How much has diabetes affected your life??

[Jess8011]

Hello there!
Im a student writing a desertion on the implications of being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes at a later stage in life. Type 2 Diabetes runs in my family; my grandmother of 80 years was diagnosed a few years back and has struggled to cope with changes to her diet and medication. She doesn't understand the condition and doesn't want to acknowledge its presence in her life.
Comparatively, my father was diagnosed at the age of 40. Diabetes has made him more aware of foods and the role they play. He researches his condition and tries to stick to his medication routine. However, he finds this difficult due to the stresses of life. His job for example - shift work & not knowing when he will eat his next meal.

This desertion is very personal to me as i see how it affects my family, and i know that there is a significantly high risk on myself developing Type 2 diabetes later on in life.

I have a number of questions, if you would be so kind as to share your experiences I would be very grateful.

1 - People develop set routines over the years and i would just like to ask how these routines have been disrupted by type 2 Diabetes?
2 - What restrictions has it now set on your life?
3 - Do you feel the support you receive is adequate; this can be from a range of options - GP; Helpful? Provide information on your condition? / Family; Different family meals? Do they sympathises with your condition? Do they support and understand you? / Forums; do they help? If so how? ... etc

+ anything else you would like to add..


Thank you.

 

[anna29]

@Jess8011
I have relocated this into here for you .
The Type2 forum - as all your questions appear all Type2 relevant .

 

[Phlogiston]

Two perspectives.
My father in law who is 95 was diagnosed T2 about 7 years ago. He was a man of routine and doesn't seem to have changed them much as a consequence. He attends clinics and takes some medication (Metfomin I think) and appears to be controlling his BG OK. It hasn't placed many restrictions on his life (fewer than a depressed wife and old age). He is careful about when he eats, and portion control. Having said that, I don't see what he eats when we're not there. I suspect he brings the pork pie out for a treat when we come.
He seems to be well supported by the health service.

I was diagnosed T2 nearly 2 months ago. Kick up the backside. I had been overeating for a good long while and was borderline obese. I was previously fairly active and tried to eat healthily aside from an excess of salty snacks. I have been told it can be controlled for the medium term with diet and exercise.
I have increased exercise, although sometimes work gets in the way of this - freelance tutoring sometimes takes me off for chunks of day when I might otherwise be pounding the streets. I have cut the salty snacks and carbs - but have a small portion of carb with the main meal.
Upside is a savoury breakfast every day (egg or fish based). Downside is less biryani.
I have lost about 16kg - this has been of benefit.
Changes to diet have not been as onerous as I feared, although I have not had many meals out.
I suspect I haven't had the treatment my normally excellent health centre might like. My diagnosis coincided with the retirement of one diabetes nurse with one of the other practice nurses stepping up to do the diabetes work. I wasn't given my diagnosis HBA1C (I shall ascertain that next appointment) and a gap of three months before the next appointment seems a long time to leave patients dangling. I am able to be proactive about my management - I would suspect that some patients with less scientific knowledge than me might well be misled be the seemingly innocuous dietary guidance I received (cut the snacks, cut the protein, only half a potato at a time) that was different to that wretched picture of a plate. The GP has also signed me up for Desmond and some buddy scheme.

 

[vit90]

I have been close to obsessive about my condition and this has irritated my wife a little. I am very motivated to do anything I can to reverse the condition; extreme diet (Newcastle diet inspired), much increased activity including high intensity interval training and upper body weight training and a lot more walking (but not running - I have the wrong muscle type for extended jogging!) and I spend far too much time on this site and others researching the subject.

Contrast this with my 80 year old father in law who was diagnosed several years before me and he, being a long-time foodie, has extremely low motivation and basically eats what he likes and depends on metformin to manage the situation. He has put more and more weight on and is showing early signs of dementia too.

 

[Glitterbritches]

Like Vit90, I have been a bit excessive and obsessive about diabetes since my diagnosis (check the links in my signature). I was diagnosed relatively early (36). With all of the freely available information on the Internet, we're in a unique time where doctors are typically not the first line of information when it comes to widely studied diseases. Separating the wheat from the chaff on the Internet is always difficult, especially because everyone likes to see what they want to see, but 30 years ago I would have likely followed whatever a doctor/diabetic nurse told me, with no idea whether they were staying current on the applicable literature or were giving outright harmful/ignorant advice.

My diet has (clearly) changed, as have my habits, and both are work in progress. In my limited experience, there are three types of diabetics at diagnosis - those who go into information consumption overload, and start making radical changes immediately appear to be in the distinct minority. A lot of other people kinda shrug their shoulders, figure they deserved it, and treat the condition like AIDS - a chronic disease to manage with drugs for the rest of their lives, in the hope that a pill will come along and cure them. The last group appear to not care one wit (or manage to painfully convince themselves that they do not care). Seeking pity just for the sake of pity, they seem to pretend as though they were never diagnosed - whatever the reason, the end result is a suicidal decision to not change anything about their lives (even seeing medication as nothing more than a chore) and likely end up with shortened and painful lives. That's the human experience for you

But the overly obsessive folks appear to migrate to the Internet, where they can support each other, endlessly debate, share experiences, and sometimes fight asking your questions here is going to give you a very skewed sample to work with

 

[JTL]

I'd rather not have it but it hasn't impacted my life in any large way.
I've had to educate myself about carbs and fats.
I'm food conscious where as before I never had to think about it.
It's been a challenge that I've met head on and a situation I've gotten under pretty good control in a very short space of time.
I do not obsess about it.
I don't think of myself as a diabetic but a person who has diabetes.
I count nothing weigh nothing still have very littl knowledge about calories.
I eat LCHF to my meter.
My reading this morning was in the fours ... up to 5.5 I feel ok to have porridge with coconut oil in any higher than that I have a boiled egg or tinned fish.
My meter is my guide.
I read food labels for carbs but after only a short time I know what most stuff contains.
Only do I need to read if it's something new or a different brand.
I find the food industry to be seriously corrupt.
In North Wales is a large cheese factory.
I know some of the management.
They have a cheese shop for staff and one for the public.
There are cheeses available to the staff that they can't really put in the public bit.
An example is a Devonshire cheese .... made in the heart of Devon from the milk of Devonshire cows.
Lie.
It's labelled that way but made in North Wales from the milk of North Wales and Cheshire.
Harmless but dishonest.