• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

T2 vs T1 stigma - anyone else feel a bit 'shamed' for having T2?

Status
Not open for further replies.
When I was diagnosed I had lost so much weight, was very thin and haggard and had ketones so the initial diagnosis was that I had type 1 and that it wasn't my fault. I took that to mean that if it was type 2 it was my fault. How happy I was that it wasn't my fault. Then I was so happy that I was re-diagnosed as type 2 and I discovered low carb and keto and that I could put the diabetes into remission.

Now I am very proud to be a Type 2 who has (with the help of this website) gone into remission, come of insulin and reversed eye and foot problems. I do believe that it wasnt 'my fault' that I had a body that could not cope with the level of sugar and carbs that is normal in our society. I also have a friend who is 6 stone overweight and has superb blood sugar control - so she obviously will never get diabetes as she has been overweight for years and has never had problems.
 

Yep, I agree, and in the same way your friend has done nothing to warrant her superb blood sugar control (because her body is doing that for her), YOU or any of us have done nothing to warrant our not so superb sugar control (because our bodies are doing that for us). Our success comes in doing what we can to minimise our wonky bodies afterwards.
 
I wish I cared what folks who are not me, think of me or my life's issues.
I have never cared, and will never care, what anybody's opinion is, regarding my culpability re a diagnosis of T2DM.
With all I know about this condition, I even have a level of contempt for anybody, ignorant enough to regurgitate the trope that is bandied about regarding T2DM and how blameworthy anybody with the condition should be.
 
T2 is likely a "thrifty" gene - that's certainly how the equivalent disease is viewed in horses. Your ancestors adapted to live on few carbs. Trouble is the availability of cheap carbs today and the lack of exercise most people do means that thrifty gene often leads to obesity.

I was misdiagnosed T2 and after correct T1 diagnosis the GP said to me that I least I knew now it wasn't my fault. There is definitely a view that T2 is caused by obesity rather than being an underlying condition that can lead to obesity.
 
Oh yes. I'm 71, diagnosed T2 3 years ago. From the age of about 18 until diagnosis my weight was always between 147 and 154 pounds (now at 143 pounds - my height is just under 5' 11"). I always did physical work, cycled, walked, ran until a neurological problem in my mid 50s put paid to that and work. I still kept as active as possible, followed a mainly Mediterranean diet since the 1970s. Now in a wheelchair (manual, self-propelled) as a result of the neurological problem. When people assume that EVERY T2 is an overweight, lazy glutton who has brought this on themselves and accuse you of being a drain on the health service it makes me so angry. Much of the media is just as ignorant and encourage and promote the 'T2 diabetics are pariahs' attitude. Unfortunately most people seem to believe the media (if it's in the news and on TV it must be right) rather than educate themselves. They should remember - it can happen to ANYBODY, and they could be next.
 
You need to ignore people who **** you off. Your own self worth should not be dependent on what other people think. If it is supposedly friends or strangers making comments tell them to f******f , & who cares what people you may never see again think , and friends should be supportive, if they’re not they’re not friends.
 

Ditto. I’ve barely told anyone. Getting fat shamed by my GP this morning means I’ll probably keep it to myself for quite a while longer.
 
No shame no blame. Diabetes is an illness might as well blame some one for getting the flu cause they breathed in a virus.
 
I’m sorry to say I’ve been ignorant of this. I’m T1 and forever trying to explain that I can’t go into remission because people have confused it with T2. I think I assumed (I know) that because so many people seemed to know about it they would understand it more. Thank you for giving me a perspective.
 
 
When I was first diagnosed and told people i too suffered stigma a little overweight !maybe but certainly not unhealthy i could see they thought it was my own doing, but having attended a Desmond course which helps you understand diabetes and what can cause it i found i was not a typical stereotype to get T2 that in fact studies are beginning to show just like me that anyone who has suffered hepatitis in any form is prone to diabetes in later life. T2 for 2 yrs i am 2.5 stone lighter and have exhausted all medication to control it on my way to becoming insulin dependant and some people still think I am not helping myself
 
Yes, I agree and ever since being diagnosed about 4 years ago I have felt it’s my fault. I am no saint with food but until something happened (I don’t know what) I was always very thin and the type of person who ran upstairs rather than walk.

I started to feel tired and is if I was running (not literally) with the break on or couldn’t get the right gear. I am now over weight by about a stone and whilst I’m no saint I don’t drink sugary drinks As I don’t like the after taste and have virtually no alcohol.

As you say we are not all low exercise hugely over weight people. I sometimes think my diabetes is the thing that makes it harder to lose weight? Who knows
 
I think we still have an uphill battle. So we've just had World Diabetes Day, and this:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46192...t/diabetes&link_location=live-reporting-story

World Diabetes Day: 'What I wish people knew about my condition'

When diagnosed 14 years ago, Hildia was not aware that healthier food options and exercise could have helped prevent her from developing the condition.
Click to expand...

See? It's that simple. Or there's also evidence that weight gain, tiredness and other symptoms could be a result of developing diabetes, not causation. And I suspect that's the problem with GPs as well, ie if you're seeing overweight people and diagnosing them T2, it can be easy to confuse correlation with causation. There does however seem to be more evidence that diabetes could be a result of autoimmune problems, pancreatic inflammation etc etc.

Over time it should get easier to demonstrate causation and correlation better, especially if there's a perception that T2 can be 'cured' by some simple lifestyle changes. What would be harder to show is if someone like Hildia was predisposed to developing 'T2' anyway, especially in the face of our junkfood industry, and bad advice from the 'Eatwell Plate'. If someone is carb intolerant, they won't be eating well at all.
 
I think unless you not well controlled and people you work with need to know, I wouldn't tell them. Your on a low carb diet because you feel better for it or you 'want to lose weight'.
I have high lipids, I have had high lipids for ever. You go to the GP's and you get the low fat diet talk, which I had been on since the age of 20, and it doesn't work. They see you are over weight and think you sit around all day and eat a lot.
My lipids are better and I am on low carb, which they conveniently ignore.
 
There seems to be a huge number of people who 'aren't the typical stereotype' though... To be blunt, Joe Public is ignorant about all forms of diabetes, is it any wonder that the tabloids opt out of printing facts about a condition that is hard for even those who DO want learn to get their heads around?

I'm not excusing their lazy shaming, but T2 is a complicated condition to explain.
 
Hope you don't mind be butting in but my doctor was very surprised when I was diagnosed type 2. He said but your so slim!!! The nurse who took blood tests said but your so thin!!!! I was 57 kilos, & they're a doctor & nurse, That says a lot, there are several reasons for being diabetic. Hence I've not recieved any help or advice from them except to eat carbs which is not good for us & im physically dissabled & unable to exercise
 
Yes, I agree that there is a big stigma with Type 2. Although I'm open about it to many people, I have not told a couple of people who would judge me and say "It's all your fault, you let yourself get fat so you got diabetes."

I know that some Types 2 are not overweight but those of us who are overweight Type 2s often have had to deal with both stigmas and have a history of being fat shamed. Yes, some doctors do it as well (not my present doctor.)

I've struggled with my weight all my life. In my early teens, my mom took me to the doctor because she was concerned about my metabolism - my sister ate more food than I did, yet I gained weight and she did not. Even the neighbours were asking why. The only treatment at the time was "diet pills" amphetamines and they decided I was too young to even consider that. I've been on many different low fat diets since the 1970s, it's always been a struggle for me.

When I started reading about insulin resistance, a light bulb went off, that's why I gained weight so easily when others in my family did not (people who ate everything that they wanted and never had to worry about weight gain.) The same metabolism caused me to develop insulin resistance and gain weight (worsening my insulin resistance) led to my developing type 2 diabetes. Eating low carb has been so much easier than eating low fat which I've done since the 1970s. I do find it very ironic that all the years I was doing what I advised, "eating healthy" I was consuming high carb foods which were making my insulin resistance worse.

Personally, I haven't had an issue with most Type 1s here. I participate in a blood glucose monitoring thread where we are different types (1, 2 & some of the rarer types) and are supportive of each other. I've learned more about Type 1 from them as I'm sure that they have from the Type 2s.

I see the odd ignorant remark but feel it's coming from a person who is so insecure that to feel better they have to hurt someone else. (There was a particularly nasty person on twitter who disagreed with diabetes.co.uk's meme about diabetes not being your fault a little while ago. She said it wasn't her fault her pancreas didn't work but it was our fault for not taking care of ourselves! I came to the conclusion, she wanted to provoke a negative reaction and loved the attention her hurtful remarks got.

Yes, this type of attitude does seem to be worse in fitness forums where being overweight is viewed as a personal weakness (again the stigma about weight). Historically most gyms are VERY unwelcoming to people with less than ideal weight bodies.

Both overweight and regular weight Type 2s receive this attitude from these people. The term "lifestyle disease" carries this notion of blaming people as well for Type 2..

I know all types of diabetes have a stigma and the level of awareness/knowledge about all types of diabetes is low in the general public (and unfortunately some doctors as well.)
 
Last edited:

I agree with you, Diakat, about speaking out about your diagnosis. The sad thing is, so many people have read a few newspapers and think they're 'experts' now, so anything that you say will they 'assume' that YOU are misguided, or you've 'got it wrong'.

What it needs is REAL experts to put out the message ... preferably 'slapping down' the idiocy and nonsense that abounds in the tabloids ... and SOME of the so-called doctors who really haven't got clue when it comes to diabetes.

Lots of Love and Light.

Mick
x x x x
x x x

P.S. Please don't be offended, or alarmed, at the 'x's'. It's merely a logo, of sorts, that I've used for 40-odd years now.
 
LeftPeg said:
I fully believe I caused my Type II due to the huge amount of calories I was consuming to fuel my cycling (> 200 miles per week). I basically just battered my pancreas until it said 'no more!'

So no, I don't consider myself lazy.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of thin type 2s probably overloaded their pancreases, without realizing it. It's not really anyone's fault for following their doctor's ill-advised "Eat Well Plate". There are studies showing that even perfectly fit, non-diabetics have a problem metabolizing a lot of carbs, and that your sugars can rise. Do that every single day, and eventually things will break down.

To the OP, I wish I had your problem. As I type 1, there is nothing I can do to reverse this, at least not that we know of yet, and I've tried everything, every drug I could get my hands on, every diet, fasting, extreme exercise. I test myself so many times a day, I can barely feel my finger tips. I can't afford a CGM right now, no private insurance at the moment. Nothing really helps. If I had been type 2 I would have reversed it through low-carbing alone, years ago. I mean, there's another low-carb study on the news section literally today. These are coming out steadily every week, supporting low-carb => reverse type 2 and get off your meds.

Meanwhile I got a foot ulcer the day after eating my sorrows away in the form of an indian feast, when my buddy died suddenly a month ago, and now my neck pain is back (arthrosis and pinched nerves, results of living with type 1 since I was a kid).

So, consider yourselves lucky, if you're type 2s, that at least you have hope and the possibility of reversing your condition, as hard as that may be. But I really don't think going low-carb is that hard. I've been doing it for years. It's a simple choice: your health, or carbs. Pick one. But yes, you are absolutely lucky to have type 2 instead of type 1 diabetes, there is no question about it. Ask any doctor and they will tell you the same thing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…