I'm feeling down!!

[pinky]

Hi there PINKY here
first I have handed in my letter so it's up to them now?

but the reason I'm feeling down is that people keep telling me that type 2 is not really that bad! I've talked to a lot's of people over the past month's and I do get the impression that people don't think that type 2 is that bad, they seem to think that it is that easy to stick to a diet and to change your eating over night I was talking to some chap at work last night and he more or less said that he feel's that I should not be going after the B/G monitor he feel that it would be a waste of money for some one that should leave it up to begin tested only once or twice a year he said that people that are type 1 are more at risk (this is very true no question about it) but I did say to him come onto this site and see what people that have type 1 say...! many that have answer me in the past have type 1 and all more or less agree that I should be entitled to have one al right doing the tests depend on lots of factors and you have to stick to testing times and write down what you eat and when you eat so on and so on!! and may be the monitors do not measure the B/G as accurately has when you go for a blood test down the doctors but I tried to say that it will give me some idea of what I'm doing wrong or right...! and when I told him about how some people are getting the strips,& lancet, he said that it could be that where the people came from mite have some thing to do with it like people in Scotland may be more at risk and more case's of type 2 than say down here on the south coast, any way I could not do much talking because I had to get back to work, he is a nice man and we are still friends, but this is more or less what I have found to be the norm...! I would like to hear from more type 1's to see if you agree with my friend or not ? Thanks again PINKY...!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Nope. Don't agree at all.

But I know it is a common misconception. Some years ago I knew next to nothing about T2 and may have thought similarly, but I quickly realised that there is NOTHING easy about living with diabetes of any variety.

People with T1 and people with T2 both need careful dietary control/medication to control BG levels. People with T1 and people with T2 are at risk of heart disease, blindness, kidney failure et al (in fact T2s are more likely to have begun to develop complications even before diagnosis).

If you put all the people who take insulin in the UK in one place and divided them by type the T2s on insulin the T2s would massively outnumber T1s - including many on basal bolus with all the challenges T1s face every day plus insulin resistance into the bargain.

Here's how I see it. One is metabolic, the other is autoimmune. Neither is easy.

 

[SimplesL]

Hi Pinky (love the name).

Nothing mild about having type 2. I get anoyed people don't believe me that I have type 2 as I'm not overweight. But like my dad, big brother, uncle we all have type 2 (little sis is being tested this week, so I have my fingers and everything else crossed for her).

Good control is just as important for type 2 as it is for someone with type 1. As to those in Scotland getting strips it really depends on how thier area have interpreted the NICE guidlines (if they apply over the border). My dad had good averages but like me can be high in the morning & he now has kidney dialysis 3 days a week due to diabetes complication; I'm concerned I'll end up the same in 15 years. He now costs upwards of ?30K a year for this life saving treatment.

My big brother has testing strips prescribed & he lives in Southport, also referred straight to a diabetic diet specialist. No mention of that in Oxfordshire. He even suggested I move up North as it seems you receive better care. Personally I think I get good care with blood tests every 6 months & a GP & nurse who are easy to talk to.

Blood test results due end of this week with a clinic appointment on the 9th. So we'll see how I'm going.

I can't get test strips & buy my own to do spot checks or if I want to test for my own piece of mind.

By testing I found out I go almost to hypo levels (4 being the lowest) after I've been to the gym, even though I had made sure to eat something prior, so this is on my list for the 9th as is my high morning levels.

I believe that thanks to this forum and info I've picked up on web-sites I'm much more informed than my dad who basically accepted what doctors said took the tablets etc. Times & treatment changes so you can have more of an input into your own care.

As regards your test strips have you ploughed (I expect you have) your way through the Nice guidline I think CG87 which details when self monitoring should be undertaken. Despite this there is a blanket ban on them in this area. For all the good it'll do I did e-mail my MP (D Cameron) with the link on the diabetes web-site not sure this is still active as it may have closed. But I'm not holding out any hopes for a change. Seems more important to save pennies rather that allow test strips for better control to cost less in the long-term.

Take care hope you are feeling a bit more like your old self.
Lynne

 

[macast]

hi Pinky

I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion..... but you don't have to agree or even listen to someone who is ill-informed.

believe me (and millions of informed people) type 2 diabetes is no picnic!!!

as everydayupsanddowns says.... there are still serious health risks with Type 2

perhaps print out some literature to show your friend and educate him with the facts about Type 2. in the meantime just ignore his miss-informed comments 🙂

 

[Twitchy]

I'm with Mike on this one - anyone who thinks type 2 is 'mild' or easy to live with just either doesn't know the facts or hasn't sat down & honestly thought how they would cope in that situation. I think the short term penny pinching view in this country re test strips is nothing short of obscene & will bite us in the backside at some later point - complications surely must be more expensive to deal with than the cost of even just a basic education & a supply of test strips! Trouble is, I suspect, that parties don't think about 10-20 years down the line, they think in election periods...

Best of luck Pinky - those in the know would support your efforts, so don't let any judgemental ill informed muppets get you down. 🙂

 

[Vicsetter]

Unless your friends are Diabetic, I shouldn't bother arguing with them or paying any attention to their opinion, they just do not know.

 

[Emmaathome]

When diagnosed, I told everyone I had the "pretend" version T2 rather than the full proper version of diabetes T1. 🙄

3 months later I'm on insulin - tell me the difference!!! (Apart from the biology)!

At diagnosis I thought T1 was much more serious. Except now I know we get the same complications, some T2's get the same treatment etc etc. And we all seem to have the same battle controlling our BG levels each day!!

It is very difficult as the press do publish that if your fat and lazy, you will end up with Diabetes - everyone then seems to assume that you must be fat, lazy and now a drain on the NHS!

Dont worry about it Pinky, rise above it if you can. You know you need the monitor to gain the control you want, to avoid the complications. You know best, you are the one with Diabetes!! 🙂

 

[pinky]

Thanks Alot !!!!!

PINKY...! here
Thanks a lot one and all very good of you all to take the time to give me your view's apart from my girlfriend who did push me at the start to get me to go to the doctors it's nice to know that I'm not the only one, looking back to my DESMOND day I should have taken a recorder in to the meeting and then played it back to any one that says that it just a case of diet...! I think I will get a small paper back book about type 2 and mark out the answers to any question's that I get!!!! just to prove what type 2 can do to the human body, I will print out all your views and take it to work....! I do feel a lot better now THANKS ALOT......PINKY...!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think the short term penny pinching view in this country re test strips is nothing short of obscene & will bite us in the backside at some later point - complications surely must be more expensive to deal with than the cost of even just a basic education & a supply of test strips!

Never a truer word Twitchy. I read last month that 80% EIGHTY!!! of the total NHS budget for diabetes gets spent on the treatment of (largely avoidable) complications.

When budgets are so under scrutiny it surely does not take a genius to realise that the NHS needs to take a long hard look at the dietary advice/approach to self-testing/self-testing it is giving, and how effective that is in improving the BG levels that cause those very complications.

Surely there are a lot of people in that 80% who might have avoided the requirement for expensive treatment if only they had been given the right tools, support and advice.

Makes you spit doesn't it!

 

[Janine]

I have had similar comments from someone.
In fact I haven't told many people about my diagnosis because I am ashamed due to the misconception that "fat lazy people get diabetes"