health issues & survival

[Cpl Punishment]

Type II diabetes has definite linkages to obesity and nutritional factors. In its earlier stages, Type II shows strong response to improved diet and physical fitness.

Not entirely true (my insurance paid for a 3 week course in diabetes and how to control it).

Two things can cause Type II diabetes: your beta cells in the pancreas no longer produce enough insulin, or your body's cells develope a resistance to your own insulin. Both are treatable with meds. The first one, where your pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin doesn't respond to diet or fitness much at all. There's meds that can make them produce more insulin, and this may deteriorate into type I diabetes (insulin dependant) with time.

The second form, where your body's cells develope a resistance responds well to exercise and diet, sometimes to the point you don't need meds anymore.

Neither form's CAUSE has anything to do with obesity or diet. In fact, less than 20% of diabetics are obese. Obesity may cause symptoms to show up earlier in life, thus making one think it's a cause. In one way, it's a benefit, because symptoms show up when you're young enough for your body to repair the damage once you have your sugars under control.

Also, being physically fit does not mean you're not diabetic. Fitness and good diet increase the body's ability to use insulin, and it's estimate that there's roughly 30 million people not beign treated for diabetes because their lifestyle keeps their blood sugar under control. This is one reason older people show symptoms much more than young people. They retire, their physical activity goes way down, and now a condition they'd been controlling their whole life is no longer controlled.

 

[vic2367]

diabetes here

ask dr for a prescription for a month in advance is a great idea

keep in your FAK extra supplies ,,and check / rotate any meds every 2-3 months or so ,,i do
not very hard once you get in the habit of doing it

 

[DutchV]

Just a few thoughts - If you want to stock up on meds, maybe a Canadian internet pharmacy would work? Not sure how you vet their reputation, but I can't imagine that anyone in Customs or U.S. mail would try to stop non-narcotics from coming through. Nobody's getting high on blood pressure meds.

The average lifespan has increased over the last hundred years or so. Hygiene, like bathing and plumbing, has been a big contributor, as well as vaccines and better treatments for common ailments. So in an emergency, still try to do the things you can. Sanitation (handwashing, clean water, proper waste disposal), nutrition, staying warm and dry, will help a lot. Not saying that these are easy, of course, but they are important. Look at the refugee camps after major disasters - many of the problems are caused by poor sanitation and a lack of clean water.

 

[HighDesertWalker]

With the increasing intrusion of the health care system into the doctor/patient relationship, it has become far too easy to run out of meds. Generally, I've been able to get prescriptions ahead of the timing allowed by my health insurance when I was going on vacation. It's sort of like getting an advance.

On the other hand, there have been times when red tape intervened at the last moment and prevented me from getting one of my regular prescriptions when I needed it. Consequently, I stockpile enough medication, a few days worth, to get me through the red tape periods.

Stay as healthy as you are able, enjoy your life, and take precautions, but remember always that no one has ever been given an exemption when it comes to death. So it will happen one day, and the best thing you can do for now is enjoy every day to the fullest and strive to be harboring no resentment when your time comes.

 

[Gurthang]

Basically. Natural selection kicks back in and the herd is thinned. Like Elen said, a lot of people are dependent on the Machine and "when the machine breaks down, WE break down"

That is a particularly mean, ugly and vile way to conceive of it, but I happen to agree. We are for all practical purposes modern minds wedded to stoneage bodies. How many of us upon hearing someone has cancer think "they've had an outstanding innings to have lived long enough to contract cancer". I know that's not strictly true in all instances, but it gives more than sufficient gist of how many life preserving, augmenting, and extending features we simply take for granted in modern living.

I don’t see it that way (mean, ugly & vile) at all. He’s merely stating a natural fact.

I don’t quite understand what you mean by “outstanding innings”. Clearly modern medicine has prolonged the life of countless people. It reminds me of a line in an old Monty Python sketch: “There’s nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can’t prolong”.

…Anotehr option is to go to another town, go to a walk in clinic, tell them you're on vacation and your inhaler got lost or left behind by accident. That could put you 1 or 2 ahead.

Very good idea. Very sad that you have to go to these lengths to be reasonably prepared.