Diabetes can DOUBLE your risk of stroke
Lifestyle changes including losing weight, taking more exercise and reducing salt intake can also have a significant impact.
‘Sometimes just taking a pill on its own is not enough,’ says Libby Dowling, clinical adviser with charity Diabetes UK.
Adrian Scott started taking blood pressure-lowering medication after his diabetes diagnosis, but his blood pressure continued to fluctuate. This uncontrolled blood pressure and his weight (at 6ft 6in he weighed 20st) put him at even higher risk of a stroke. Unfortunately, he didn’t appreciate the dangers.
‘I knew my blood pressure was high as my GP would remark there was room for improvement - but I don’t think I realised how big a stroke risk this posed,’ he says.
Like most people, Adrian knew what he should be doing to look after himself, but admits: ‘I suppose I never thought a stroke or a heart attack would happen to me.
Diabetes is on the rise, yet most cases are preventable with healthy lifestyle changes. Some can even be reversed. Taking steps to prevent and control diabetes doesn’t mean living in deprivation. While eating right is important, you don’t have to give up sweets entirely or resign yourself to a lifetime of bland “health food’. With these tips, you can still enjoy your favorite foods and take pleasure from your meals without feeling hungry or deprived.
‘I thought if you took the pills to control your symptoms - metformin for my blood sugar, blood pressure drugs for my hypertension and statins for my cholesterol - everything would be fine. How wrong I was.’
Indeed, when Adrian was admitted to hospital his blood pressure was sky-high, at 180/120. ‘Now I think that instead of dealing with individual symptoms I should have addressed the systematic cause - my lifestyle,’ he says.
But as Libby Dowling acknowledges, ‘it can be hard to motivate diabetics to make lifestyle changes. Losing weight can be difficult and lots of patients need support to do this.
‘All diabetics should be referred to dietitians for advice about healthy eating, but there are long waiting lists and sometimes that doesn’t happen.’
Adrian’s blood pressure is now much better controlled due to his efforts to eat fresh, home-cooked food in smaller portions, using an exercise bike and rowing machine at the gym twice a week, and reducing his stress levels by working from home more.
‘I’m still struggling with my weight, but I am taking small steps every day to bring it down. It will be a slow process, but I want to get there.’
Although his GP did mention that he should lose weight Adrian feels he was too polite about it.
‘He should have given me a good telling-off,’ he says.
‘When I saw patients in hospital who had been left very badly disabled by a stroke, I wished I’d had the risks drummed into me more. I had a very lucky escape from something far worse.
‘I don’t blame my GP - my health was down to me. And like a lot of people I was in denial.
‘I just wish I’d taken my blood pressure seriously and maybe I could have prevented my stroke.’
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By Jo Waters
Daily Mail