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Oblivious

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I suppose this is mainly for type 2s but feel free to chip in.

Just wondering if anyone has had any negative reactions when you've told anyone you are Diabetic? (this is the reason maybe more for type 2) Like the stereotypical 'stop eating so much sugar then.' or anything similar?

The reason I ask is that a 'close' friend told me that as a rugby player and generally active person that i can't possibly be a type 2 diabetic and implied it was for attention. Like the blood tests were faked and the twice daily injections and pills were for appearances only. I just want to know if this is a common thing, or do i need new friends?
 
It hurts doesn’t it.
Imo you can do without a friend like that but to be honest their is so much misinformation out there I can understand even though I don’t like it that many believe we’re all overweight couch potatoes. However the rest of what they said imo is dreadful, I am afraid I would have given them a piece of my mind and a rather large piece at that, then walked away .

I am also sorry to say that those with other types of Diabetes get tarred with the same brush.
 
Yeah we do, cos the world and his dog are experts of course whereas nobody whatever on this forum knows the first thing about diabetes, so anything we say is clearly rubbish anyway.

May be wise when you see him again to enquire whether he thinks Sir Steve Redgrave faked it, or Gary Mabbut, Henry Slade or Chris Pennell do too?

Sir Steve incidentally is and was always Type 2, but because of the vast amount of training and carbs it was necessary for him to eat when competition fit, he treated it with insulin from the outset and delivered the insulin via an insulin pump. Not available on the NHS to Type 2s, I stress.

Have they actually done shedloads of tests for you, to 100% prove that you are really Type 2 - ie GAD65 and C-peptide tests?
 
Sorry you’ve had that experience @Oblivious

Someone I know on Twitter used to call the sorts of people who make similarly ill informed comments about diabetes ‘type zeroes’.

I suppose it’s understandable really, the stigmatising narrative in the media is pretty relentless. And unless you have some checks and balances, or know someone who can give you more accurate information you could easily believe that people with diabetes were all inactive cake-guzzling slobs with a mainline full sugar cola habit :(

The fact that around 20% of people diagnosed with T2 are normal weight or under weight at diagnosis, and that 40-70% of yoir propensity to develop T2 is genetically derived doesn’t fit with the ‘lifestyle disease’ blame-and-shame label, so never gets mentioned. :(
 
Sorry you’ve had that experience @Oblivious

Someone I know on Twitter used to call the sorts of people who make similarly ill informed comments about diabetes ‘type zeroes’.

I suppose it’s understandable really, the stigmatising narrative in the media is pretty relentless. And unless you have some checks and balances, or know someone who can give you more accurate information you could easily believe that people with diabetes were all inactive cake-guzzling slobs with a mainline full sugar cola habit :(

The fact that around 20% of people diagnosed with T2 are normal weight or under weight at diagnosis, and that 40-70% of yoir propensity to develop T2 is genetically derived doesn’t fit with the ‘lifestyle disease’ blame-and-shame label, so never gets mentioned. :(
Type zero’s .
I like it
 
When I first developed T1, I was most offended by folk who thought I was T2, strangely. Some even apologised after discovering I was T1. That’s even weirder, if you think about it.

Now, since being on the forum, I feel sorry for T2s. It’s a bugger, not being able to go in the chippy and get a Holland’s Steak and Kidney Pudding, chips, mushy peas and gravy and fire up the appropriate pen full of insulin. (And a handful of Creon, these days). Not a habit, I should add.
 
When I was first diagonosed, wrongly, as Type 2. A sister in law, who is a world expert on EVERYTHING medical because her mother was once a nurse in the 50s! Said it would be ok because I didn’t have the “ serious” one like her uncle who had to inject insulin and everything, I never found out what “ everything’ was, and it was so, so SERIOUS but I would be fine! Like @mikeyB I too would rather have the “ serious” one ‘cos who doesn’t love a pie! ( On occasion). Disclaimer. Eating pies is not big and it’s not clever. 😉
 
Have they actually done shedloads of tests for you, to 100% prove that you are really Type 2 - ie GAD65 and C-peptide tests?

firstly, thanks for all your replies, glad to know i'm not the only one who's had this happen.

and @trophywench, they did ketone tests - came back normal when my HbA1C was 112 and a c-peptide test, also came back normal which led them to diagnose type 2. Insulin, eating very low carb and Metformin have halved my BS levels from the 18-20 it was about 4 weeks ago but it's still all over the place but it's lower so i'm counting that as a small win.

and kids, just say no to pies
 
When I first developed T1, I was most offended by folk who thought I was T2, strangely. Some even apologised after discovering I was T1. That’s even weirder, if you think about it.

Now, since being on the forum, I feel sorry for T2s. It’s a bugger, not being able to go in the chippy and get a Holland’s Steak and Kidney Pudding, chips, mushy peas and gravy and fire up the appropriate pen full of insulin. (And a handful of Creon, these days). Not a habit, I should add.

i also spoke to a friend who is type 1 when i first got diagnosed and was waiting to see what type i was. the woman who sits opposite me at work asked where i'd been and when i told her she said that i shouldn't speak to him about it as he's not 'the best diabetic' to ask because he eats the wrong food. she got a bit miffed when i pointed out that he can basically eat what he wants as long as he adjusts his insulin to account for it.
 
Interesting that you were put on insulin whereas I, with near identical test results (Hba1c of 114, fasting 20.5) was only prescribed Metformin, and was even able to come off that after six weeks. Big call by my DN but she got it right.

Martin
And my fasting wasn't much higher at 23. wonder if it had something to do with me being NHS Scotland or that they didn't know what type i was until a month later and i was put on insulin just in case. oh, i am meant to go for an MRI on my pancreas at some point too, they seem to think i have hyperparathyroidism which can cause pancreas damage as my blood calcium is abnormally high
 
i am still waiting on my scan, will probably be a while now given the circumstances. and haemochromotosis runs in the family too, that can also cause pancreas damage. my mum's side of the family has a lot to answer for
 
I get the 'oh there's no sugar, it's all wholemeal, you can eat anything I've set out, it's organic too'.
When I say that I'd rather not have any of it, but thank you for taking the trouble, I am pressed to eat something as its going to be good for me, all low fat too.
 
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