| As we get older we can often start to avoid doing | | | | check up at the optician. |
| anything strenuous, making excuses such as "I can't do | | | | This went on for about 8 months. Things with my wife |
| the things I used to be able to do", or "tiredness is just | | | | had been difficult, not through any affairs or anything of |
| a part of growing old". | | | | that nature, I simply found myself feeling very irritable, |
| In fact, as we get older, particularly towards the age of | | | | and snapping at her all the time, even though I knew |
| 50, our metabolism does indeed start to slow down | | | | she didn't deserve it. We decided to divorce, at her |
| and if we are not careful we can start to suffer from | | | | request and I moved out of the family home I had |
| "middle aged spread". | | | | worked over 20 years to provide. |
| When I reached the age of 47, I had had my own | | | | At the same time I developed a merciless thirst. I |
| small business for twenty years which involved a lot of | | | | would drink 4 or 5 two litre bottles of water everyday. |
| physical work interspersed with periods of driving. | | | | The thirst was so intense, the feeling when drinking |
| At about 3 every afternoon I would start to get very | | | | water was like scratching a severe itch. |
| tired and pull over for a "power nap" of about 15 | | | | Then one morning, I just couldn't see. Everything was a |
| minutes, before waking up and moving on with the job | | | | blur of colour, but I just couldn't see detail, even close |
| in hand. | | | | up. I knew I had to see the doctor. |
| This was also coupled with the fact that I could just | | | | I explained everything to me and he did some tests, |
| drop off to sleep at more or less anytime and in any | | | | but the doctor was in no doubt as to what was wrong |
| place. I would wake up totally refreshed, but as time | | | | - I had type 2 diabetes. This was later confirmed at |
| went by I began to worry a little. | | | | hospital. |
| The fact was I was working long hours in a physical | | | | The moral of this (true) story is simply this. |
| job, but the fact that I wasn't glued to an office chair | | | | Don't blame the onset of age for your body doing |
| every day and felt relatively fit, I couldn't understand | | | | things it never used to! |
| my increasing tiredness, and at one point talked to my | | | | Tiredness, and by that I mean genuine fatigue, where |
| now ex wife about the possibility of my having | | | | you simply have to shut your eyes, blurred vision, |
| narcolepsy. I have always avoided going to the doctor, | | | | extreme thirst and/or irritability should be treated with |
| and this time was no exception. | | | | suspicion. |
| I also noticed a slight blurring in my vision. When driving, | | | | Get yourself looked at by a doctor if you have these |
| every car more than 300 yards away looked like a | | | | symptoms - over 2 million people in the UK are thought |
| police car, in that the roof line appeared blurred and | | | | to have diabetes but are totally unaware of it. |
| looked like an overhead gantry. Again, I put this down | | | | Untreated, it can cause all sorts of medical problems |
| to age and deteriorating vision, indeed, I was due a | | | | you simply don't want! |