The cons-With age, your hands get fumbly and you have a hard time doing some things.
The pros-When the drill motor slips in the process of driving a sheet rock screw and the phillips bit plunges all the way through your thumb you don’t feel it as much.[:O]
Or I could have titled this-I’ve been bleedin on my rail…road…
My problem of modeling with diabetes is my lack of energy, I’ll tell myself to get in there and work on something and I just can’t pull myself up to go do it. I work all day at G.E. and by the time I get home I’m whipped. Lack of feeling really hasn’t hurt me yet, sometimes the hands go numb but I can still do the small work anyway. It’s just that lack of go get-em.
On your behalf, and for all non-afflicted folks out there, let me say…
OOOOOOOWWWWW!!!
Sorry it had to happen. I hope you are okay?
Oh boy, that sounds familiar! However, the Pros and Cons for me are: (con) where did my bifocals go now! and (pro) that cordless drill falling off the bench onto my foot didn’t hurt so bad!
Oh, and the other big plus. Now, for the 1st time in my life, I don’t have a shortage of pill bottles to store all them little parts in!!![:D]
i have diabetes big time…it has caused me severe nerve damage.of course low blood sugar is just as dangerous and when mine goes low i get extremely weak and cold and very sleepy.that curtails my working on the RR for about four hours or so.since the layout is at another location i alway’s keep sugar handy.unfortunately i feel them exacto blade’s cutting my finger’s all the time[|)] terry…
I’m 56 and got diagnosed in '92 as a Type II. I’m still on pills and my sugar levels are good, (I did lose 80 lbs a few years back), besides the occaisional bouts of tiredness, the only other symptom I have is increasing numbness in my feet which doesn’t hinder my modeling.
Numbness in the feet. Feels like I’m walking on marbles all the time.Lots of fun.
I’ve been getting pains in my feet that feels like someone jabbed a knitting needle through them. Real great when your trying to paint fine detail or working on a loco. Dropped a couple of locos over that kind of pain.
Yeah, I walk alot at work , the feet get hot , then cold, then tingle like asleep, usually doesn’t bother me when I’m just sitting at the work bench. My levels are pretty good, try to watch my diet closely. We’re probably boring the other folks to death with this thread, but it could be like a support group for us that are afflicted. I sure Jeffery will chime in at some point too.
I am 44, have been a Diabetic since 6th grade. Always insulin dependent. I give myself 2 shots a day. When Golf season comes around ( I walk) I give myself only one, 60N & 20R each shot. I really have had no ill effects when it comes to MRR. I get numbness in my hands when sleeping but really nothing when it comes to other MRR tasks. And I can knock on wood I don’t need glasses. Maybe the only one thing is when I get an occasionally low sugar I have to wait till I can get it back up before I can see the fine print on the FSM kit instructions.
I don’t have diabetes, but I was recently diagnosed with COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Luckly, it’s mild and though not reversable, can be controlled by medication and breathing treatments. But I can understand the fatigue syndrome–I’ve had to cut back on work, at least until the meds take effect. It’s also cut back on my big model railroad projects for the time being, but since this is winter (and I have a garage layout), I never do much major work until Spring and Summer, anyway. Unfortunately, having COPD leaves you VERY susceptible to colds and flu during this season, and I’m just coming off a bout with pneumonia that has left me tired, groggy and VERY cranky.
Going back to work next Monday, but only part-time for a while. Right now, the model railroad projects consist of tuning up some of my brass steamers and re-placing the cruddy couplers on my Walther’s passenger cars with Kadees.
Have to go out and clean up the MR track and stuff, when I get the energy back. Don’t even want to think about it, right now.
Old age ain’t for sissies.
Tom
You must have known that I would be reading this.
I was first diagnosed in 1983 as a type II diabetic. Nothing serious they said. I was put on pills and it was left at that. Two years later, my vision started getting really flakey. Clear one day and blurry the next. Next came pain, swelling and numbness in my feet. That wasn’t the worst of it though. That came when I started getting dizzy and passing out. I went back to the doctor for an examination and was immediatly admitted as a type I diabetic with a blood sugar level over 700. That was in 1985. The blood sugar problem was brought under control through exercise and diet but not before serious damage had occured. I couldn’t feel my feet, except for some pain now and then and my fingers were getting numb. Jump ahead to 1995. No real progression of any nerve damage, the diet and all had been working as it was supposed to and I still had full use of my arms and legs. But I was starting to have problems with my energy level. I would tire quickly and just wasn’t any good the rest of the day. In 1998, my blood sugar went out of control again. The medicine was no longer working. The docs put me on a new type of medicine that worked better. By this time, I had lost almost all feeling in my hands and the numbness in my feet was climbing up my legs. I could no longer do fine detail work as my hands were getting too shaky and it was getting really hard to hold onto things without crushing them. At this point, I decided it would be in my best interest to stop workinf with flex track and go back to sectional track. I was getting too many cuts from the tools and such. 2004, disaster struck. I was working as a custodial employee at the Ft Polk commisary at the time. I was pushing a floor scrubber back to the warehouse when I suddenly heard my right foot go CRUNCH! I didn’t feel anything but I knew something was seriously wrong, because my foot quickly swelled to twice
I’m now 60 and was diagnosed with type II when I was 50. Have been on three different meds since. The other day my Dr. tells me that one of the meds he has been giving me is starting to affect my kidneys, so now I have to go on insulin. As with others on this thread, tiredness, numbness, and vision are just some of the problems we work with when running our MRR.
John
I too am diabetic Insulin dependent Type II and use a pump. For me, Okay, where did I put such n such. I sympahthize w/the low blood sugars while modeling. I’ve got plenty of energy but, the ambition/desire is another thing. I took a hiatus in 06 and did some armor modeling instead.
Ch
Jeffrey-I think your gonna take first place on this one. My doctor had to buy a better meter cause I kept pegging his. (only went to 500) I think the only thing worse than 650 is 20. I can feel I’m going low. I know what I need to do. But my brain locks up and I can’t do anything about it. I know what’s happening but I’m in a fog to do anything about it. You could take me by the hand and tell me to jump off a cliff and I’d probably do it. The paramedics had to bag and zap me once. They said I was blue and had been dead for a minute or two. It’s pretty weird to be watching TV one minute and the next thing you know they’re pushing you in the back of an ambulance.[xx(]
I used to be on that Lantis and some other drug but I got tired of taking 4-5 shots a day. Been on shots for about 8 years now. I take a 70/30 mix twice a day now. Did you know you don’t need a perscription for that stuff anymore? I just buy mine over the counter at Wal Mart when I’m buying my Malibu HO cars. See, I worked trains into it.[:D]
P.S.-None of the little people on my layout have diabetes. They found a cure for it in my little world.
I am a 37year old Diabetec I take two pills and it seems to keep things undercontroll evan when I eat stuff I should not. My hands get numb when driving. Also wounds will not heal as fast. The Doc says if I can lose enough weight that I may be able to control it with a healthy diet.
I am often to tired to do much of anything and having been unemployed for 3 years has made it worse. I starty a new job Monday as a temporary posistion(4 weeks period with a total of 40 hours spread between those 4 weeks.) It might lead to a longer term oppertunity.
Loathar: About the part about waking up in an ambulance, or hospital for that matter, been there and done that, several times. On the part about low blood sugar levels, 28 is the lowest I’ve been. One morning I almost crawled to the kitchen to get a candy bar stashed in one of the drawers. It can be rough, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, with the exception of a couple of trolls.
I know exactly where you’re coming from on that one. I had an ulcer on the bottom of my right foot that took almost three years to heal. I’m still fighting with an open sore on the bottom of the big toe of my left foot. It’s been there since 2002.
Diabetic here also…and have a history of leg ulcers aggravated by also having an inherited venous stasis condition. Also very prone to cellulitis from the ulcers. After several years battling those things, this past fall I was referred to a special wound clinic. It took several different trial and error approaches (one of them resulting in the most excruciating week in my life), but at the end of about 2 months, and since, I’m ulcer free. I do not know if you’ve had any experience with the likes of dedicated wound clinics, but the one here has worked wonders for me.
Got open ant bites on the back of my calf from 3 summers ago. Couldn’t feel that I was standing on a fire ant mound untill they got up past my knees. My kingdom for a new pancrease! At least they opened up a dialasis clinic 2 miles from me. Flip a coin,heads it’s legs, tails it’s kidneys. I wonder if I can sue the companies that make those Easter Peeps and freezer pops. I’m sure those are what did me in.
Might as well chime ion - me too. I’m 64 & was diagnosed with type II 6 years ago. Taking 12 different meds for ther diabetes, high blood pressure, and residual pain from shingles from 3 years ago. Aside from fatigue, it hasn’t affected the modeling too much - just take it a little easier. Hearing from Jeffry and others makes me feel a little better. Maybe this is a help group!![:D]