Depending on how fast a T1 loses beta cells (or beta cell functionality) there need not always be a "honeymoon period". (Or it can be long past by the time they get diagnosed.
T2 involves insulin resistance. Which means that cells don't respond as they should to insulin. Thus a T2, even with impaired beta cell functionality, may be producing more insulin than a non diabetic. A strange quirk is that often fat cells do not become insulin resistant (or as insulin resistant) as other cells. Something which may have a lot to do with the association between T2 and obesity. Being unable to use most of the glucose in the diet for respiration it gets converted to fat. But a high blood glucose level, frequently topped up with dietary glucose, inhibits non glucose respiration. Only cells without mitochondria actually "need glucose". (Typically cells use glycolysis to produce pyruvic acid from glucose. The issue with the brain is that only sugars, ketones & alpha hydroxy acids can easily get into neurons.)
Wow, I can only like a post once but you have hit the nail on the head. This disease it not as simple as type 1 or type 2. There are so many other factors at play and every person is an individual. I have been reading up a lot lately about how the body metabolises, stores and uses sugar in all of it's many forms. Our western diet is laden with sugar and sometimes we consume it without even knowing it. Type 2 is definitely insulin resistance with the added impact of our bodies not recognising leptin signals being sent to the brain. Sometimes we don't even need to eat sugar for our bodies to convert sugar in the liver and store it as fat.
This all goes back to hunter gathers and how our bodies conserved energy or sugar as fat to cope with the lean times. Our bodies were designed for a seasonal existence and the most important aspect of this was that foods that were high in sugar ie fruit, were only consumed during harvest for maybe 2-3 months of the year at best. This meant that the fructose; which can only be metabolised by the liver, was then used over the following months ready for the next sugar glut. Now of course this is not the case and type 2 diabetes is a direct result
in most cases of our bodies not being able to handle this much sugar all the time. Try reading 'Fat Chance' by Dr Robert Lustig it really shows the lies we have all been fed and the experiment we have been taking part in (without our consent) just to keep the food industry alive and kicking.
Good luck on your journey,
