By: Baylie Waller

David Waller is a middle-aged maintenance manager in Rainier, Oregon.  He has recently been diagnosed with type II diabetes.  However, this was not a surprise to him because it runs in his family.  Since being diagnosed, he has been prescribed medication and has had to change his dietary lifestyle.

Did you think you were going to be diabetic before you were tested?

Yes I did because it runs in my family.

Can you tell me how far back diabetes runs in your family?

I know that it goes back four generations on my mom’s side and at least two generations on my dad’s side.  So I pretty much thought that I had a pretty good chance of having diabetes as I grew older.  I think my mom found out that she was a diabetic at about my age so I was prepared for it.

What were the symptoms that you had before finding out that you were diabetic?

Drinking a lot of water, getting shaky when I got hungry, and having blurred vision.

Can you describe your typical diet before you were diabetic and after you found out you were diabetic?

I eat more regular now.  I eat three square meals.  I make sure I eat in the morning when I take my insulin medication and I eat at the same time for lunch every day.  I switched up my diet some.  Previously, I ate a lot of red meat, fatty foods, and not many vegetables. Now I eat something in the morning like oatmeal.  I make sure I eat a light lunch so I’m not as hungry when I get home from work and I don’t eat such a large portion for supper. I quit using mayonnaise on sandwiches and hamburgers, now I use mustard.

Now that you eat differently and you changed the kinds of foods you eat and times you eat, do you feel like you feel better over all or do you not notice much of a difference?

I’ve noticed that I do feel better and have a little bit more energy and I anticipate that may increase as I go on and as my body gets used to the insulin medication that I am taking. My previous diet I didn’t eat very well and now after discovering that I had diabetes I eat much better and I feel better.

Do you think that if you would have eaten differently throughout life that this could have been prevented?

I think it could have been postponed if I would have eaten better during my lifetime.  I think that I still would have been diagnosed with diabetes but it would have been after I was a little bit older.