new (ish) diagnosed and confused

Hi all I'm fairly new to all of this having being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in January......i appear to be getting conflicting info from the so-called specialists and am becoming increasingly fed up with the whole thing......I went for my 2nd review yesterday with my diabetes consultant he has informed me that I definitely have type 1 diabetes and is hereditary...i had an alcohol addiction of which I have been sober for almost a year....i gave everything up as I have always been led to believe that the alcohol was the major contributing factor for me developing diabetes...i am now being told something completely different and have asked my parents and there are no know sufferers' of diabetes in either side of my family....i am so confused and don't know who or what to believe anymore...i have been punishing myself for the last year thinking I had caused this when it transpires that I may well have had this unknowingly for years.....any advice would be gratefully received

noblehead said:

Hi @sonniek08 and welcome to the forum

Type 1 is an autoimmune condition, as yet they don't know the cause. No family members (or none that my parents were aware of) had type 1 before I was diagnosed so the diagnosis came as quite a shock.

Don't punish yourself as we can't turn back the clock, take care.

Click to expand...

Thank you

Daibell said:

Hi. Alcohol has little relevance to diabetes. It is not known to cause diabetes and also has little effect on blood sugar unless the drink is high in carbs such as some beers.

Click to expand...

Hiya thank you for your reply

I

himtoo said:

hey @sonniek08
welcome to the forum
right now you need your head in a good place -- ready to receive help
and washing the past out -- concentrate on the here and now

small steps and no beating yourself up
we are all here to help you !!

keep posting !!

Click to expand...

I will and thankyou but I have mentally and physically feel like I have conquered the alcohol problem...being diagnosed with diabetes initially wasn't a huge shock to me as I said I was led to believe that the alcohol had contributed to my health problems....i feel like I've been let down, lied to and totally unsupported throughout the whole process really

gem09 said:

Alcohol can lead to chronic pancreatitis, which can lead to secondary forms of diabetes causing patients to become insulin dependent. Also the effect of alcohol on the liver can lead to an inability to effectively regulate blood glucose. So yes in theory alcohol can lead to diabetes but if you haven't had an y episodes of pancreatitis or health issues related to drinking then it's definitely more likely your diabetes is regular old autoimmune.

One major thing -CONGRATULATIONS on sobriety, you're doing brilliantly to be a year in, well done

Sent from my D5803 using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app

Click to expand...

Thankyou so much for your kind words xx