Last nights TV program

[joelcam]

All,

I watched a program on TV last night about people that are really overweight. It was either ITV or BBC but I believe it was BBC1.

One of the people on there was an extremely overweight T2 (I'm T1) and he was moaning about his diabetes and saying that it has attacked all of his body and as a result he's lost the sight in one eye, lost one of his toes etc...the picture that was painted was that once you get diabetes your are going to fall apart. This would have frightened anyone that had recently been diagnosed.

What the fat idiot failed to tell people was that he ate like a pig and didn't do anything to keep his control good - just get's on my nerves when people use diabetes as an excuse for letting themselves get ill - especially when there are children and other people with diseases that they have no chance of controlling.

JC

 

[ljwilson]

I too was very angry at this programme, it wasn't only the patient but one of the health experts who was basically saying that once you have diabetes then all the complications are inevitable :evil: I get very angry when programmes like this one do not distingush the huge difference between being an obese Type 2 with bad control and a Type 1 who has good control, so far today I have had 2 people ask me about my eyesight and if i have sore legs!

Lorna

 

[Sid Bonkers]

I get very angry when programmes like this one do not distingush the huge difference between being an obese Type 2 with bad control and a Type 1 who has good control

Oh really, and what about all the T2 diabetics who do have good control and are not obese. This us and them attitude that some T1's have is so unnecessary shouldn't we all be standing together to stamp out stereotypes?

Or does my opinion not count as I am T2 and brought it all on myself :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[noblehead]

What the fat idiot failed to tell people was that he ate like a pig and didn't do anything to keep his control good - just get's on my nerves when people use diabetes as an excuse for letting themselves get ill - especially when there are children and other people with diseases that they have no chance of controlling.

Joel,

There's no justification for calling someone a ''fat idiot''! Often there is more to someones personal circumstances than meets the eye.......for example a medical or physiological problems outside of diabetes.

Nigel

 

[sandra1960]

The Programme you are talking about was on BBC1 and was called Supersize Ambulance, im so glad i didnt watch it i would have been petrified. I have not long been diagnosed but im slowly getting the gist of what is bad for me.

 

[ShyGirl]

If you are so addicted to food that you are in need of a special sized ambulance then he obviously has deep psychological issues with food. I wouldn't call an anorexic a "skinny idiot" and as others have pointed out , some T2's are slim although i'm sure most medics will soon decide that slim T2's have a different type.
T1's and T2's can be guilty of ignoring their diabetes.

 

[bowell]

If you ignore the odd bit ref: T2 I found it ,Interesting
I use the ambulance service a lot to travel back and forth to hospital
I am not overweight Yet I do find it very hard Not to put on the weight due to being stuck in wheelchair most of the day

If anything would give you a good nudge to start Weight Loss :shock:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011k479/Super_Size_Ambulance/

 

[joelcam]

Agree with the comments about there being deeper emotional /mental problems linked to people being obese so take back my comments calling the person a fat idiot. Someone has commented that you wouldn't call an anorexic a skinny idiot which kind of hits home the point perfectly, so I apologise for the comment, was just having a rant.

It does annoy me though when people talk about how hard being a T1 or T2 is and how it can lead to losing limbs and going blind whilst shoving a donut in their mouth. It also annoys me that the TV program did pretty much paint the picture that all diabetics will lose their eyesight and limbs. No wonder some people look at you like you have some sort of lurgy when you tell them you have diabetes.

 

[ljwilson]

I get very angry when programmes like this one do not distingush the huge difference between being an obese Type 2 with bad control and a Type 1 who has good control

Oh really, and what about all the T2 diabetics who do have good control and are not obese. This us and them attitude that some T1's have is so unnecessary shouldn't we all be standing together to stamp out stereotypes?

Or does my opinion not count as I am T2 and brought it all on myself :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry Sid, I worded that badly, should have said Type 1 and Type 2's with good control. I stand by what I said about programmes like this not distinguishing enough between Type 1 and Type 2's.

Lorna

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Sorry Sid, I worded that badly, should have said Type 1 and Type 2's with good control. I stand by what I said about programmes like this not distinguishing enough between Type 1 and Type 2's.

Lorna

No problem, T1's and T2's both share similar problems as well as having their own unique problems, I think its hard enough for us to understand each others problems sometimes so imagine how it must be for a television presenter who is basically just reading a script to get it right, OK the researchers could work a little harder perhaps but you only have to look at how little our own GP's know about diabetes to see how these programs can get it wrong. When I was using insulin I asked my practice diabetes nurse a question about insulin and she said something along the lines of "OH I'm sorry I dont know anything about insulin" That was the diabetic nurse :lol: What chance the BBC eh?

I just think it would be better if we all (T1's and T2's) sung from the same hymn sheet rather than taking swipes at each other and saying that you dont want to be identified with a T2's can actually be quite hurtful to T2's. Just as T2's who flippantly say "well as a T1 you can eat what you like and cover it with insulin" is going to, I imagine, get up a T1's nose.

Hope that made sense I was getting a little lost there at the end :?

Its an age thing I think

 

[catherinecherub]

I find the OP quite offensive. I watched the programme and my heart went out to the subjects.

We have newly diagnosed Type 2's posting here who have been given abysmal advice that will only add to their weight problems and increase their medication. They are told the condition is progressive and to eat plenty of starchy carbs, fruit and vegetables and that is it. They are not given a testing kit and sent on their way, to be seen in 3 months. They are in a state of shock and believe the advice they are given, why wouldn't they, it is coming from a professional? When they return in 3 months they have gained weight and their blood sugars are higher, they are put on medication and this is the cycle that some Type 2's find themselves in.
There needs to be a radical shake-up within the profession as to what is the right advice for the newly diagnosed Type 2's.
Some Drs and DSN's get it right so why cannot they all?

I think this quote from William James sums up how I feel about some of the posts on this thread,

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices".

 

[Unbeliever]

I know several newly diagnosed T2's and it is exactly as catherine cherub says.

Since reading this forum I have managed to lose all the weight I had gained as a result of taking the maximum dose of glimepirides for 3 years. IIt was never intended that I stay on this medicaion for so long but when I had o change my GP they ignored anything which had gone before and wanted to give me insulin on top of this lot.

Since losing the weight [only a stone and a half] I have actually been attacked by some of these people [verbally} for losing weight oo quickly . They ask how I did it and i ust tell them thay I have reverted to the diet which I had always had pre-diagnosis. Some get quite aggressive telling me i am wrong because this goes agains the advice they have been given,

I do try ,tactfully, o explain that this doesn't work for everyone and that there is a change in thinking which may no have filtered down to everyone but they don't listen.

As catherine cherub says why would they question the HCP's advice? It is very sad that for many of them the condition will ger worse before hey realise hat they have o take control themselves.

Even my own sister who is well aware of the problems i have had with my treatment says "she could never be "into it" as I am She would ust take the pills and do as she was told"
If only it were that simple.

"When I was first diagnosed in the A$E dept a very kind nurse said i should not worry about the
diagnosis . It would not affect my lifestyle - it eould only mean taking a few pills each day.
I suppose hew words were based on the fac hat I was very slim and she probably thought that t
diabetes in someone like myself was easily treatable. HCP's sill seem o hink this and get prety tight lipped with me hen my body refuses to cooperate. There are all sors of preudices and assumptions around diabetes even from the sufferers themselves and the "experts".

My brother -in- law got quite angry wih me last week when I tried o explain that his glaucoma medication was extremely unlikely to work on my macular oedema. he couldn't understand
that all diabetic retinopathy was niot the same.
Perhaps I should have ried. we might have made a breakthrough and discovered a new reatment :lol:

 

[ebony321]

All,

I watched a program on TV last night about people that are really overweight. It was either ITV or BBC but I believe it was BBC1.

One of the people on there was an extremely overweight T2 (I'm T1) and he was moaning about his diabetes and saying that it has attacked all of his body and as a result he's lost the sight in one eye, lost one of his toes etc...the picture that was painted was that once you get diabetes your are going to fall apart. This would have frightened anyone that had recently been diagnosed.

What the fat idiot failed to tell people was that he ate like a pig and didn't do anything to keep his control good - just get's on my nerves when people use diabetes as an excuse for letting themselves get ill - especially when there are children and other people with diseases that they have no chance of controlling.

JC

Gives people with T2 diabetes that wasn't brought on by bad lifestyle a bad name which is sad.

How can we get angry at people who don't know the difference and come across ignorant when this is what's shown on tv.

It's the kind of thing that gives people the wrong idea, then in turn ask me if i have diabetes because i ate too much sugar.

 

[joelcam]

Agree - I had someone recently say this to me when I was injecting..."If I was a diabetic I couldn't deal with all those injections, I'd just have a Mars bar instead of the injection". When I asked what he was talking about the reply was - "Well that's all insulin is aint it? Just pure sugar".

I have also been told be people that it must be to do with eating too much sugar - usually when I tell them that there is no real reason why people become T1. They look at me as if they are thinking "Just admit you ate too many donuts and now you are a diabetic".

All in all though I couldn't really give a sh** because before I was T1 all I knew was that diabetes had something to do with sugar and injections so these people are no more ignorant than me. When something becomes a major part of your life you take it seriosuly - we can't expect the general public to be experts but the BBC should at least get it right.

 

[Patch]

Gives people with T2 diabetes that wasn't brought on by bad lifestyle a bad name which is sad.

Are you saying that people with T2 that do/did have a "bad lifestyle" (please quantify that...) deserve a bad name?

There are thousands of people with a so called "bad lifestyle" that never develop diabetes.

I can't believe that there are 2 ways of developing T2. The people that eat their way into it (the "fat idiots", right?), and the so called "healthy people" who develop diabetes anyway because, well , I assume you just think these people are unlucky to develop T2, right?

These are polar opposites - how can T2 be caused by BOTH of these things???

We need to DEMAND that the medical community put a concerted effort into understanding the CAUSE of T2 diabetes.

'Cos I'm not buying the "you ate your way into it" bullsh**. That just makes it far too easy for them to shift the blame onto the patient, and spares them the embarrassment of admitting "we don't know what causes T2".

If they don't understand the cause, they are not qualified to attempt to provide a solution! They don't promise that their treatment won't cause any long term damage, do they? They have NO confidence in their own treatment!

Becasue they DON'T KNOW what causes T2 Diabetes. I bet they're so far of the mark that what they label as T2 Diabetes isn't really even a form of diabetes!

If a scientist/engineer reported on the problem that they were trying to solve in the same way that the medical community reports on the T2 problem, they'd be laughed out of town!

A scientist/engineer would NEVER offer a solution without a sound understanding of the cause of the problem.

I've been T2 for nearly 13 years. I've asked at almost every appointment I've had if they could tell me if:

a) I am producing insulin, but not able to use it, or
b) I am not producing insulin

Can't get a straight answer out of them.

The diabetes researchers/specialists are cowboys, and failures. They have absolutely zero credibility. We're suffering - not them. They're to blame - we're not.

/RANT.

 

[ebony321]

Are you saying that people with T2 that do/did have a "bad lifestyle" (please quantify that...) deserve a bad name?

quote]

Not at all.

Nobody with an illness deserves a bad name. It's the conception that it's purely because someone is overweight or has 'a bad lifestyle' that gives diabetes as a whole a bad name rergardless of type.

Being overweight and leading a bad lifestyle that can trigger diabetes. Doesn't always mean it does.

There might not be two ways to develop diabetes wether it being overweight, or being skinny. If your mum has it or if it comes out of nowhere. Maybe type 2 could be defined more specifically, then it comes to it that type 2 is far too generalised.

The whole point of my post was that people are misunderstood into the causes of ALL types of diabetes, because it's portrayed that way on tv, or advert in your GP saying if your waist measurement is this then you could have diabetes etc.

Just like the programme that was about Type 1 teenages not taking care of their diabetes. I'm certain it's not because they are 'wild teenagers' as there are plently of T1 teenagers that take care and control their diabetes well.

Certain phrases like;

'did you get diabetes because you ate too much sugar'
'oh do you have the bad kind of diabetes?'


when i was diagnosed a friend said 'oh you wont be on injections forever my dad's dog's next door neighbour in africa said you can just take tablets like everyone else'

But when someone says things like that the first thing i want to do is snap because it's upsetting that many people don't understand. So instead i take a breath and take time to explain. I also explain about T2 diabetes, which never has or never will include the sentence 'because they are fat'.

 

[Patch]

Gives people with T2 diabetes that wasn't brought on by bad lifestyle a bad name which is sad.

^^^You said that.

 

[ebony321]

Are you saying that people with T2 that do/did have a "bad lifestyle" (please quantify that...) deserve a bad name?


You said that ^^^... key word being DESERVE. please indicate where i said anyone deserves a bad name.

 

[Patch]

No problem - you said " Gives people with T2 diabetes that wasn't brought on by bad lifestyle a bad name which is sad."

This implies that it is NOT sad for that assumption to be made about people with T2 that WAS (possibly/allegedly) brought on by "bad lifestyle". You're making the distinction...

Sorry if that's not what you MEANT to say. But that's what you WROTE.

 

[ebony321]

No problem - you said " Gives people with T2 diabetes that wasn't brought on by bad lifestyle a bad name which is sad."

This implies that it is NOT sad for that assumption to be made about people with T2 that WAS (possibly/allegedly) brought on by "bad lifestyle". You're making the distinction...

Sorry if that's not what you MEANT to say. But that's what you WROTE.

Yep, that's indeed what i wrote, and after that triggered your little rant i clarified exactly what i meant in a further post which you chose to overlook so it may seem.

I'm sorry if that's the way you interpreted my original post. How you perceived it was definately not the direction i was heading in.