Type 2 Self Inflicted/Family connection.

My brother was diagnosed as T2 when he was 65 He was not overweight and excersised his dog twice a day. I developed T2 at 65 as well. Our sister has not devolved it!

Ditto my family - my grandfather, my father and all his brothers developed TII in their late 50's. It got me in my late 40's. None of us were over weight. My GP who is hugely overweight just seems to think TII is only linked to obesity - he'd better watch out given his size! 20 years ago it took me 3 years of pestering another even more grossly overweight GP about my symptoms - eventually I booked myself in with a Practice Nurse and hey-presto! The hospital diabetes clinic I went to said he should have been struck-off and shot! It's amazing how many over-paid, ignorant and unhealthy-looking GP's there are. Stick to Practice Nurses - they always seem to know more! Or it may be their appointments are easier to get - and twice as long in duration, so there's more time to explain fully..

There is type 2 in both sides the family mums side there's a bit of a weight issue but not massively on my dad's side no weight issues. Both my gp and dn seen to think that I would got type 2 what ever my life style. It was just a case of when unfortunately for me I was carrying a bit of timber so here I am at 42,

My father had it and his father before him. At least 2 or 3 of his siblings had it and they were all slim not obese and never had been. Of my generation that I know of there is Me, my sister, and a cousin but I am not in touch with all of my cousins. Of the next generation my nephew got it in his 20's and is only overweight because he decided he wasn't prepared to sacrifice food and beer and went on Insulin. None of the rest were on insulin until very late on in life. My sister and cousin are on tablets but I realised I was going that way at an early stage and have managed so far without meds. I get very upset when people say Type 2 is caused by obesity as we have always been a slim family.

TopCat_999 said:

I think there is an inherited trait in my in my family for T2 diabetes.

My Paternal Grandfather was diagnosed with T2 when he was aged about 50, my father was diagnosed with T2 at about the same age. My elder brother and myself have also been diagnosed in our 50s. Strangely enough my sisters seem to have escaped (they are 54 and 48). So the inherited trait seems to be on the male side.

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Same in my family. My Grandmother, mother myself and 3 out of 6 siblings all with type 2 from their early 50s.

The way I explain it is (and I would not be 'explaining' to someone, anyone, who said T2 was 'self inflicted' - I would be asking them to step outside! But that might be because I have high blood glucose right now and I am starving myself for another two and a half hours! This is when no-one should mess with me ):

Without the genetic predisposition there is no T2 diabetes, regardless of the environmental factors (ie the coke, sugars, carbs, environmental toxins, food toxins etc - and since when are those things self inflicted?) (The coke yes, but not the levels of sugar in it!)

T2D comes from a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors. There is not one without the other.

Not all fat people get diabetes. Not all diabetics are fat.

Our food environment has changed phenomenally in the past 2-4 decades in particular. It contains much greater levels of sugar, which acts like a toxin to everyone, but particularly folk with the genetic predisposition for fat deposits around the organs around the belly that affect blood glucose dysfunction, and the other complex functions involved in T2D, ie when it all goes wrong. Our food also contains much more potentially toxic additives, and can be genetically altered in ways that function particularly badly to people with the genetic predisposition - ie is insulin-provoking food. This particularly refers to wheat, and wheat products, is one theory. Also dairy is another. (I just say it's a theory, but one that the individual can check for themselves by eating and metering.)

NONE of us inflicted these things on ourselves. NO ONE woke up one morning and said, hey! which chronic disease will I choose to have today? It is insulting and obfuscating of the realities of living in the modern world to suggest people with chronic health conditions brought it upon themselves.

We certainly were not responsible for agriculture, and for the food corporations who will be laughing to themselves that T2diabetics even consider that they have done this to themselves.Laughing all the way to the bank, as my mother loves to say.

Yes, we need to talk about this much much more. We need to get our governments and our fellow tax payers on board with helping change governmental food recommendations/the official food pyramid in our countries that are still promoting a quarter of a plate of carbs each meal to diabetics, and to keep away from what is now called healthy saturated fats, and we need to keep the food industry in line and prevent them from killing us in the process of their business.

Self inflicted? What a good crock of **** and economically effective if you can convince T2 diabetics it is all their fault!!

It makes as much sense to say people with cancer brought it upon themselves, due to choosing their environments. (And their genes? hmmm.) Including the food and drink one. Crossfit could try that one on.

I have diabetes. I am the first one in my family to get it, on both sides. But my family has been riddled with deaths from cancer post reproductive ages. Now diabetes is cropping up, sometimes along with cancer. In our generation (ie born in the 60s.) (one prediabetic cousin, and one who had gestational diabetes.) Something has clearly changed, but it isn't our physical vulnerability - it is what we are vulnerable to which has taken a shift. Ie , our livers and pancreases are more vulnerable to our food and drink, and to other environmental toxins.

These are my thoughts on the matter, in any case.

Thank you for such a good post. As I began reading this thread,( crying again does diabetes make you cry a lot or is it just because I've blamed myself for so long) I realise it might not be my fault entirely yes I puta bit of weight on not always ate exactly as I should. No one else in my family ever had diabetes or cancer ( I had/have both) my husbands family all have type two him two brothers but only one of his sisters go figure?

Roddy666 said:

If type 2 is self inflicted or not why do Drs. ask if any family history of diabetes. If no family history of diabetes could that make me 1st generation diabetic?

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No. Nor is it in every case linked to obesity. I was considered "slim" and of normal weight before I developed diabetes some 15 years ago. Diabetes is "rife" in my family. Both grandmothers had type 2 for 20 yrs, my mother had type 2 for 19 yrs (all diet) - my younger brother has had it so far 20yrs (on Insulin aged 50) and my female cousin has had it 30yrs (on Insulin aged 54) and I went onto insulin a year ago and began putting on weight.

I was diagnosed as having T2 diabetes and I can assure you there is nobody on either side of my family ever had diabetes, I got my diabetes after I had bi frozen shoulder and had a course of cortozone injections directly into my shoulder bones, but as usual I could not get a doctor who would admit that it was the injections that caused it even though medical research has proven a link between the use of these injections and diabetes.

On one side: Grandfather, uncle and father all developed T2 after hitting 60+

On the other side: 3 great aunts and a sibling who controlled their moods, blood glucose and weight issues with gentle nips of alcohol.

Did they 'cause' their issues? I would say not. They were all slim, healthy, active, and their prime years were 1920s - 1960s or 1950s - 1980s. Rationing, vegetable plots and plenty of walking.

They ate 'normal carbs' throughout.

I think both sides have what could best be described as carb intolerance.

I am curious about the whole lifestyle v genetics debate and worried that this is all the medical profession seem to use by way of understanding this disease. My mother got diagnosed Type 2 at 80, 10 years into Alzheimer's disease. Other than that there is no family history. Then I get diagnosed prediabetic at 48 and the medics see my mother's diabetes as the main culprit. I just don't buy that at all. Neither do I think it is all lifestyle and self inflicted. I was told by my GP to do what I could to control with diet and exercise but not to be surprised if in the end it doesn't work because of my genes. How depressing. I think there is more to it that just those two things. There must be other avenues to explore and research? For me I'm grappling with the fact that all seemed totally normal, then I have a cocktail of powerful hormonal drugs, a traumatic operation (6 hours and a blood transfusion) and hey ho I'm now prediabetic but they still think it's my Mother's diabetes. The only person in my family to have T2 is my 55 sister in law (no blood relation). Ironically she has suffered from poly cystic ovary syndrome and also had a cocktail of hormonal fertility treatment over the years. Another close friend had gestational diabetes after conceiving post IVF. Is anyone out there looking into the hormone link?

Sally66 said:

I am curious about the whole lifestyle v genetics debate and worried that this is all the medical profession seem to use by way of understanding this disease. My mother got diagnosed Type 2 at 80, 10 years into Alzheimer's disease. Other than that there is no family history. Then I get diagnosed prediabetic at 48 and the medics see my mother's diabetes as the main culprit. I just don't buy that at all. Neither do I think it is all lifestyle and self inflicted. I was told by my GP to do what I could to control with diet and exercise but not to be surprised if in the end it doesn't work because of my genes. How depressing. I think there is more to it that just those two things. There must be other avenues to explore and research? For me I'm grappling with the fact that all seemed totally normal, then I have a cocktail of powerful hormonal drugs, a traumatic operation (6 hours and a blood transfusion) and hey ho I'm now prediabetic but they still think it's my Mother's diabetes. The only person in my family to have T2 is my 55 sister in law (no blood relation). Ironically she has suffered from poly cystic ovary syndrome and also had a cocktail of hormonal fertility treatment over the years. Another close friend had gestational diabetes after conceiving post IVF. Is anyone out there looking into the hormone link?

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The main thing to remember is it isn't lifestyle versus genetics - there is not one without the other where T2 is concerned is my understanding of the science. People who get T2 have an 'on' switch, is how I describe it. No 'on switch' - no T2.

But the 'on switch' is just a particular kind of metabolism, combined with other complex factors which can be put down to our food/environments and their affect on our hormones, organs - hell - our cells! - and so on.

And a distinct and not un-large proportion of the world actually have the 'on switch'!

But absolutely regarding the hormone link. Vitamin D is actually a hormone, and a deficiency in it is a major risk factor for T2. Leptin and insulin muck-ups are at the base of developing T2, affecting our appetites and blood glucose. And women are at a greater risk of getting T2 around perimenopause, and if they have the hormone imbalance that brings about polycystic ovaries the risk is even greater - all about how the hormones work together, or haven't been working so well together. (My own T2 story.)

I just read Sara Gottfried, who spoke about hormones and T2 on an online diabetes summit, and read her hormone reset book about women's metabolism generally - it's the usual 'ra ra ,cure, ra ra' which can be hard to take when struggling with pernicious high blood glucose, and longstanding metabolic syndrome (my situation as a diabetic) - but she makes some interesting and good points, and she makes a convincing argument about fat versus lean, and the hormones, for women. (My advice is - ignore the time claim - that you can 'reset' your hormonal imbalance if you have one in 21 days! That just seems to be an American cultural/business thing. But her theories and advice seem sound otherwise. At least - dare I say it - food for thought.)