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Is it my fault I have Type 2 diabetes?

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherinecherub
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catherinecherub

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Found an interesting article from a diabetes educator,

"Admit it Type 1's, in weaker moments you look down your noses at Type 2's . You know their disease can result from poor lifestyle choices. You know that their regime compared to yours is simple".
"It is almost like sibling rivalry. People with Type 1 feel that those with Type 2 get all the attention and people with Type 2 feel that Type 1 diabetes is really "bad" diabetes".

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2010 ... m-type-2s/

I have just read this today on the forum in a most inappropriate place and beginning to wonder if I went out of my way to get my diabetes.
""I agree also with the fact people mix Type 1 and Type 2 up. Type 1 is nothing to do with eating too much, it is an illness that is not self inflicted"

I thought this forum was all about helping all diabetics and not criticizing me because I have Type 2. There have been discussions here before about this topic and I get really upset when I see self righteous people writing about something they know nothing about. If everyone who overate got Type 2 diabetes I could understand the logic, but they don't and not every Type 2 is overweight.
There are many more reasons as to why this happens to some and not others.

I feel like a second class citizen and wonder if we need to educate more people as to the reasons affecting our diagnosis.
 
We need to educate the stereotyping media who scream these headlines every chance they get because they are headline grabbers !!!
'Obese' 'lazy' 'overeating' is so much easier for the media to scream than actually explaining the differences or the fact that not everyone is like that.

Like you I know many people far heavier than i am who are not diabetics. They lead far less active lives as well. Why do we have it ? We just do... :( I've got it, I accept it, I get on with controlling it the best way I can. I can't turn back any biological clock and wishing backwards is of no use whatsoever.

What we can do is look forwards, make the best of it and hope that some day others will not have to go through it.
 
AA Gill the Sunday Times food critic wrote recently "Personally, I think your type 2 diabetes is your choice. Enjoy"

Delightful coming from a recovering alcoholic and I believe avid cigarette smoker.

As to fault - well I guess some are lucky and some aren't.
 
I was at a diabetes workshop recently when a T1 said (jokingly) "type 2 is for wimps...". Then we discussed how we controlled our respective illnesses. She was happy to retract the statement after she realised the lengths I went to in controlling my bs levels and acknowledged her diet choices were much simpler as she could inject more if required.
My diabetes is mine - why I have it doesn't change the fact that I have it. There is no family history, I have always been a healthy weight and have always exercised and never liked "junk" food or sweet stuff. Not sure how that lifestyle got me here but it did. Maybe smoking for years? But then how many smokers don't get this? And I quit pre-diagnosis. I will now try and control instead of being controlled. M
 
As with so many hurtful things that are said they are based on ignorance. Ignorance is not limited to any section of the population and even professionals, who should know better, are not exempt! :shock:

We just have to educate and inform wherever we can and as my mother would say, “Rise above it!” :roll: :)
 
An experiment was conducted as to peoples' perceptions about whether skinny people and obese people were lazy. No points for guessing that when the skinny people was seen laying down and watching TV people assumed they were resting. When people saw an overweight person relaxing then they automatically assumed that they were lazy and unmotivated.
The author concludes that stereotyping about overweight people needs to be addressed. Because a person is overweight is does not mean that they don't exercise and because a person is thin it does not mean that they are fit and healthy.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/186201.php

I never was classed as obese, did put on weight prior to diagnosis following a particularly stressful time following a personal tragedy, but quickly lost it. Prior to that I never had a weight problem throughout my life . I think my OP was to show that Type 2's are stereotyped by others all the time and that includes other diabetics.
 
Ohhh. I know that lifestyle doesn't help, but there is a family history of type 2 that I have to thank.
I know people much bigger than me who move less than I do, who are not diabetic! But now I know, I asked for this!!!!!
I must admit, untill 6 months ago all I knew about diabetes was that there were two types, and one tends to come on in older people. I was 41 years younger than my Gran was at dianosis, and I thought t2 was what pensioners got! I also thought t1 was low blood sugar and t2 was high.
So at least I learnt something !!
 
It's strange, isn't it? I know there are many good reasons to believe that it's not "my fault" I have type 2, but something in me just doesn't want to accept them, and deep down I do believe that if I had my life over again, and followed a whole different diet and did more exercise, I wouldn't be diabetic today. There is no diabetes in my family (that I know of). I am overweight but not obese.
Personally I think there's no point in agonising over how we got here - it's a waste of time and mental energy. We have it, there it is. Let's focus on coping with it. This forum has helped me and many other people to do that.
Pretty much exactly a year ago I was feeling the worst I ever did in my 47 years. Now I feel so-o-o-o-o much better, thanks to cutting way down on carbs (that's been the only significant change). I learned that from this forum and from Jenny Ruhl's Blood Sugar 101. Thank you both (all) :D .
 
An interesting debate. I can not accept that being overweight is a cause of T2 diabetes, as someone has already stated not every 'large' person is diabetic so there has to be another reason and I wonder if it could be a chemical one.

I was diagnosed T2 after being on steroids for 2.5 years, the steroid caused me to put on about 4 stone in that time, and when diagnosed I was placed straight on insulin. Over the last year I managed to loose the 4 stone weight gain and also was weaned off the steroid. Both these factors have helped me come off insulin and I am now just diet and metformin controlled.

The steroid I was taking was prednisolone a corticosteroid that is usually produced naturally by the adrenal gland, which in my case had temporally stopped production, now I have since discovered that excess cortisone as well as suppressing the immune system can somehow increase insulin resistance.

So I now wonder if T2 diabetes could be caused by some sort of yet to be understood hormone imbalance, this could also be the reason why so many T2's are overweight.

This is just a theory of mine and I have no proof what so ever that this is correct. But who knows?
 
Hi Sid :)

I fear that you could be right. My OH has been diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica and is on steroids long term as the estimate is that it could be up to 7 years before the disease burns itself out. Already he is gaining a paunch despite all my efforts to keep his diet well controlled, mainly I suppose, because the steroids make him so hungry. I even ‘caught’ him sneaking the sugar box back into the cupboard yesterday after putting additional sugar on his fruit while he thought I wasn’t looking! Poor man! :roll: :shock: Made me feel bad that he thought he had to do that! :oops: The sneaky bit I mean! :lol:

I hope that it doesn’t work out that way but it could well happen IMHO. :(
 
When I got diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes I was as fit as the proverbial 'butcher's dog !' I was the ideal weight, used to exercise daily, run, cycle, ate healthily, and was just not the 'stereotypical' candidate for Diabetes.

So, that diagnosis left me wondering....how the hell did that happen ??? Looking back there was a family history of it which I knew nothing about.......other than that nothing. So, I put it all down to my genes, stuff I inherited, things I could do nothing about.

Then I became the stereotypical 'fattie' over the years........what was that down to though ? Following the NHS 'Healthy Eating' guidelines......that's what made me fat, made me ill with other complications. Now that wasn't my fault......I was following Dr's order's (well Dietician's) so I thought I was doing everything right.......what a mistake that was !

All's well now though after finding this Forum and just changing diet together with Byetta. The two things that have changed my life, made me fit again, lively again.....my old self resurrected.

There is a third thing that has changed my life but she is not one for praise.......so I will just leave it at that. :D :wink:

Ken
 
Gary Taubes in his great book the Diet Delusion suggests that increased weight gain in Type 2s is a symptom of the metabolic problems that also leads to Type 2 diabetes i.e. insulin resistance / syndrome X etc., so it is a confusion of cause and effect to look at an overweight Type 2 and say "you are overweight, your weight triggered your diabetes" when actually they are part and parcel of the same underlying problem.

As people have said weight cannot be the underlying causative factor; as you can become a Type 2 diabetic without being overweight.

Dillinger
 
Heck, I know it was my fault. My mother had it , my sister had it. And I continued to eat like a hog. I was overweight. I ate Ice Cream by the Gallon at a sitting . Ate carbs . like they might disappear overnight. And knowing that genitics played a part. One part in you post reminded me of the people that smoke say " My grandpa lived to 92 and he smoked from the age of 8".
Guess what Metformin may prevent smokers from lung cancer. WOW I am lighting up my pipe as we speak ... Whoo Hooo
 
.When your insides are damaged the last thing you need is people piling on the stress and i've known fat people who are T2 free so...?
 
I'm the 4th T2 in direct female line. It could go back further, but that would be well down the 19th Century and no-one knows.
I always atee in the way that we are advised to. Basing my meals on starchy carbs and loads of veggies. My portions were generous, but i also walked a lot.
Fault?? What does that mean? Surely the proponents of "Healthy Eating" are as much to blame as Iam for following their advice.
I wish I'd known 30 years ago what I know now, but "if Wishes were horses, beggars might ride."
I do know from current experience, that T1 husband has more freedom with diet than I do[T2}
Hana
 
it bugs the hell out of me every time I read a headline or an article which says 'Diabetes has caused' or 'Diabetes will cause' etc, etc - which type?! please don't get me wrong, I know they are both as significant as one an other but the awareness that is out there amongst none diabetics is pretty poor. They see a blanket problem which means sugar must be avoided and being over weight as the cause. Even if they are stood in front of you and you are quite clearly not over weight! I have 2 friends who are type 2 and one is obese with a whole world of diabetes related problems and the other is like a whippet. Go figure!! Neither chose what they have but one finds it easier to manage. I actually don't know any over weight type 1's though? interesting thought, never occured to me until this very minute......perhaps because the warnings are less difficult to be missed??
 
T1 husband is overweight. Largely as a result of being told that the answer to everything is to take more insulin.35 years ago he weighed 13 stone and now it's 17 1/2!
He is 6ft 3in though.
 
hanadr said:
T1 husband is overweight. Largely as a result of being told that the answer to everything is to take more insulin.35 years ago he weighed 13 stone and now it's 17 1/2!
He is 6ft 3in though.
Click to expand...

so you think insulin caused his weight gain? I take insulin and am not over weight. One would imagine if your husband was told to take more insulin it was because he was eating too much which was causing his BG to go up and up, hence more insulin needed. Vicious circle.
 
When I am in a depressed mood this is a question that sometimes trips through my addled brain. No one can be sure of anything in this world let alone their health. We all want cause and effect though as part of the human desire for control and understanding. Look at the news after an air crash it's all about what caused it, we need reassurance.
I do not fit the stereotype T2 whatever that is. But after diagnosis I learned that I have relatives who were diabetics... oddly enough I still don't know if they were 1 or 2! Dunno what that tells you... but in my mind it reveals prevailing ignorance perhaps. My immediate family are clear of it fingers crossed but I am led to believe it is in part genetic.
On another angle maybe we think we are being punished for earlier sins. Whether it is smoking or over-eating, drinking etc it makes no odds I feel.
I have regrets that I didn't find out sooner. So this is the only part of me that feels it is my fault.
AFAIK there is no early screening so maybe it is a waste pondering on that as well.
I am going to write another thread about my recent doc visit but suffice to say he agreed with me that while there is no direct cause he has an open mind about it being possible that there is one or more. We mentioned the stomach ulcer virus. 8)
 
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