So, it turns out my brother is diabetic. He found out when he got really sick suddenly, and I took him to the hospital. His blood sugar level was over 700. I noticed the signs and saw what he was eating before all this happened. For at least a week he was complaining about urinating often, being thirsty, lacking appetite, inexplicable weight loss. I kept telling him to lay off the ‘sugar water’ juice and drinks he was addicted to, but he never listens. I feel somewhat bad, but at the same time i sometimes despise him for pigheaded things he says and does. Idk, I’m conflicted. I don’t know how this is going to turn out, especially with all the other behavioral and mental issues he has.
Anyone have advice for caring for somebody with this problem? I don’t plan on becoming his nurse lol, but I want to make life easy for both of us. It won’t be fun if he’s scarfing high sugar crap and i’m having to take him to the hospital routinely. It also won’t be fun if he leans on me for all the sugar level testing and meals and so forth. He depends on the rest of us so much already. I want to get him to apply for ssdi or something along those lines, but he seems to have this prejudice against it, possibly because he’s always looked down on me for receiving benefits.
At least he gave up smoking a year ago, which may have precipitated his addiction to sugar, but there’s one less problem as long as he continues to stay away from cigarettes.
My grandfather had a similar issue, he started to say weird things and he made no sense, he moved his arms randomly, we took him to the hospital and his sugar was over 500.
Try to scare him with the deadly complications of diabetes and when he is ready tell him that he needs to exercise, cuts simple sugars, refined carbs and fruit juices, divide whole-grain carbs in the various meals to avoid glycemic peaks and take his meds.
My brother actually presents well in person. He deals with people a whole heck of a lot better than I do, anyway. He can even pass for normal. It’s mostly when he’s at home that he acts a little wacky and raises his voice. I’ve always envied his personal charisma and ability to make connections with people without effort.
So, I think he’ll be okay. I don’t have to take total care of him, but like Goldenrex said, I can probably just encourage him. He seems to have been sufficiently scared by his stint in the hospital, so maybe things will be okay. Thanks all for the advice.
And yeah, we do live in the same place. I guess it’s why we clash so much.
Yeah, he was on a suicide track without knowing it. Just felt bad and clung to food as a way of alleviating his discomfort. It’s type two diabetes btw. I think he has it covered though, after getting out of the hospital.