Severe Asthma, type 2 diabetes & overweight

[Beccaxo]

This is about my partner not me.

My partner has very severe Asthma to the point where he is in hospitalized by it about 5 times a year & goes into A&E with it a few times but isn't kept it. He is on steroids everyday (varying doses) he has his blue inhaler and has now been giving the highest dose of the red turbo inhaler, he has so many tablets to prevent him getting chest infections but no matter what it ALWAYS gets him, he can be sitting on the sofa and just randomly cough up loads of blood, we have had numerous tests done on him & nothing out of the ordinary has been picked up. His chest is tight even after walking a short distance but think is mainly due to the fact he has put on an awful amount of weight.

He got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in November this year & is having a tough time coming to terms with it, I try to support him and buy foods that are controlling it as they told him that he can control it through his diet but if this fails he'll have to go on tablets to control it, which I know he doesn't want as all the medication he is on already is bugging him, he gets snappy loads and takes it out on me saying it should be who has it due to all the energy drinks I consume but he doesn't seem to realize that his diet is far worse than mine which we are both controlling with me going back to SW (slimming world).

His weight has got out of control & the doctors have told him he NEEDS to change his ways due to the Asthma & Diabetes but he won't listen - I am changing our ways to benefit myself & also him. I am responsible for our food shopping so if I buy healthy things he won't think twice.

Anyone else the same/similar to my OH - can I do more to help him? ​

 

[CMarie]

I know exactly how you feel . . such a tough spot to be in!

My husband is quite overweight and he also has asthma as well as hypertension (high blood pressure). I tried for so long to convince him that he needs to change his diet and the fact that he doesn't exercise, but slowly I've begun to realize that at the end of the day, HE has to make the choices . . I can't force him to do anything. I buy extremely healthy food and I make it obvious that if he wants any junk (chips, pop, etc), he needs to go out and buy it himself. That's actually helped quite a bit in deterring him from eating junk food, but he still will go out by himself and get it sometimes. As for the exercising, the best thing I've noticed is to make it a family/couple thing. If I'm taking our LO out for a walk I'll ask if he wants to come and he usually will. He won't exercise on his own for whatever reason, but if we make it a family thing he'll participate.

My only other suggestions (and one that I'm also seriously considering), is to just have an open conversation with him about how you feel. Sit down with him and say, "I won't nag you and force you into changing your eating/exercising habits, but I want you to know that I'm worried about your health. I love you so much, and I only want you to be healthy and strong to live the longest life you possibly can." or something like that. I've started to really think about having this talk with my own DH just to get the point across that I'm done nagging him, but I do love and care for him a lot and I want him to get healthier