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I'm worrying....

Pollylocks

Well-Known Member
Messages
525
Location
Kent
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Not many.
......because my son is now nearly forty three, he's overweight, like I was at his age, and I discovered I had diabetes type 2 at forty eight, fifteen years ago now.....

......What I'd like to know is just how hereditary is it.....?? .....neither of my parents had it but I don't know about my grandparents as I don't think it was picked up so much then so they might have, not sure...

....I've found myself nagging him about the food he eats and I hate myself for it....he's a chef so he picks at food all day because its handy to do so rather than eat proper meals and because he needs to anyway to see how things taste before he tries his menus on customers where he works....

....does anyone have any statistics on this, or has anyone seen this happen in their family....?
 
The answer is very unclear for T2. Some would say genetically some people are more susceptible when overweight. The solution is diet and exercise. Low-carbing is essential and you will soon realise just how bad our western diet is. Set a daily carb target of, say, 180gm or less. This is a lot less than many have each day hence the level of obesity out there. Our parents had far fewer carbs and hence there was less diabetes
 
Did they have fewer carbs or fewer refined carbs and supermarkets chock full of sugary things? I remember reading that an inmate of the work house ate several pounds of spuds a day and many slices of jaw breaking bread - what they did have though is fatty meat and butter alongside them. On top of that there were the many hours of manual work needed to do the simplest of tasks like a load of washing which would burn up all those carbs. I would try and get your son to reduce his weight as I think there is a genetic component to developing T2 in the face of weight gain and get him exercising. I have already started to nag my 20yr old son who is not especially big but is addicted to potatoes and bread( he has dietary issues due to being on autistic spectrum)- it has got to be easier to walk away from diabetes than deal with it so keep nagging.
 

I asked one of the Diabetic nurses this Polly a few weeks ago now. My mum and uncle, (her brother), both have Type 2 like me. I'm 48 and was diagnosed earlier this year. I said to her that I know my lifestyle hasn't helped but would I have got it anyway? Without a pause she said yes. She told me the statistics are that you've got a 40% chance of getting Type 2 if one parent has it and 70% if both parents have got it. To be honest I was left a little confused as a few of the nurses have now told me that fat on the stomach is a major factor in Type 2 Diabetes and yet I'm predisposed to it anyway.
 
....Thanks for your replies it all seems a bit hit and miss....I'll tell my son about the 40% as I'm sure he thinks he's immune but then quite a few of us probably do.....until we get it....
 
Yes I thought I was immune too, no one in my family was diabetic. Many were fat but no one else became diabetic. Why me? Probably because I can be obsessive about things, so when I follow what later turns out to be bad advice, I am more likely to suffer from the consequences of it. An example is diet drinks, everyone thought they were fine so I drank 2 litres of diet coke a day for several years so I could stay slim. Some of my friends drank it too, but not in such great quantities and not all the time. My obsession with not being fat made me fat. Another mistake was calorie counting, works for some, for me it just meant that I cut out tomatoes so I could have a piece of chocolate. My low calorie diet days consisted of mostly carbs with fat and very little protein, crisps were a necessary part of my diet then as were chip butties.

Keep plugging away with this Pollylocks, I hope your son will listen. Would I have listened to my Mum? Maybe if she had been diabetic and told me all this I would have, though deep down I think I still would have done what I did. That's just me, I sincerely hope your son has more sense.
 
Pollylocks said:
....Thanks for your replies it all seems a bit hit and miss....I'll tell my son about the 40% as I'm sure he thinks he's immune but then quite a few of us probably do.....until we get it....
Click to expand...
I did Polly. I have a condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa that causes abscesses in the groin and armpits. It's linked to hormones but finding a good treatment is hard. Anyway, earlier this year I had 3 abscesses that formed, one after the other. The final one was like a golf ball under my left arm and wouldn't burst. Long story short, i had to have it drained and dressed for a few weeks but the doctor queried Diabetes as this added to the HS could make the abscesses worse. I had the fasting blood tests and there it was, I am a diabetic. I had no idea, never even thought of it. I've chatted to our two older boys and they now know that they may be predisposed to it too. I was amazed at the 40% probability but at least now I can educate our kids with it.

I nag at my brother a little sometimes and my sister. But they know the score and are more aware now. Our mum and uncle have had it for a few years but they were in their fifties and sixties when they got it. I thought I wouldn't get Diabetes but here it is. Good luck with your son Polly, at least his mum will make sure he's aware of it
 

Hi there Pollylocks,
Has your son taken a blood glucose test? - that should give you both an idea if he is becoming pre-diabetic.
 
...I'll keep plugging away at it.....Bebo, he has actually tested himself with my strips a couple of times when he's been round and his level's been fine....I didn't suggest it so maybe he's a bit more aware of it than I realised come to think of it.......
 
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