I’m Diabetic Dad Man.
I’m here to beat diabetes and to help you do it too. When I’m done I’m going to just be Dad Man. I’ve been a diagnosed diabetic for 30 years. I used to believe I was lucky to have lived this long, but now I have a better goal than surviving just a bit longer. Now my goal is to thrive and defeat my diagnosis.
If you are a type II diabetic that is how you define yourself, every bit of every day is impacted by your diagnosis. I’m sure you would love to change that. That’s why I am here. Big goals but I believe we can do it. Recently, I’ve made real progress in improving my health in ways I was told couldn’t be done. I had neuropathy up past my knees, but now it is 90% gone. That’s just one example of how I’m healing and I am over 60, it should be even easier for people younger than me.
I’m guessing that not many people are ready for a diagnosis of being diabetic. I still remember when I got my diagnosis, it felt like my head was swimming.
The big message I got was that:
Type 2 diabetes is a relentlessly progressive disease that can’t be reversed and can’t be stopped. Every year it will get worse and you will get sicker. No matter what you do your only hope is to slow the process of dying down a little. That maybe, with diet changes and some exercise you might struggle with a limited physical life. They said insulin will become your friend, keeping you alive as long as possible against a devastating disease. The only way to win with diabetes is to die slower. It wasn’t a very motivational message.
My first real appointment was filled with information. All of it was frightening. There was very little good news other than treatment had gotten better in the prior decade. Metformin was supposed to be a miracle drug to slow the certain doom that was coming to any type II diabetic.
Not only was getting the diagnosis bad news, but worse it was a struggle to get at all.
I went in with all the classic symptoms of being diabetic, but this was 30 years ago. My family doctor hadn’t even wanted to give me a urine test. After a short physical, he decided that I was just tired from overwork and I should be drinking more water. He got the water part right. But that was all. I demanded a pee test because I watched TV and they always did that and I knew something was actually wrong. So, he grudgingly got a cup.
I still remember him sauntering into the exam room and saying, “Well Son, I guess you were right that you had something wrong. Your urine test says you got diabetes so stop eating candy and come back in 3 or 4 weeks and we’ll see how you’re doing”. Like most people in the 1990s, I knew nothing about diabetes.
I had one friend who was type I, and he was dying, and I was suddenly completely freaked out.
I called my nurse friend and after 4 minutes of her screaming profanity about shitty doctors, who don’t know how to handle patients, and her asking for the doctor’s address, she ask what my blood sugar was. It was 640. She lost her mind about going to the ER but I told her I was fine. That’s how little I understood it all. I’m not even going to talk about my A1C. For the record, if you are at 600, just go to the ER. It will save on scolding from your treatment team.
My friend got part of her way because the next day I met with a new endocrinologist and dietitian while she was putting together an entire treatment team. Sometimes nurses can get stuff done in a hurry. Before I knew it, I was reading countless articles, and living my new controlled life as a diabetic. I was also on the never-ending path of medical misinformation, failed treatment, trouble from several insurance companies, and what might have ended up being a lifetime on insulin and Metformin.
The odd thing was that I had always been crazy healthy.
I seldom caught colds or flu, no big injuries or diseases. A year or two earlier, I had to do a work physical. The treadmill doc couldn’t believe how healthy I was. This was back before “the diabetes” got me and the medical establishment reflexively handed me my first bottle of Metformin.
I’m just wondering, has any diabetic not had Metformin recommended as a first treatment for being diabetic? Do you think many of them know Metformin is starting to be seen as a dangerous drug, especially long term? Yes, I got my Metformin, but that didn’t last long because I was one of the 15% to 20% of patients who couldn’t tolerate it at all. In the end, I think that was good luck given what they are learning about the impact of Merformn. Oddly, almost every doctor still recommends it.
Anyway, I still have the original file of information I got way back then. I can’t believe how almost all the advice I got was wrong. There’s still so much inaccurate information out there. How can so much medical information be wrong? I have lots of ideas and opinions from other folks and it ranges from just needing new technology all the way to Big Pharma needing to keep the cure away from their cash cow and if people die in the meantime, that’s just the cost of doing business. I suspect my daughters won’t agree that if I died, it would be an acceptable cost and I sure as hell don’t.
That’s why I am here.
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to save yourself. I know I am a bit late, like 20 years late, but I’m here now trying to find out what works best to not only stop my diabetes but to see if I can reverse it. I’m running into lots of solutions, more than a few scams, and people who need help figuring it all out. So, I’m offering this blog and all the social media I can get my hands on, to gather information, sort it out the best I can, and share what happens with you.
Why me and why now? I’m retired, relentless, and really pissed that the lessons I am learning are not shared with every diabetic and their family member. My goal is simple. Get every diabetic to their next birthday. I’m working to get everyone more time with loved ones, just like I want.
It’s fair to say that I don’t know everything about anything, but I can learn and share. I’ll be happy to share and even happier to learn from what you have learned. I have two daughters on this path with me. The eldest is a research machine, the youngest is the world’s best motivator for me. We are going to make a difference for type IIs and their families.
Join us. Let’s all work to take the Die out of diabetic.
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