Hi, my name is Lynn. I never thought I would have anything like Type II Diabetes. It doesn’t run in my family that I know of, but I guess I took my own lifestyle for granted and it feels like it backfired on me. I always thought of myself as healthy, even while eating all the candy, chocolate, fast foods, office potlucks – just thought I could eat anything I wanted to and though it would never have an affect on me.
I’ve gone through two divorces, retired the end of October (2007) from a job I hated that was very stressful (not the work, the management) and thought life would be great. I went to a LifeScan appointment about the same time I retired and found out that I didn’t have any circulation problems, like PAD, but my blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels were all up. The LifeScan technicians suggested that I make an appointment with my primary care physician to get checked for Diabetes. Me? Diabetes? That just can’t happen. I’ve tried being so careful all my life. What I finally realized was that I was in denial. My mom kept telling me for a long time that if I didn’t lose some weight, no guy would ever want to be with me. I didn’t listen to her (you know, mom knows best!) nor did I listen to my own brain that was telling me that I needed to lose weight. I’m almost 5’3″ and weighed about 189 lbs. I thought I looked okay. No one else, except my mom and my brain, told me that I needed to lose weight.
Well, I took the advice of the LifeScan Technician and called to make an appointment with my primary care physician. He took all the tests that were needed. I was already on medication for hypertension. I tried cholesterol medication but wasn’t able to tolerate it. I don’t ever recall being told in all the years I’ve seen my PCP that I had elevated glucose levels. When my PCP received the blood panel reports, I went in to see him and I was told that I was pre-diabetic, that I needed to work on losing weight and start an exercise regime. My glucose level was about 249, I think, and my PCP then prescribed Metformin (1000 mg.) for me, twice a day.
Additionally, for the past 8-10 years, I’ve had some problems with my feet. They were driving me crazy. I would start to have this strange sensation on the bottoms of each foot, just at the base of my toes. It started out with just a tingling at first, but gradually the pain and the weird sensations started to get worse. I had no idea what was happening to me nor did my PCP. He diagnosed me as having Restless Leg Syndrome and prescribed Clonazepam at night right before bedtime since that’s when the pain and aching would get worse. I had no idea what was to come.
In August 2008, I was scheduled to see a podiatrist for some foot surgery that I needed to have done. He got all the necessary lab and x-ray reports from my PCP. At the pre-op appointment, he informed me that there was no such thing as pre-diabetes, you either have it or you don’t. According to the lab report, I have Type II Diabetes. He also informed me that the pain and weird sensations I was having in my feet was caused from Diabetic Nerve Pain (Neuropathy). I was totally shocked. I liked my PCP’s diagnosis better. After the surgery, I couldn’t believe how excruciating the pain was from both the surgery and nerve pain. The foot was completely wrapped up for about two weeks. I just wanted the wrappings or the foot to be off, the pain was driving me crazy. I went through Vicodan like it was candy the first few days.
Its been over a year now and 30 lbs. lighter. I hate this disease. It could be worse though. I hope a cure is found in the near future for both types of Diabetes.
By lynn802
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