Type 2s - what do you think caused your diabetes?

[vit90]

For me it came as a bit of a shock because I'm always telling by children (and others) about the dangers of over-consumption of sweet things. I also felt I was eating the right things; lots of high fibre whole grain cereal, home made wholemeal bread, and lots of fruit and veg, nuts, salads, fish, keeping an eye on the fat, etc. I didn't do much exercise but never felt really unfit and I had lost around 12 kilos a few years previously after the doc suggested I should lose weight. That weight loss made me look pretty normal in terms of a normal weight look even though I was clearly still in the overweight section of the BMI range. People I didn't see that often would remark on how much weight I had lost. I also had no problem maintaining my weight after the weight loss.

But now on reflection there were lots of pointers. From my mid-thirtes to my mid-40s I was definitely overweight (technically obese). I was brought up not to leave anything on my plate - something we haven't done with our children, incidentally. I dislike artificially sweetened food (although I now use Sucralose for coffee and tea) and I did eat very large portions. I ate a lot of bread, potatoes, rice and pasta although not a great deal of candy (only pigging out a few times a year) and puddings are really only for special occasions. I didn't eat a lot of sweet biscuits or cookies but I did consume a lot of crackers, oatcakes and crispbreads, and the like.

All this, combined with some stresses in my work (deadlines, long distance travel, odd hours) plus very little exercise and a possible genetic susceptibility (Chinese/Asian mother who had T2 as well, plus lots of her relatives) and it shouldn't be so surprising.

Maybe if I had been aware of the threat of carbohydrates and sugar more and adjusted my diet accordingly, and indulged in more exercise and lost more weight - all of which I am doing now, I might have avoided getting into this mess, or at least delayed it substantially.

It has been a wake up call but I feel quite positive - I am enjoying the extra exercise and once I have reached my target weight I am very confident of maintaining it and exploring the possibilities of a new diet balance. Fortunately, my condition is not as severe as others and I am not on medication. It just needs managing which is exactly what I'm doing.

So how about?

 

[leeemerick]

Mine coincided with a lot of stress and yoyo dieting I think.
I was in hospital for months with my wife when she suffered pacenta previa. Nearly lost her and my son.
as for the dieting I lost several stone, put it back on, lost it again put some of it back on. Tried lots of different diets and think I just messed myself up with it

 

[Robbity]

I reckon probably a combination of predisposition to be diabetic, tired elderly pancreas, becoming rather overweight, an increasingly bad - high carbs - diet (not my choice - provided by my husband who decided to take over shopping and cooking when he took early retirement), and stress related sweetie eating. It's taken me over 70 years to reach this point, though, and I can't lay claim to any seriously stressful event that might have triggered it.

Robbity

 

[douglas99]

Probably just the amount of food, in one sitting, as I mainly ate at night threw me over the edge.
Carbs, fat, protein, all together too much of all of them.
Low fat, low GI/GL seemed to be the thing for me, and trying the Newcastle diet, it was the calorie restriction that made the difference again for the weight loss.

 

[Patricia21]

Legionella,picked up in Ciro three years ago,put me in intensive care for a month and in hospital three months.

 

[Sancho panza]

Fast living fast food and chocolate
For the great part of my life I have burned the candle at both ends I have worked hard and played hard and partied even harder lol,
I've done things you shouldn't do and to be honest I still do to a degree. I blame no one but myself and now it's time to pay the piper.

 

[pavlovsdog]

I think mine was triggered by excessive stress at work, although there are other indicators, but I firmly believe this is what tipped me over the edge.
There is no family history of diabetes as far as I am aware, but tbh, all of my immediate family have had weight issues, tho I am the only one who has developed diabetes.
Yoyo dieting and increase in carbs (through dieting, as recommended on'green day's Slimming World!)
I've also read that being the child of older parents predisposes you to long term illnesses
Having another auto immune disorder
Thinking back to when I was younger, I didn't eat that many carbs, and ready meals weren't available, so I mostly ate fresh food and my weight was stable. Over recent years my carb intake has increased and I relied more on ready meals for quickness and convenience, and my weight has shot up, especially over the last 15 years. It's become clear to me now that I have a low tolerance of carbs and they affect me badly (bit too late!)
Depression and binge eating has contributed to this, as has underactive thyroid and hormone problems

 

[Snowy12]

To be honest I have not thought about it,
Family history,cola,potatoes I could not say.
I gave up doing all the What Ifs And Maybes along time ago.

 

[sanguine]

The catalysts/triggers were most likely work-related stress and stuffing myself with carbs (bread mainly).

 

[Adelle0607]

Preexisting condition (pcos) and genes (familial hx of diabetes) exacerbated by diet high in carbs.

 

[nancyb]

On-going stress plus mistakenly thinking that carbs were best.

 

[Enclave]

Statins ... And eating to the NICE healthy eating guidelines
Edit to add.. I am now T2

 

[cold ethyl]

Being overweight, addicted to carbs, low fatting as family history of CVD, family history of type2 , probable PCOS and three years of incredible stress at home

 

[jay hay-char]

Eating too much of the wrong things for many years and sitting all day at a desk doing a stressful job that I hated. Oh - and not taking much exercise, weighing too much, eating lots of fruit in the belief that it was healthy, being in denial about where it would all lead .........

You name it

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

Excellent question. I suspect it was exposure to nasty chemicals through my job and/or from an old house in Southern California I lived in for a few years that was likely full of anti-termite chemicals. And maybe the couple of months I was on statins 12 years ago. No history in my family, I was overweight but not obese, I did not eat much junk food, and I exercised regularly.

 

[AnnieC]

I believe there is more to it than just lifestyle and how we have eaten After all people have always eaten loads of sugar and carbs especially during and after WW2 when food was rationed and we ate lots of starchy carbs to fill us up yet diabetes was almost unheard of People have always had stress although we just called it worry It is a world wide epidemic now so I think there is something more we don't know that causes it. I don't believe anyone should blame themselves for getting diabetes eating a lot of sweet stuff does not cause diabetes but certain medications we know can especially steriods

 

[brettsza]

Stress stress stress

Ate healthy and nno family history of diabetes so stress ruined my life definitely. And worst part I still take it may be slightly more.

 

[izzzi]

In my case "nobody Knows" ( thats what the doctor says )
I have never had a sweet tooth, obviously I did the normal things in life, yet no real reason to cause damage to my pancreas.
I agree with what @Snowy12 says:

To be honest I have not thought about it,
Family history,cola,potatoes I could not say.
I gave up doing all the What Ifs And Maybes along time ago.

 

[annelise]

I choose to never play the blame-game with myself about what could have caused it - just so futile. The present is here and now.

It just was suddenly there.. No family history as far as I know. Didn't especially have a sweet tooth either. Had a BMI at 26 when diagnosed (and have to my delight read several articles that the mortality is lower for women of a 'certain age' when they are slightly into the overweight range).

I admit that I have had a (diagnosed) stress period (where I was out of work for three months before coming back) and a diagnosed depression. But that was some years ago.

I will not discount that this may have given a 'start signal' , nor will I truly dismiss that this was the instigator.

My philosophy now is: look forward and not back.

annelise

 

[vit90]

I believe there is more to it than just lifestyle and how we have eaten After all people have always eaten loads of sugar and carbs especially during and after WW2 when food was rationed and we ate lots of starchy carbs to fill us up yet diabetes was almost unheard of People have always had stress although we just called it worry It is a world wide epidemic now so I think there is something more we don't know that causes it. I don't believe anyone should blame themselves for getting diabetes eating a lot of sweet stuff does not cause diabetes but certain medications we know can especially steriods

I can't honestly agree that eating lots of sweet stuff doesn't cause diabetes. For probably a lot of people it was a major factor, probably causing a weight problem, maybe exacerbated by lack of exercise. For others, yes they can get away with it but I am trying to get my kids to eat more sensibly. Fortunately they are both sporty and active.

In WW2 there may have been more starch in the diet but there were far less refined foods and refined sugar was rationed. Food was scarce so getting fat was rare too. And people in those days had to be more active (no TV, a lot less public transport, etc.)