DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband is 60 and has type 2 diabetes. He is not overweight. He takes oral medicine for his diabetes and eats a banana twice a day. Are bananas OK for a diabetic? My concern is this: His previous doctor had him come to the office every three to four months for a checkup and blood work. His current doctor says he doesn’t need to see him for a year. My husband has blood work done every three months to tell him that everything is normal. There is no discussion of what the numbers are. What is your take on this? – C.H.
ANSWER: Today the goal for every diabetic is to have a blood sugar as near to normal as humanly possible without suffering from episodes of hypoglycemia – low blood sugar. That’s called intensive therapy, and that’s the regimen by which every diabetic should live.
Your husband should be checking his blood sugar daily on his own glucose monitor. Those devices are relatively cheap and easy to use. A once-daily – but and sometimes more frequent – check of blood sugar is the only way to determine if it is getting out of hand.
Your husband, at his “three or four times a year” official lab visits, should also have his hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) tested. It reflects what a person’s blood sugar averaged in the past three to four months. Good diabetes control is having an HbA1c of less than 7, and it’s even better if it’s less than 6.5.
Why all the fuss? Strict control of blood sugar makes the complications of diabetes less likely. Those complications include failing kidneys, loss of sight, early heart attacks and strokes, and nerve disturbances. Even if the doctor doesn’t see your husband every three or four months, the results of his lab tests ought to be explained to him in detail. Diabetes is not something to be taken lightly.
Diabetics can eat bananas. One banana has 107 calories and 27 grams of carbohydrates.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My son, 46, has been a diabetic for 16 years. He takes insulin twice a day. What causes a diabetic to have spells where he feels funny and sweats like someone poured water on him? I give him orange juice, and in a while, he gets over it. These spells scare me. – J.S.
ANSWER: Those spells have all the earmarks of hypoglycemia – low blood sugar. They happen because a diabetic has taken too much insulin, has eaten too little carbohydrates or has exercised too strenuously for the amount of insulin he has taken.
Your son should have his own glucose monitor. He can adjust his insulin dose or increase or decrease the amount of food he eats according to what his blood sugar shows. If he plans on expending lots of energy in hard work or play, then he should lower the amount of insulin he takes or increase the amount of food he eats.
To stop an attack of low blood sugar, he should take something with sugar in it. Orange juice with added sugar works well. Glucose (sugar) tablets also end an attack quickly. Raisins work. Anything with sugar will raise blood sugar out of a dangerously low zone.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband, in his early 50s, has recently experienced frequent loss of potency. He used to delay orgasm by stopping and starting again. Did this promote prostate hypertrophy or cause his impotence? What treatment is recommended? – M.
ANSWER: Medicines, a drop in testosterone production, nerve damage, circulation problems, diabetes, anxiety and depression all can cause impotence – erectile dysfunction. Treatment involves treating the cause.
If no cause can be found or if there is no correction for a discovered cause, then Vigra, Cialis or Levitra can often restore potency. These medicines have radically changed erectile dysfunction treatment.
Your husband should begin by seeing the family doctor. His former practices did not cause prostate hypertrophy (enlargement) or erectile dysfunction.
Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.