance pole every day.
Simple things like being late to eat a meal can affect me badly, as can taking my diabetes medication after a meal instead of before it. Even a simple thing like having a cold can affect me, by making my blood sugar go up, which means I either have to eat less food or take more medication. It is truly a day to day balancing act, and it is perilously easy to get it wrong, even after all the years I've been a diabetic.
What makes it even worse is that I am in receipt of another nasty illness that really does affect the diabetes. I have a permanent lung condition which was brought on by a neglected case of the 'flu, that can flare up almost at the drop of a hat. Having two small kids, one at school, means a lot of coughs and colds come into our home, and what would be a simple two or three day mild sniffle for a healthy person, can become a raging chest blocking infection for me That was what was wrong with me at Ponycon last year, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I've had an almost permanent chest infection since my older child started at school last September.
The best way to treat a bad infection is with steroids. Sadly, steroids have the rotten side effect of raising my blood sugar level to an incredibly high level, which is dangerous for me. Prolonged high sugar levels can lead to many rotten things - blindness, reduced blood flow in arms and legs, kidney disease.....yay.
I honestly have days where I wonder how I am still alive There is no cure for either of my illnesses *yet*, I know a lot of research is being done into a cure for diabetes, and I can only hope it happens in my lifetime.
This isn't a sympathy-wanted thread, it's more me trying to explain about my illnesses. The lung disease is a fairly obvious one, when I'm ill most people do know about it, all you gotta do is listen out for me - you'll hear me! But diabetes is one of those horrible 'invisible' illnesses, there are no visible signs. It really can make you feel like you've been repeatedly run over by a bus, yet to the onlooker, you look perfectly fine.
Anyone else out there with rotten illnesses?