T2 and Obesity

I have a been, oft times silently, railing against most T2 diagnoses descriptors that I have come across since being diagnosed 18 mths ago. The thing that is niggling me is this:

The implication that nearly all T2 cases are caused by being over weight and eating a poor diet, this is simply not true, certainly not in my own case. It seems my T2 came down to me throught both maternal and paternal grandparents/relatives, although not my parents which left me unsuspecting.

Of course I understand that obesity and poor diet makes a person more susceptible to becoming T2, but I am sure, that like myself, this is just not the case for all T2s. I now feel that confessing to being a T2 implies that I have been sloppy in self-care over the years, this is simply not true, as a 5'5" female I have averaged 8/9 stone for most of my adulthood, tried - always - to eat healthily (aside of my love of chocolate, I have never been a great biscuit or cake eater), and drink extremely modestly! Wondering if anyone else experiences the same views on this? :roll:

You have a good point, my daughter is 32 and was raised on healthy foods, in fact, having made a mistake with her two older brothers when really young, I did not raise her on sweet things and she has never really had a sweet tooth! However, both she and one of her brothers have thyroid problems, and try as she might she just cannot lose weight, although not diabetic, she recognises her high predispositon and tries even harder to eat healthily, as a result of her thyroid issues she has a lactose and wheat intolerance, necessitating her to watch everything she eats, she knows more about GI than I do, and yet everyone seems to think that she is overweight due to diet, including for the longest time her own GP! This is something that infuriates her! She also hates to be called obese, she declares she is fat! I understand this is becoming quite common place with people in the "overweight" category. One other thing that really concerns her on this issue is the fact that some hospitals can refuse to treat overweight persons - implying that weight loss is easy if only people cut down on food, or/and eat more healthily - she said in such a situation she would have little or no hope :!:

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, or even worse, it is self inflicted.

Yes, this is true, not all people are the same, but the vast majority of so called 'experts' try to insist one size fits all. I guess it generalisation just makes is easier for them to try and prove their point!

Yes, my weight went to its highest ever (from averaging 8/9 stone) it went to around 10 stone and climbing, I could not understand it, never eaten junk food, or even been a big eater! Once diagnosed it started falling off me, which was rather nice - only problem all my clothes were too big and I am still having to replace them Not sure if that is a plus though, if the diabetes caused me to put on weight in first place

Trinkwasser - thanks for the links and for coming back on the subject of Thyroid disease, despite this not being a Thyroid website. It too is a really nasty disease, often underated by the uneducated masses, due to lack of information. A diificult disease to diagnose, my son was very ill and no one could find out what was wrong, he complained of feeling tired, his memory was appalling, many people thought he was just lazy and being difficult. I look back at his photos, at that time he was really skinny, he had dark rings under his eyes - even I, who got used to seeing him like this did not realise how ill he looked. He would/could not get up in the mornings, I wondered if he had ME for a while, not understanding what could be wrong with him. At one point he became mentally ill, and was terrified not knowing what was happening to him, mental illness is almost an inevitable result of untreated diseased thyroid. He told me it is liking being drugged, or the feeling after a really heavy sleep of not being able to wake up - that it was like having a fog in his head, but he felt like that all the time! He has been diagnosed for some years now, his sister, luckily recognised the symptoms through her brother's bad experiences and was diagnosed much faster. Both brother and sister have Hashimoto's disease which eats away the thyroid, which in itself is a complex disease that affects the thyroid, my daughter was diagnosed with that quite early on, my son who has been diagnosed wih thyroid problems for over 10 years now, mentioned Hashimoto's to his doctor just last year, she told him he was being ridiculous! It was only in Dec of last year, when he saw an endocronologist that he was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease! With this disease levels keep changing, and need constant monitoring. It also puts them at high risk for T2 diabetes, so it really is a nasty and understated disease.

Trinkwasser

Once again many thanks for your replies, I am sending links to my son and daughter, you are much more knowledgeable on the subject than I, my daughter is also very knowledgeable on the subject, I only know lilttle bits and pieces I have picked up from her, and my son - I realise that hypothyrodism is not always so complicated but also that getting the T4 and T3 levels right can be difficult, at least it has been with my offspring, especially my son - he has recently been moved off synthectic thyroxine and the change has caused him some problems, the change was initiated because when he lived in UK he was on natural thyroxine, since his return to Canada he has been on the synthectic route and this has not always proven successful, as mentioned above, he met with an endocronologist for the first time late last year, who diagnosed suspected Hashimoto's disease and prescribed a change in medication!

Conversely, because I was always feeling so tired, with my children's history, and my mother was also found to suffer from hypothyroidism late in her life, I went to my GP and asked for tests to see if I could have also have the disorder, this was when I was told I was T2 diabetic, it was a big shock and completely unsuspected!

Again, thanks for this info. Particularly the wheat blog, interesting to both Thyroid and Diabetic issues! We realise that Hashimotos and Thyroidism can cause weight gain, but as my daughter remarks, her inability to lose weight cannot be due to this as she is on thyroxine and problem under control, surely then her system would return to near normal and her weight would go - do you know anything about this particular problem please?