For over 12 months I had been suffering from 'the usual ...

For over 12 months I had been suffering from 'the usual symptoms of diabeties' such as total exhaustion, an almost constant need to urinate, incredible thirst - at one time I was drinking 6 litres of water a day - and still thirsty. I bought an accucheck and when I tested my blood sugar level it was off the scale. That is more than 33mm/ol. By this stage, I could hardly see through my glasses and a vision check showed that my lens prescription had changed from -7.25 to -3.25.

Scared, confused and not helped at all by my local hospital in Walsall I was helped by my GP and a dietician at the surgery. I now take 2x850mg Metformin tabs a day.

My blood sugar levels have come down to 6.2 on a fasting test. Later in the day they are about 6.8 to 7.7 which is still a bit high. My vision is returning to normal and I can see again using my old specs. In terms of how I feel- well about 200% better than before the treatment started. I have energy to do things, and almost all of my symptoms of diabeties have gone.

In fact, I now realise how ill I was before treatment started. I've made a lot of big changes to my diet - loads of porridge, starchy foods and complex carbohydrates and am starting to understand more about me and this condition.

Quite a few diabetics I have spoken to don't take their diabeties seriously, but they should. My dad died at 59 with diabetic complications having lost a limb and most of his faculties on his way to an early grave.

Whilst diabeties is not easy to control because it requires so many changes to your diet and routine, those changes are something one has to do. I just wish someone would have spoken to me about the symptoms so that I knew what to expect.

I also think that telling people to get more exercise and so on ignores so many issues in society today. People in work tend to work long hours in sedentary jobs. Local sports facilities like swimming pools are virtually non existent and massively crowded, or else very expensive.

Walking the streets as a form of exercise is dangerous and so this in my opinion is one of the reasons why a lot of people become overweight and levels of type II diabeties are so high in this country. If government spent more of our taxes on making the streets safer and providing more free at source sports facilities such as gyms and pools I truly believe that they would spend less on treating conditions like this. Health is more than the prescription block in your GP's surgery.

[i:210b24b26d]This message was automatically imported from the original Patient Experience[/i:210b24b26d]

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