Men are babies :/

[Teefies2]

Okay ladies, I think have the ultimate "men are babies when they're sick" story !!

<bg ... I left my husband over a year ago, for a number of reasons (none of which are germane to this story). My kids chose to stay in the house that they have lived in for the past 11 years - they are both over 21 and I am okay with that.>

Monday, I had a lunch date with my son. He informs me that his dad has been screaming in pain all morning - leg pains. His dad is thinking about going to the ER. Dad is a big guy with a healthy set of lungs, so evidently this is LOUD! My son spends the entire lunch date telling me how he's upset, my daughter's upset, the dogs are upset. However, his dad has told him to stop and get ibuprofen for him, to see if that will stop the pain.

Since we all know that Dad is a diabetic who refuses to take his medicine, we (me, son, daughter) are thinking this is the beginning of the effects of not taking your medicine, as in foot/leg neuropathy and other nastiness. My son lays out his plan for "if Dad has to have his leg amputated and can't work anymore". My son is going to put college on hold - he's only 1.5 semesters from graduating - so that he can earn enough money to "pay the bills". What???? I'm thinking that's pretty drastic, but I'm glad he's planning. We finish lunch, get the ibuprofen, and I go home.

Tuesday comes and I text my son to see what's going on. "Dad isn't feeling better, so he went to the ER, but there was a 3 hour wait". Oh okay, guess pain that makes you scream to Holy Hell wasn't THAT bad after all. "Dad is going to his doctor tomorrow, I think". Okay whatever.

Wednesday morning I get a text from my son. "Dad's little toe is infected."

That's it?????? That's what had you in such pain that your son is considering dropping out of school to support you????????

ASSHOLE

[EricKei]

If he's on pills rather than insulin -- a common pill to take is Metformin, which is a diuretic (I take it). Thus, he needs to drink more water, as dehydration can make cramps more frequent. An actual injury, even if it's the toe, does need to be looked into, but *damn*. That, and, if he's NOT on blood pressure meds and can safely take NSAIDS, something like Aleve is gonna be much more effective for muscle issues...along with just standing under a nice hot shower for a few minutes and then walking the cramp off. Repeat as needed.

[Teefies2]

If he's on pills rather than insulin -- a common pill to take is Metformin, which is a diuretic (I take it). Thus, he needs to drink more water, as dehydration can make cramps more frequent. An actual injury, even if it's the toe, does need to be looked into, but *damn*. That, and, if he's NOT on blood pressure meds and can safely take NSAIDS, something like Aleve is gonna be much more effective for muscle issues...along with just standing under a nice hot shower for a few minutes and then walking the cramp off. Repeat as needed.

Thanks Eric. The crux of the issue though is that he is convinced he's not diabetic, so he refuses to take ANY medication for it. Thereby leading to infections like the one he's got that he evidently didn't notice until it was bad enough to make him scream. He *does* take his blood pressure medicine but that's it.

I get that it was an injury, but seriously, do you have to be raising such hell that your son is considering how he's going to pay the mortgage, which is your responsibility??? Do you need attention that much that you think it's okay for your son to have to drop out of college so that you don't have to work?

The fact that he doesn't realize what his melodramatics do to the kids is just one of many reasons I'm no longer with him.

[Sparklyturtle]

I'm diabetic and I take Metformin. I also check my blood sugar daily and try to get some exercise (which I really have to push myself to do). That said, he's just asking to lose a leg like my grandmother did. Having seen first hand what can happen when a diabetic doesn't take care of themselves, I don't need any prodding to try my best to keep that from happening to me. I also get the night leg cramps, but one effective treatment I've found is dill pickle juice or bedtime dill pickles. I was told about this by a friend, and one night I had such a nasty leg cramp I felt as though my leg was going to fall off at the knee, so I limped to the kitchen. The only thing we had that was even vaguely like dill pickles was some dill pickle relish, so I ate two tablespoons of that. By the time I got back to my bedroom door the cramps were gone. I've told my doctor about it, and she says she can see why it works (she attempted to explain, but lost me) but also says if it works for me to do it. Maybe he needs the treatment I read about, where a noncompliant diabetic got to sit for an hour in a vascular surgeon's waiting room and see first-hand what can happen when people don't take care of themselves.

[Food Lady]

I'm not diabetic. I didn't hit pre-diabetic numbers, either. But just having even slightly elevated glucose was enough to motivate me to completely change how I eat. (Well, I'm still vegetarian.) I have nearly completely given up sugar and white starches*, which seems hard to a lot of people. But what I think is hard is all the complications that can happen. I have enough pain every day from other things to not want to have to deal with neuropathy. I also don't want to stick needles in myself. I'd rather make the changes I can now.

But some people don't want to do what's necessary because it isn't fair. Well, it's not. It's not fair that 1/3 the population can eat all the junk they want with few ill effects while the rest of us have to watch every morsel. But not fair isn't a good enough reason for me to say "forget it" and ruin what health I have left.

*I do buy the occasional batch of croissants or have a cookie or some ice cream every few months or so. I used to eat stuff like that all day, every day. It's no longer my normal way of eating. I have a new normal.

[jedimaster91]

I've done enough of the scans to find those infections in diabetics' feet that I'm developing a foot phobia. Those open ulcers are nasty and if the bone is infected, it's pretty much all downhill from there. Lop off the toe and then the stump doesn't heal. Rinse repeat.