[T4Texas]

I have been diabetic for about 11 years. The first several of those years I spent ignoring my doctors and taking the meds haphazardly. In 2005 I had a blood clot in my lung and I woke up one morning with my leg swollen and unable to catch my breath at all. I went to the hospital and thus began a year and a half of medical treatment for two pulmonary embolisms, uterine cancer and a bad gallbladder. My blood sugar would spike up to around 600 and a lot of time was spent getting that straight. 3 surgeries later, I was back on track with the meds but still having eating problems as I was on blood thinner in addition to other medications and it came to pass that I couldnt eat anything for one reason or another so the frustration got the better of me and I stopped taking all the meds again.
The early part of this year, my health started slipping away from me again. I was putting on weight (fluid) and I returned to the hospital because there were symptoms of another pulmonary embolism. I had a filter installed and felt relatively safe with that, but it turned out a clot got past it and went up so there I was in the hospital again. This time they ran a bunch of tests and informed me I have congestive heart failure with my heart working at only 20% capacity. My diabetes was out of control, bp was excessively high and I was gaining fluid like crazy. I was becoming barely mobile and felt Like I was wading through water all the time. I wound up at the cardiologist who got me on some decent meds, I had to start taking insulin shots, back on the blood thinner and he gave me lasix for the water gain.
Currently I have lost 45 pounds (mostly fluid), am taking all my meds. My blood sugar is back to normal levels and I have totally modified my diet to a no salt, low fat regime. I eat no more packaged foods, stopped eating out, and eat mostly meat and fresh fruits and veggies. It has made a world of difference in how I feel. I have more energy now, am looking forward to losing some more weight and keeping the diabetes under control. Diabetes is a silent killer. It tricks you because you do not often feel the symptoms of it or know the damage it is doing to your body. My cardiologist told me that if I didnt take the heart meds and keep the diabetes under control, I would be lucky to live five more years. It scared the hell out of me. I have found the new diet is not so bad, I am cooking more at home and being creative with it and I do not mind giving myself shots as I like the results I am getting. I would encourage anyone with diabetes to read up on the subject extensively, try very hard to stick to a plan and not be stupid like I was. I found there were many online forums that address diabetic/low salt diets and give you suggestions for things to take for lunch, etc. I found a lot of that helpful.