article_snippet.sent: Robin, now 73, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes by chance in 1999, aged 58 .
article_snippet.sent: This does not appear to have been the problem for Robin.
article_snippet.sent: Robin'd been only too aware of the risks of diabetes
article_snippet.sent: - Robin mother died aged 67 of a heart attack brought on by 30 years of type 1 diabetes.
article_snippet.sent: Because of my poor mum's history, I was fully aware of what my diagnosis meant,' Robin says.
article_snippet.sent: However, Robin's mother had type 1 diabetes, which is an entirely different type
article_snippet.sent: The diabetes picture has changed dramatically since Robin's mother's days.
article_snippet.sent: Once Robin was diagnosed, Robin was determined to do everything Robin could to limit the damage through lifestyle changes.
article_snippet.sent: Robin's other lifestyle change was to walk the recommended 150 minutes a week, little but often (Robin'd given up running by then).
article_snippet.sent: For ten years Robin was able to control Robin blood sugar through these methods alone.
article_snippet.sent: Only recently has Robin been put on medication, as diabetes is a progressive disease which worsens with age.
article_snippet.sent: Six years ago, Robin was put on diamicron, a form of sulphonylurea drug, which stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin.
article_snippet.sent: Three months ago, Robin was also given januvia, which prevents the breakdown of the gut hormone GLP-1, whose role is to prompt insulin release after a meal.
article_snippet.sent: Two years ago, routine tests indicated that Robin had possible artery problems and Robin was sent to a clinic. '
article_snippet.sent: Robin - who lives with his American wife, Meredith, in Lautrec in south-west France, does have some numbness in his feet, another common complication of diabetes, and sees a chiropodist every three months. '
highlights_snippet.sent: Robin Ellis, now 73, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes by chance in 1999 .
  