64-Bitstudio

Not very long ago, it was not at all unusual to see blind people walking the streets tap-tapping away with their white sticks, being guided by a dog, normally a Labrador, but I have not seen anyone like that in Britain for years, as far as I remember.

That has to be a good thing; it has to mean that we are starting to cure or at least alleviate most types of blindness.

My aunty had cataracts for years when I was a child in the Sixties – it was just one of those facts of life. Some people got them when they were old and others did not.

My brother’s mother-in-law had cataracts in the late Nineties and she was put on a two year waiting list to have them taken away, but at least she had hope and they were going to be got rid of free of charge.

I do not know of anyone else that has eye trouble except myself. I could not get my glasses clean one day and then a friend said he saw a white spot in one of my eyes. He drove me to the hospital and the doctor said that I had ‘premature senile cataracts’.

Well, I live in Thailand now and he did not use those precise words. He told me that the cataracts were because I was prematurely senile.

I asked him if that was what he really meant; he looked it up in a book and we both had a hearty laugh about it, although he never really corrected himself.

My condition turned out to be a little more problematic than only cataracts, but when I went from the local hospital to a major hospital in Pattaya, the doctor saw me within 30 minutes and asked me if I wanted the cataracts removed.

I said that I did and she was willing to do the operation there and then. I got it postponed for 24 hours, but she would have sorted my eye out that day in a 30 minute operation, which does not need anaesthetic. I think that that was wonderful.

We have come a long way from habitually seeing blind people on the street and putting up with cataracts through a two-year waiting list to immediate removal of cataracts by laser surgery in 40-50 years.

At least we have in the West and in the East too, if you have the money. There are still millions of individuals in Asia and particularly in Africa suffering blindness and partial blindness for the sake of an easy 30 minute operation.

Two weeks after my surgical treatment, my other eye commenced to cloud over. It was as if it had been holding on with its last scrap of strength until I got the other one sorted out.

I had that one treated last year and when I was allowed to take off my patch and look about me with two good eyes again for the first time in a decade, I could not believe that I had forgotten how bright the world actually is and that I had not noticed how drab my world had gotten.

If you are worried about an eye operation, do not be. What you will experience when you are able to see properly again will make all the apprehension seem ridiculous and if you have the opportunity to give someone their eyesight back, please do it.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of topics, and is now involved with 500 Delicious Diabetic Recipes. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Easy Diabetic Meals

The main problem for diabetics is not the lack of insulin, it is the result of the deficiency of insulin and that result is that the blood becomes over-saturated with sugar (or glucose).

Everyone’s blood has sugar in it, the blood carries this energy to the limbs and organs to keep them working, but there is a fine balance between sufficient and too much.

Insulin controls that balance, so if you do not produce enough insulin, as diabetics do not, your blood becomes thick and sugary. That does not sound too bad on the face of it.

Maybe a diabetic should be able to run further and faster than others with all that extra energy being pumped about the body.

However, it does not work like that. The thick, syrupy blood cannot get into the fine veins and capillaries, which means a deficiency of energy in these places, which are often at the very ends of your body and in internal and external organs.

Skin, hair, eyes, teeth and toes are all starved of the sugars they need to keep them going, not just to keep them super-fit. The places with the finest blood vessels start to go first.

Not only that, but where the blood does reach will be more easily infected, because the bacteria think it is party time with all that extra food/energy in the blood.

A small infection that the body;s immune system could usually have dealt with in a day or two soon gets out of hand. This is a major problem for diabetics and one of the areas that is easily infected is the mouth.

Without the scheduled dental check-ups that affluent people can afford, the mouth would often become infected, as it still is in poorer countries and among poorer groups in rich countries. Children and older people are always needing fillings, extractions and infections sorted out.

For diabetics who do not seek appropriate dental care this can soon become a major problem. Smoking worsens the problem. The concerns really start to mount up for smokers over the age of 45 when dental problems usually start to resurface after 20 odd years of relatively healthy teeth and gums.

Periodontitis is especially dangerous for diabetics. Periodontitis is an infection that affects the bones and gums in the mouth. It manifests itself in receding, bleeding gums. This exposes the blood rich in sugars to infection. Diabetics ought to inform their dentist of their condition and go for a check-up every six months.

Diabetics can easily lose all their teeth if they get periodontitis and it is easily done with high blood sugar levels. The first sign of such dental concerns is bleeding teeth or gums.

It is imperative to regulate the blood sugar level to as close to normal as possible to avoid these and other complications and the two first keys to try are diet and exercise, otherwise you may have to resort to medication.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with diabetic friendly meals. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Cookbooks For Diabetics.