Health Update: Diabetes
For those that are interested in my health story - read behind the cut.
About a year ago I went info a check up because automated machines at work showed that I had high blood pressure. This lead into a cascade of found problems. Sleep apnea, high blood pressure and low level diabetes. The sleep apnea is taken care of and I am getting the best sleep that I have in a long time. However, diabetes has been a fight with doctor.
The best way I can describe it is that I want to fix the root cause and get off of meds and my doctor wants load me up with prescriptions to work on the symptoms.
A bit more detail is that I took the western medicine route and did everything the doctor told me. I went to an appointment with a nurse practitioner who asked that my wife also come along. In a nice but almost hospice tone it was explained to us I have diabetes and to be prepared for the strong possibility of health issues including blindness, high BP, loss of circulation, possibility of loosing limbs, high , blood clots and etc. I asked what can I do to make it better or have it go away. Politely I was told take my med's and avoid certain foods. Subtitle: there is no getting out if it - your life will be shortened. It's just a fact.
We next saw the nutritionist. Oh that was a hoot. We sat for an hour and was taught about portion control with rubber food and told to stay way from sugar and watch the carbs. Again I asked what I can I do to make it better. 'Take meds and avoid certain foods... there is no getting out of it you have life sentence bucky'
I go back to the doctor and report back that I have seen everyone that I need to see and no I am not going to back to the nutritionist to talk about rubber food. I wanted to know the higher level points of how to make this go away. The answer that I got was - you got it... take your meds. What about herbs? - you can try that but take your meds. What about exercise? - that helps but you don't seem to have a weight problem so the best bet is to stick to your medication. What foods are worse than others other than those with high carbs? - talk to the nutritionist again.
Back to the internet I go. Researching here and there but I found someone that believes you can effectively get off of medication and live a healthy lifestyle... which is what I should be doing anyway. Dr. Mercola on Mercola.Com is awesome and my new personal life changer. I started to follow some his ideas and my numbers are coming down. I am on half the dose of medication that I originally was. The next jump will be to be completely off.
Come to find out I can have a normal set of carbs but there should be a mix of protein and exercise. I just can't eat potato chips a half bag at a time and wash it down with several cans of Coke... then again no one should. Exercise everyday until my numbers are normal and then only 3 times a week. Hmmm isn't that what I should have been doing all along?
My blood work is not at a normal level yet but I hope to get there by the first of the year. By all means I am not terminal and I don't have to live a life of pills if I choose to make better life choices. I wonder why western medicine is so backwards - with their advise I would be heading to an early grave.
About a year ago I went info a check up because automated machines at work showed that I had high blood pressure. This lead into a cascade of found problems. Sleep apnea, high blood pressure and low level diabetes. The sleep apnea is taken care of and I am getting the best sleep that I have in a long time. However, diabetes has been a fight with doctor.
The best way I can describe it is that I want to fix the root cause and get off of meds and my doctor wants load me up with prescriptions to work on the symptoms.
A bit more detail is that I took the western medicine route and did everything the doctor told me. I went to an appointment with a nurse practitioner who asked that my wife also come along. In a nice but almost hospice tone it was explained to us I have diabetes and to be prepared for the strong possibility of health issues including blindness, high BP, loss of circulation, possibility of loosing limbs, high , blood clots and etc. I asked what can I do to make it better or have it go away. Politely I was told take my med's and avoid certain foods. Subtitle: there is no getting out if it - your life will be shortened. It's just a fact.
We next saw the nutritionist. Oh that was a hoot. We sat for an hour and was taught about portion control with rubber food and told to stay way from sugar and watch the carbs. Again I asked what I can I do to make it better. 'Take meds and avoid certain foods... there is no getting out of it you have life sentence bucky'
I go back to the doctor and report back that I have seen everyone that I need to see and no I am not going to back to the nutritionist to talk about rubber food. I wanted to know the higher level points of how to make this go away. The answer that I got was - you got it... take your meds. What about herbs? - you can try that but take your meds. What about exercise? - that helps but you don't seem to have a weight problem so the best bet is to stick to your medication. What foods are worse than others other than those with high carbs? - talk to the nutritionist again.
Back to the internet I go. Researching here and there but I found someone that believes you can effectively get off of medication and live a healthy lifestyle... which is what I should be doing anyway. Dr. Mercola on Mercola.Com is awesome and my new personal life changer. I started to follow some his ideas and my numbers are coming down. I am on half the dose of medication that I originally was. The next jump will be to be completely off.
Come to find out I can have a normal set of carbs but there should be a mix of protein and exercise. I just can't eat potato chips a half bag at a time and wash it down with several cans of Coke... then again no one should. Exercise everyday until my numbers are normal and then only 3 times a week. Hmmm isn't that what I should have been doing all along?
My blood work is not at a normal level yet but I hope to get there by the first of the year. By all means I am not terminal and I don't have to live a life of pills if I choose to make better life choices. I wonder why western medicine is so backwards - with their advise I would be heading to an early grave.