• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Did any of your parents have T2 & how did/do they fare ?

So my mum, and at least 2 of her sisters were T2. Mum did everything the health professionals recommended and was very careful with her eating - She would try to control her diabetes by eating small portions but at the time the HCPs were recommending brown bread, brown rice etc., so she didn't stand much of a chance of keeping her bloods low. She ended up on insulin. She had very poor eyesight towards the end of her life.

I also have four siblings all of whom are T2 diabetic so we are a very diabetic family - my family will say they are impressed that my bloods are at normal levels and comment on how well I look but when it comes to how them, they simply take their medicine and eat what they want. Only one of them actually tries to eat sensibly but won't go against what their HCP recommends so its complex carbs all the way. Its very sad really.
 
Ronancastled said:
I was adopted so I've no idea if I've a whole family with T2 or I am an outlier.
I'd be interested to know how many of our cohort have T2 parents & how that generation dealt with it in "darker times". ?
Click to expand...
My father didn't, but he died young. It's possible my mother was T2 but did nothing about it. Three of my four grandparents lived into their 90s and had no T2 signs as far as I recall. The other died very early, almost certainly smoking-related. My son is T1 LADA.
 
Forgot to add (hope this is relevant) one of my daughters discovered she was insulin resistant when we did some checking 5 years ago (she was an adult then, no child was harmed in the experiment) and she reduced her carbs, and has shown no signs of unusual blood sugar levels since. Win!!!
 
Last edited:
My pa, had T2 diagnosed when he was in his 50s. Had heart attacks late 50s and vascular dementia in his 60s. He wasn’t even prescribed Metformin, and ate and drank whatever he liked, mainly because he kept forgetting he had T2, and although we tried to keep him to a ‘sensible diet’, which then was the Eatwell style NHS diet, he still sneaked out and bought multi packs of chocolate and drank beer every day. Lived until late 80s but didn’t have any loss of limbs or sight. Just the dementia. My paternal cousins have T2 as did an uncle. Of my many maternal cousins , about half have T2. As do half my siblings. To my knowledge, half of these have no complications, but some have neuropathy, retinopathy, and some kidney damage. I consider myself fortunate, that I discovered this forum, and manage my own T2 , so far, without complications.
 
My grandmother was a T2 she had tablets for that I think, my father was a T2 in remission. his older brother was T2 diabetic on insulin.

It sort of runs in the family I suppose.
 
Ronancastled said:
I was adopted so I've no idea if I've a whole family with T2 or I am an outlier.
I'd be interested to know how many of our cohort have T2 parents & how that generation dealt with it in "darker times". ?
Click to expand...

Neither parent.
Nephew had T1 but can't trace it to which side of family.
Cousin on mother's side has T2 so I suspect that any genetic susceptibility is from my Mother's side.
 
So, my mother was T1 but had no other relatives with diabetes of either kind (until me).

My dad is T2 and I think his dad was too but his father died quite early (heart attack in his sixties) so I have no idea what medication he was on.
My father got T2 about ten years ago and was initially on metformin and then gliclazide, but now controls by low carb (my brother is living with him and is happy to go low carb to control his waistline and his own chances of getting T2). My cousin (father's side) is T2 on insulin and says he likes his carbs too much to go low carb.

My children are genetically doomed because both my in-laws had T2 in old age (80s). I think they were just on metformin but my fil got vascular dementia and though my mil had T2 on her death certificate I think she actually had cancer (she was too ill for the tests and it would have been untreatable). They certainly didn't change their diets. Two of my husband's 3 sisters are now prediabetic, and his latest hba1c is 37, but we eat fairly low carb because of me so hopefully it's just a question of him avoiding an occasional binge on sweet things. He's currently working on the principle that he's OK as long as his waist measurement remains at less than half his height.
 
My Dad (76 years old now) was diagnosed T2 in the mid 1990's. He followed the NHS guidelines- some good points, some bad: he never ate "sugar" again, but mainly lives off potatoes, baked beans, bread and apples (he hates meat and veg). It has actually worked out OK for him on the whole because he eats very small amounts, and is incredibly active. His medication was metformin, then metformin and gliclazides. There was talk about 5 years ago about him needing to move onto insulin, but then chemotherapy for leukemia dropped his blood sugars very low, and they actually reduced his medication greatly. He's currently undergoing radiotherapy for prostate cancer (how's your luck?) but still, his blood sugars are pretty well controlled.
 
Last edited:
My parents haven't but two nephews have typed one from my younger sister the other from my older brother.
My only aunt is type 2
 
My dad and his sister; my mum, her brother, their mother, and I think several other close relatives in that side of the family. All T2.

My dad had always been a normal weight, lived a reasonably active lifestyle, never smoked, and ate a reasonable diet. Had a heart attack in his early 40s, diagnosed T2 in his 50s, lost all peripheral vision about 15 years ago, has had a couple of strokes in the past decade, and now is a shadow of his former self. His neuropathy means he can't feel his feet or ankles. He's been on insulin plus Metformin for years.

My mum has been overweight for as long as I can remember, less active than my dad, fond of the occasional cake. She's not on insulin, just Metformin. She has the other, painful kind of neuropathy.

They both have severely limited mobility these days due to various medical issues, not all of which are particularly diabetes related.

I was diagnosed aged 31 and was not surprised at all. It infests my family tree. So far my sister has evaded it...

I was on just Metformin, until it kind of stopped working properly several years ago. After some experimenting with medications, I'm now taking both Metformin and empagliflozin. I assume at some point in the future I'll shift to insulin, but who knows?
 
Both of my grandfathers were T2. My dad was T2 and 3/6 of his siblings are also T2.

I don’t know much about my grandfathers as they both died when I was quite young. My father was diagnosed at 30, on insulin by 34 and took exceptionally bad care of himself. His sugars ran routinely at 22/24 and I had known him to go on holiday and leave his insulin in the UK.

He had a heart attack at 49, leading to a triple by pass, which then led to an amputation of his leg as the wound were the vein was taken wouldn’t heal. Many sight problems followed, the other leg amputated 4 years later due to an ulcer and finally kidneys which packed in leading to a transplant. Ultimately he never really recovered from that and died with T2 and a heart attack on his death certificate at 57.
 
Dad had T2 was told he was fine as long as he kept his numbers below 11, died at 67 of sudden heart attack, undiagnosed.

Mum, sister T2 on insulin (maybe), mums mum, mums aunt, mums Nan T1, not sure on dads side, brother pre diabetes, both my daughters dx hyperinsulin at 2 and 13, probly dog and both cats.
 
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ Give this a read. Insulin isn't unavoidable, same goes for complications. Welcome to the bestest little place on the web for diabetics.
 
None of my relatives have/had diabetes, though my dad died of a heart attack at age 45 and my mum was 'at risk of diabetes' when in her 80's.
 
My mother, her father and my youngest brother all had/have T2. My mother followed the medical advice around at the time and ate ‘healthy’ low sugar, low fat, wholemeal pasta, rice and bread and jacket potatoes but hardly any sweets and slowly but surely progressed to insulin injections.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…