by kittyadventures » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:57 pm
My journey begins not with me but with my Mother..
My Mother died from her diabetus.. her death certificate will say heart failure but really the diabetus killed her... that and the toxic cocktail of medicine she took for all her diabetic related illnesses.
One of the big killers of Diabetics is heart failure... heart attacks... diabetus causes or contributes to plaque in your veins and arteries. which I think is part of the reason many diabetics also have high blood pressure.
In my mother''s case it aged her tremendously, she died at 69 years old, but she looked 93... this vibrant happy woman who never quite figured out how to get relief for her symptoms, would just get more medicine every time she went to the Doctor.
Towards the end of her life her kidneys were failing , her heart was failing, and she became a brittle diabetic. Her insulin no longer controled her blood sugar numbers, they were all over the place, too high then too low. and her skin began to break down..
She lost her sight to the diabetus but she lost her mobility to the statins. She lost her life to it all.
She should be a poster child for everyone on why you need to add good eating habits and exercise to your life..
I got very ill myself while I was visiting her a combination of stress and a cold that turned into bronchitus lead me to the discovery that like my mother I had the trifecta of High blood sugar, high Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure. I convinced my Doctor to let me try to get my numbers in control with out medicine.. he reluctantly agreed because I already was a regular exerciser.
So began my efforts to try to lower one or the other I tried Adkins and got my sugar down but my Cholesterol went through the roof and my weight just would not budge no matter what I did it was very frustrating
I reluctantly allowed him to prescribe me statins. IT was the begining of two months of pain and involuntary muscle spasms.
I got a flu bug and just couldnot deal with the statins and the aches and pain from the flu so I stopped the statin two weeks later most of the spasms were gone.. but my next visit was looming and I knew I needed to start the statins up again of find a better way.
So I went on line and found that eating vegetarina woul help the cholesterol and the diabetus.
it took about three weeks to drop my numbers and wnen I went in for my tests I steeled my self for a huge lecture
i was saved by all of my numbers dropping not just my cholesterol, but my weight and blood sugar and wierdly my blood pressure. THe Doctor was more surprised than me but to his credit let me stay completely off the statins.. Real.y what could he say, my numbers were almost to normal in three weeks.
But being vegetarian only dropped my wieght a little so, stupidly i tried Adkins again hoping it would get my weight down enogh to then switch back to vegetarian,,, IT did not work at all and I was back to square one. so here I am again only I am a New Vegan.
I would like to say I am doing it for some great moral reason but really it is for the most selfish reason of all I want to live
Not really longer but I want to live better.
I don't want to spend the last ten years of my life like my Mother unable to get out and get around. Unable to enjoy my kids and hopefully grand kids. I am a little older than she was when she started dealing with diabetus. but I am also lucky because there is so much more information about how to eat to control your numbers.
SO One week into this new diet and I am down 5 pounds. I know the numbers won't continue to drop like that but right now I am basking in the joy of it... And I feel terrific.
Life is GOOD some times, really, really good!