I just found out at age 50 that now have CHF and edema and diabetes type two and wheelchair bound. Advice?

Many people have recovered from seemingly insurmountable conditions. Howard Shifke from Parkinsons, hundreds including heart failures from Chilel qigong, or Dr. Dean Ornish's heart programs. Joe Cross in the documentary "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead." You ask for truth. The truth is that no one can know that, because it is all on you. The outcome will be different for you if you stop playing games, unplug the TV and throw yourself into the adventure of your life. Stanley Burroughs in the book "Healing for the Age of Enlightenment" said, that as long as we stop hurting our bodies, and get out of the way of its natural processes and balance, then "we admit no limitation as to the power of the body to heal itself."

I fully underwrite your suggestion that scaredofCHF watch Joe Cross documentary, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". We are what we eat! Changing your diet can change your prognosis. Singingway, you've got the answer!

I am sending Light and Truth your way.May you be strengthened and find Peace.

I don't blame you for being scared, sacredofCHF. You have a heavy burden of serious conditions. But no one can really give you a true picture of what to expect. Doctors are not being evasive -- they simply don't have a crystal ball.

People live with congestive heart failure for decades, sometimes with very little impact on their daily activities, sometimes with noticeable impairments. No doubt you have been given advice regarding diet, weight management, salt intake, and exercise, for the chf and edema. Only you control how seriously you take that advice.

Diabetes often shortens your life expectancy and can result in pretty dreadful complications, like blindness. Managing your blood sugar levels through diet, exercise, and perhaps medications greatly lessens your risks.

Inactivity is not good for either chf or diabetes. Even from a wheelchair you need to find ways to get physical activity into your daily routine IF you want to improve your health.

Here's the bottom line: you are going to die. Maybe from one of the conditions you have recently been diagnosed with, maybe something totally different. Between now and then you have a lot of control over what your life is like. If you want to sit in a chair, play games, and watch television while wondering about how/when you are going to die and what your future will be like, you are certainly entitled to do that. Maybe you will want to do that for a short while as you adjust to these big new diagnoses and then get on with your life.

If you want to, you can maintain contact with your friends and family, you can figure out ways to get out and about with your wheelchair, you can take charge of your eating and exercise and take medications as directed. You can plant an indoor garden of herbs (or maybe an outdoor garden). You can learn to crochet or knit or quilt. You can join the Red Hat ladies or hang out at a local senior center. Are you a good reader? Maybe you could volunteer to read a chapter a week at the senior center or at a childcare center.

You can sit around waiting for the effects of your diseases, or you can get as much pleasure and satisfaction out of your life as it is, and take steps to minimize the chances of dire complications.

Your choice.

Type II diabetes is essentially a lifestyle disease that you can reverse if you take some of the actions others have listed above. But you have to get moving (check out swimming or chair yoga for starters) and changing your diet. I'd recommend you subscribe to the daily videos from www.nutritionfacts.org and also do a search on diabetes to watch previous videos about the topic and healthy diet. My mom is 95 and has CHF, so it's not a death sentence by any means. But you have to take control of your health and change your lifestyle! Good luck and keep us posted.

You didn't mention why you are wheel chair bound. Is there a physical condition other than those you have mentioned?

Turn off the TV. It's all food ads that will kill you.