Middle Age Health Feels like sword of Damocles (Diabetes, cancer scare, HBP, HLDL)
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Anonymous
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I've had an autoimmune disease since childhood which has always put me at risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes -- and my autoimmune disease got nearly debilitating in the last decade, but the magic new biologics have moderated it.
In the last 5 years thought, its been a relentless march at each physical: high cholesterol needs statins, high blood pressure, here 3 daily pills, and just last physical: diabetes (its been marching up over the last decade, but a1c jumped an entire 1% in the last year, which is kinda of shocked my doctor). I am overweight, BMI 30 so obese, but all the guides saying "give up soda" and "stop eating junk food" frustrate me -- I haven't drunk soda since my teens except the occasional craft indulgence, I haven't drunk alcohol since my autoimmune flared a decade ago, I don't eat fast food -- I do eat to much of the staples we keep at home, like nice cheeses, fresh baked breads, egg salad for example. But typical day, coffee with cream no sugar, oatmeal for breakfast, a salad with hard boiled eggs and homemade dressing for lunch, some kind of chicken with roasted vegetables for dinner. With the diabetes, I see things like roasted sweet potatoes have high glycemic index, so there are probably a few gotchas in my diet, and I clearly eat too much but it just feels like the easy fixes are not here. I hit the gym about 2-3 times a week; not the greatest workout because its late when the kids are asleep, and I regularly hit 10k a day daily walking average. I need to up the intensity and get back to weight training like i did in my youth. On top of all this, at 50 I've been diagnosed with a very rare disease (50k in the entire world) which has a spectrum of outcomes -- it could just be some weird blood work (what they saw now) and it can progress quickly to a fatal cancer -- so I have that sword of Damocles over my head as well. My kids are still young, I don't want them growing up with out a father, but every few months I see my mortality edging closer. I would really love to make it to 70, so my kids are all launched. None of my parents or grandparents made it past 75; but they all smoked and drank so I hoped I had an edge, but I guess you cant escape genetics. I'm meeting with an endo in a few months; I think getting the diabetes controlled is now my priority, and add to my roster of doctors appts (I have like 4 appts a month, I think my boss thinks I'm dying -- honestly, I think I'm dying...). I'm tying to eat low glycemic and low carb and hopepully control my a1c somewhat. I'm using the more relaxed summer with the kids to up my exercise routine, and next year when they are back to their schedule, I'm going to phone it into work somewhat and prioritize getting in a daily work out and more walks. Not sure if there is FMLA for "i'm freaking falling apart"... I haven't told my wife about my diabetes a1c score -- I figure it can wait until I talk to the endo and really know the scope. We already had a bunch of crying weeks because of the cancer scare, and she sees me popping my meds like the old man from Up, so I just don't need to add to her worry of being a widow. Thanks for letting me put fears to paper, so to speak, and speaking of my most immediate crisis, folks who have dealt with an a1C of 6.5 at 50 -- what should I expect for the road ahead? |
Anonymous
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Solidarity. Getting old sucks. The best thing I did was get out on Mounjaro. It brought my A1C down. The weight loss brought my blood pressure and cholesterol down. I’m no longer on medication for those.
I joke that I traded one chronic med for another but getting the weight off has helped in so many ways. As American standards go, I was average. 5’3/150. Now I’m 5’3/118. 30lbs doesn’t sound like a lot but it made a huge difference in my health. Talk to your endo and see what they have to say. I believe that in the future many of us are going to be on the GLP-1 meds in the same way many of us are on BP/Cholesterol meds. Why treat the symptom when you can treat the underlying issue. |
Anonymous
I feel consolidating is good, since more than 5 have shown real adverse effects: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532953/#:~:text=As%20aging%20individuals%20often%20contend,frailty%2C%20disability%2C%20and%20mortality. |
Anonymous
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Sugarbusters (book) will help show you the replace a white baked potato with a sweet potato sugar differences. No corn, no carrots, no white rice, no white bread, no white pasta, no white baked potato. Etc.
My husband changed his ## within diet (no beer, etc). You are very good to be proactive. Add in yoga or meditation to lower cortisol ##s too Good luck!! |
Anonymous
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Sorry I can’t comment on that specific result, but I am sending a hug.
I just retired and despite everyone’s congratulations, if the truth be told it is scary and depressing. See less like an endless series of tests, looking for something awful. The periods between medical visits seen to be diminishing. Really draining psychologically! |
Anonymous
For me, its that every doctors appointment has found a new problem. In fact, I no longer look at my test results when Labcorp sends them -- after the cancer scare, I just can't deal with the stress of googling some weird test value and seeing its going to kill me in 6 months -- only to have the doctor interpret it correctly and do the proper follow on tests. It does worry me, because if I'm not keeping an eye on the results, my doctor has lots of patients and could miss something... |
Anonymous
Look into changing your gut biome. It isn't as simple as taking probiotics. You need to feed the good bacteria every day, with soluble and insoluble fiber. Eat cooked, then cooled overnight, potatoes and even rice. It creates resistant starch which the good bacteria love. Eat apple peels! Add apple peel powder to a smoothie. Look into HMO. (Human Milk Oligosaccharides) to feed your good gut bacteria. |
Anonymous
| I’m sorry, OP. Sounds stressful. I am struggling to figure out how you’re obese if that truly is your lifestyle. Were you obese as a kid? |
Anonymous
I was chubby as a kid, but always inactive -- my parents weren't active for a variety of reasons (dad was alcoholic and kind of absent until i was a teen; mom was bulimic and i think encouraged us to indulge -- think dessert for dinner type thing -- and she had a heart condition so could not to do any physical exercise besides walking). I didn't do any sports other than learning how to swim, but the only pool was an outdoor pool 30 minutes drive from our house. I really do eat "healthy" -- but way way too much. I could easily eat a heaping bowl of egg salad, baked sweet potato fries, and all the nuts you can imagine. I know I stress eat, but don't really eat when I'm bored, but i definitely have that ache of hunger when I eat so its not all stress eating. We do keep dark chocolate bars in the house for baking, and I will also snack on those if I'm hungry and can't find anything to eat, but its about 3 squares a day? There's also the kids stuff, like I might have granola or yogurt with honey or similar if I'm craving sweet. I eat a ton of fruit per day (fresh, not dried). And of course we do keep good breads (like french loaves from trader joes) which are bad for me, but I would always pare with a cheese or something; we do eat white rice and potatos for like homemade veggie sushi or baked french fries. I keep a food log, and during the day its pretty good; dinner and end of day is chaotic with activities and homework -- sometimes I'll essentialy miss dinner and eat something like the kids granola or what not way too late at night -- and my log gets messy as I forgot to write it down |
Anonymous
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Go on the meds. But if you want to try things yourself for a month or two:
-walk more. and walk after every single meal -Add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to your water every morning -eat less |
Anonymous
Your confusion indicates that you are in the habit of “blaming” overweight people for their weight. We all have different metabolisms and lives. (Your childhood exposures are very much related to adult weight, as are experiences like sexual abuse.) Try hard to practice compassion instead of judgement. |
Anonymous
| That ain’t no crime |
Anonymous
I’ll try the vinegar, that seems like it can’t hurt! “Eat less” have been trying for 30 years, hence the decade attempt at food logging, noon, WW… but I do hope that death is better motivator… https://www.tiktok.com/@jimgaffigan/video/7209020602357665067 Turns out, life or death is not the motivator you think it would be. ~ Jim Gaffigan |
Anonymous
| Isn’t Ozempic made for people like you, OP? Ask to get on medication. Theres no need to be doing all that you are doing. |
Anonymous
Can I take with my biologic? |