DIABETES CAN LEAD TO
DRASTIC SURGERIES,
INCLUDING AMPUTATIONCASE STUDY #03
“The thought of losing my
eyesight terrified me”
Daniel Halliday
“I saw my diagnosis as a bit
of a death sentence,” says
Daniel. He had been worried
about diabetes for years, but
wasn’t tested for it until 2017
when his blood pressure
results came back high. “The
doctor said, ‘Well, you are
overweight.’ I felt like he was
putting the blame on me.”
At the time, Daniel was
suffering from agoraphobia
(a fear of leaving the house)
and anxiety. “I had a really
sedentary lifestyle,” he says.
After his diagnosis, Daniel
went into denial. “I had no
idea how big an impact it can
have, and the complications
you’re at risk of,” he says.
“There’s a lot of ignorance
and people play down its
seriousness. I just tried to
forget about it. I continued to
eat whatever I wanted and my
weight peaked at 137kg.” He
had been put on metformin
tablets but didn’t like how
they made him feel, so he
stopped taking them.
At a routine eye screening,
he was told he had
retinopathy. “The thought of
losing my eyesight terrified
me,” he says. At first, he
panicked. “I virtually stopped
eating,” he says, “and lost
12kg in a month.” But it just
made his anxiety worse.
He then put in a phone call to
Diabetes UK, a call that he
says “probably saved my life”.
He was advised to eat a
balanced diet of around
1,600kcal a day. He cut outpastries, switched from red
meat to white and reduced his
fat intake. “It was hard,
especially when I saw other
people eating things I wanted.”
After losing 32kg, he
plateaued. “Then I knew I
needed to throw myself into
exercise to challenge my
agoraphobia,” he says. He
took up walking – “I aimed for
16,000 steps but it was often
25,000” – and now goes to
the gym every day. He is now
92kg and has gone into full
remission. “I was on top of the
world when my consultant
told me. She said she’d never
seen such a turnaround in a
year without metformin.”
Just as importantly, it has
improved his confidence. “I’ve
never felt fitter,” he says. “It’s
been incredibly hard, but I’m
proud of what I’ve achieved.”THE RIGHT CHANGES
So, what’s your move? If you haven’t got
diabetes and want to avoid it, then weight
control – or, more accurately, reducing the
amount of fat around your midsection – is
your best route. Although Hope found
success by managing her carbohydrate
intake, Connolly points out that carbs
are not the sole culprit. “Our bodies are
well equipped to process sugar when
we’re healthy,” she says. Fruit, dairy and
wholegrains, for example, have all been
linked with a decreased risk of developing
the disease, thanks in part to their high
fibre and protein contents increasing
satiety. Critchley agrees: “The key thing
is losing weight. How you do it doesn’t
make much difference.”
The word “weight” can often be
something of a misnomer: a body mass
index (BMI) within the normal range
doesn’t offer you a free pass. According
to a recent study in the British Medical
Journal, people of a healthy weight with
high body fat are more likely to develop
diabetes than those classed as overweight,
but who carry less fat. The former body
shape, often dubbed “skinny fat”, can
result from a number of factors, including
chronic stress and sleep loss – all the
things you know are bad for you, but that
don’t necessarily show up in the mirror.
A full lifestyle overhaul won’t prove
easy for everyone. We are not all blessed
with equal willpower, and people living
under challenging circumstances, such
as those in poverty or with poor mental
health, will always find it harder to make
the necessary changes. Everyone quoted
in this piece was keen to stress that, while
individual responsibility has its part to
play, we cannot collectively “will” our way
out of the diabetes epidemic, and blaming
people for their diagnoses is incorrect
and counterproductive. “It’s a societal
problem requiring societal responses,”
says Critchley. “It’s incredibly hard to lose
weight when there are so many factors
obstructing us.” But, if there’s one thing
we do know for sure, it’s that neglecting
the problem will only feed it.Assess your odds at riskscore.diabetes.
org.uk. If you’re concerned about your
score, are over the age of 40, or are
experiencing symptoms such as fatigue
and constant thirst, take advantage of
the free NHS Health CheckBad
Blood
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