Is this my fault

[Toffee1]

Diagnosed very recently. I'm not overweight, don't eat many sweets or chocolate but do lime a pudding on a sunday. I am more a savoury person and love potatoes pasta and crisps etc. With all the focus on reducing carbs, can I just ask, did I cause this to happen?

 

[Robin]

Diagnosed very recently. I'm not overweight, don't eat many sweets or chocolate but do lime a pudding on a sunday. I am more a savoury person and love potatoes pasta and crisps etc. With all the focus on reducing carbs, can I just ask, did I cause this to happen?

No, it’s not your fault. People on here are reducing their carbs because they have something wrong with their insulin production or absorption which means they have to think about, and deal with carbs differently.
For most of the rest of the population, eating carbs whilst limiting the amount found in sugar, is what Public Health England recommends, and you can’t predict in advance whether you are one of the ones who are going to develop diabetes.

 

[Ljc]

No it isn’t your fault .
Their is a genetic element to T2. Their are skinny folk with T2 as well as chubby ones. Something causes T2s not to respond to their own insulin ( insulin resistance) folks with T2 tend to produce lots more insulin to try to deal with the carbohydrates counter this.
That’s why recommend reducing carbs.

 

[rebrascora]

I think guilt is a very common response to a diabetes diagnosis. I know I suffered it badly, but then I was a sugar addict, chocoholic and carb monster pre diagnosis. It turns out I am Type 1 which everyone is adamant has nothing to do with diet but I still believe in my heart that my diet played a part. The guilt, whether justified or not is not helpful though. It is a negative emotion. You cannot change what you did in the past and it sounds like you had a pretty normal diet, so try to ignore it or use it to make you be healthier now.

There are some interesting You Tube videos which I found helpful which suggest that it may actually be bad government/medical dietary advice (not that I personally wanted to shift the blame from myself) which has lead to the huge increase in diabetes and obesity although I note that you are not personally overweight. The low fat advice of the past 50+ years may have had a significant impact on this.
Two presentations which I found helpful in getting my head around it all are:-

You tube TEd talks Dr - Search Videos

www.bing.com

ted talks dr sarah hallberg - Search Videos

www.bing.com

 

[SueEK]

@Toffee1 hi and welcome. Guilt Is probably the first thing we feel. As a T2, slim all my life without a sweet tooth and a high HbA1c when diagnosed (90) I was shocked. I confess to liking my carbs but also confess I had no idea they were so bad for some people, me being one of them. Follow the advice given here and listen to your body and you will do well, we are here to support you so put those feelings of guilt behind you x

 

[Toffee1]

Thanks for your help. I will try not to feel so guilty.

 

[Toffee1]

I think guilt is a very common response to a diabetes diagnosis. I know I suffered it badly, but then I was a sugar addict, chocoholic and carb monster pre diagnosis. It turns out I am Type 1 which everyone is adamant has nothing to do with diet but I still believe in my heart that my diet played a part. The guilt, whether justified or not is not helpful though. It is a negative emotion. You cannot change what you did in the past and it sounds like you had a pretty normal diet, so try to ignore it or use it to make you be healthier now.

There are some interesting You Tube videos which I found helpful which suggest that it may actually be bad government/medical dietary advice (not that I personally wanted to shift the blame from myself) which has lead to the huge increase in diabetes and obesity although I note that you are not personally overweight. The low fat advice of the past 50+ years may have had a significant impact on this.
Two presentations which I found helpful in getting my head around it all are:-

You tube TEd talks Dr - Search Videos

www.bing.com

ted talks dr sarah hallberg - Search Videos

www.bing.com

I will watch those videos. Thanks

 

[Christy]

I feel guilty too. Maybe I had a genetic propensity but my diet and weight must have been a big factor. What's important to me is how I deal with it now to be as healthy as possible. Lots of great people and advice on here. Hope it helps you too.

 

[Drummer]

I had decades of people telling me that carbs were healthy and that I was the one not doing it right be becoming heavier and more unhappy about their advice - these days I refuse to let anyone go on at me - they are wrong and they need to start to accept that many people are ill have been damaged or have diet because of the poor advice given for decades with such conviction. I also point out that when someone checked, having higher cholesterol resulted in a longer life. They said that it could not be true - but I thought that age at death was pretty much set in stone.

 

[trophywench]

I feel entirely 'the same but different' to @rebrascora (but have had a lot more time to consider it all than she.)

Type 1 diabetes which she and I both have, means that our bodies can no longer produce enough insulin for a human body to manage on. Prior to diagnosis, our bodily cells are therefore starved of fuel since although we're eating normally - insulin is the 'key' which 'opens the locks' on the 'doors of the bodily cells' to admit the fuel provided by the food we eat. (the fuel consists of glucose, which the human body coverts the food we eat into, and transports around the body to all our bodily cells, in our bloodstream)

So back to our body starving - we aren't unaware of this, because it tells us 'Feed me, feed me!' - for a couple of months before I was diagnosed I just couldn't get enough sweet stuff down my neck - I'd eat the last bite of a bar of Caramac and instantly want more - disgusted with myself because I would be so fat and my teeth would drop out obviously cos that's what happens when you eat all this c**p, isn't it - only lack of money stopped me instantly buying more - and I'd loused myself up so well and proper - which was the main reason I was feeling so ill obviously, probably needed my bum kicking from Lands End to John o' Groats - my body had repaid me by the weight dropping off me, when previously eating less sugary c**p made me loose weight, that is how much I've damaged my body, it does the complete opposite of what the medics say it's supposed to do.

Good God! apparently there IS something recognised wrong with me! What has to be done, what do I have to do now, then? (Go to hospital with my back packed for a stay ....) If they'd told me they had to amputate a couple of limbs I'd have signed the consent forms ..... )

Type 2 isn't the same as Type 1 - it does start off far more slowly than T1 - so slowly a lot of people don't have the slightest idea they have it and neither has their doctor. How do you - or anyone else! - know that 'being a carboholic and eating shedloads of pasta bread spuds etc' over a longer period, is not actually the same thing as the Type 1 craving for sugar sugar and more sugar, over the shorter period? The fact that the T2 body still produces insulin clouds the issue more than somewhat because if that body can't use all the glucose floating about - it lays it down wherever it can, both round the outside of the organs under the skin and around the organs - so called 'brown' fat directly around the internal organs, leading the Insulin resistance cos the normal behaviour of the organs, is impaired by that internal fat.

Sorry it's such a screed.

 

[Maca44]

It was my fault I got Type 2 when I did because I was fat and ate loads of c**p food but as Diabetes runs bad on both sides of my family my Doc and me agreed that yes, it's my fault it has happened now but even if I was skinny it would properly have happened anyway but maybe 10 or so years later in life. So I have to take the responsibility for advancing it but I would not be responsible if it came later on and I was looking after myself better.

 

[trophywench]

Aaah - how were you responsible for your (defective) genes?

I'm no scientist but I didn't know that was possible.

 

[helli]

There have been lots of debates about the cause of Type 1 and many people think "why me?".
I chose not to question why but to look forward and focus what I can do now and in the future to minimise the impact of my diagnosis. I have nothing to gain from knowing if I could have done anything to stop diabetes.

@Toffee1 my advice to you is not to dwell on the past: what could have been and what/who caused diabetes. You have your diagnosis now so invest your focus and effort on what you do in the future to minimise the damage it can do.

 

[goodybags]

Often I feel my condition is my fault,
i guess I have the Dr‘s to thank for telling me that when they used to berate me for my poor contrlol, I had some terrible mixed messages & bad advice (not from my current Dr)

looking back I think I always loved carb rich & sweet foods and that certainly wouldn’t have helped.
one thing that slightly concerns me is, before I piled on the weight and was diagnosed as T2 diabetic.

Looking back at the signs I think I was actually diabetic for many years before that.
stil it seems to be finally under control now,

 

[Maca44]

Looking back at the signs I think I was actually diabetic for many years before that.
stil it seems to be finally under control now,

Yes me to but I just blamed age or anything but the truth so I could eating c**p.

 

[mage 1]

I feel entirely 'the same but different' to @rebrascora (but have had a lot more time to consider it all than she.)

Type 1 diabetes which she and I both have, means that our bodies can no longer produce enough insulin for a human body to manage on. Prior to diagnosis, our bodily cells are therefore starved of fuel since although we're eating normally - insulin is the 'key' which 'opens the locks' on the 'doors of the bodily cells' to admit the fuel provided by the food we eat. (the fuel consists of glucose, which the human body coverts the food we eat into, and transports around the body to all our bodily cells, in our bloodstream)

So back to our body starving - we aren't unaware of this, because it tells us 'Feed me, feed me!' - for a couple of months before I was diagnosed I just couldn't get enough sweet stuff down my neck - I'd eat the last bite of a bar of Caramac and instantly want more - disgusted with myself because I would be so fat and my teeth would drop out obviously cos that's what happens when you eat all this c**p, isn't it - only lack of money stopped me instantly buying more - and I'd loused myself up so well and proper - which was the main reason I was feeling so ill obviously, probably needed my bum kicking from Lands End to John o' Groats - my body had repaid me by the weight dropping off me, when previously eating less sugary c**p made me loose weight, that is how much I've damaged my body, it does the complete opposite of what the medics say it's supposed to do.

Good God! apparently there IS something recognised wrong with me! What has to be done, what do I have to do now, then? (Go to hospital with my back packed for a stay ....) If they'd told me they had to amputate a couple of limbs I'd have signed the consent forms ..... )

Type 2 isn't the same as Type 1 - it does start off far more slowly than T1 - so slowly a lot of people don't have the slightest idea they have it and neither has their doctor. How do you - or anyone else! - know that 'being a carboholic and eating shedloads of pasta bread spuds etc' over a longer period, is not actually the same thing as the Type 1 craving for sugar sugar and more sugar, over the shorter period? The fact that the T2 body still produces insulin clouds the issue more than somewhat because if that body can't use all the glucose floating about - it lays it down wherever it can, both round the outside of the organs under the skin and around the organs - so called 'brown' fat directly around the internal organs, leading the Insulin resistance cos the normal behaviour of the organs, is impaired by that internal fat.

Sorry it's such a screed.

Thank you so much for explaining it I understand it a bit more

 

[AngelSprings]

Hi Maca44, I fully agree with you that eating a load of c**p food can bring on Type 2 Diabetes. Not in every case, but when one observes the rubbish that people eat it is no wonder they have such a lot wrong with them.
I'm 83 years of age and have followed a healthy diet ever since I was 26. However, two years ago I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic, but from following a low carb diet I'm still within the prediabetic range. But if I hadn't followed a low carb diet it could so easily have drifted into being Type 2.

Diabetes does run in my family. My sister went partially blind in her early fifties through diabetes, and died shortly after. But it was not uncommon for her to go up to bed with a bottle of sugary Lucozade and a box of chocolates to keep her going in case she woke up. My mother, too, was in her fifties when she was diagnosed but she was marvellous and followed a strict diet. She was 83 when she died.

When I look at my contemporaries and what they eat and their resultant ill health, I cannot help but think that a good diet goes a long way in protecting us from many ills.

I'll get off my pedestal now and stop yapping! My kind regards to you all, and stay well!

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi Maca44, I fully agree with you that eating a load of c**p food can bring on Type 2 Diabetes. Not in every case, but when one observes the rubbish that people eat it is no wonder they have such a lot wrong with them.
I'm 83 years of age and have followed a healthy diet ever since I was 26. However, two years ago I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic, but from following a low carb diet I'm still within the prediabetic range. But if I hadn't followed a low carb diet it could so easily have drifted into being Type 2.

Diabetes does run in my family. My sister went partially blind in her early fifties through diabetes, and died shortly after. But it was not uncommon for her to go up to bed with a bottle of sugary Lucozade and a box of chocolates to keep her going in case she woke up. My mother, too, was in her fifties when she was diagnosed but she was marvellous and followed a strict diet. She was 83 when she died.

When I look at my contemporaries and what they eat and their resultant ill health, I cannot help but think that a good diet goes a long way in protecting us from many ills.

I'll get off my pedestal now and stop yapping! My kind regards to you all, and stay well!

It does seem to be a bit of a lottery as to whether people can 'get away' with an appalling diet and people who have 'eaten healthily' get everything under the sun. My father and grandfather had been vegetarian all their lives so you imagine a healthy diet but my father who was diabetic died aged 52 from a heart attack but my grandfather lived until he was 92 passing away 2 days afterwards. Of course in those days there were no 'ready meals' so everything was made from fresh veg, eggs and cheese, no meat substitutes though I do remember something in a tin called nut meat brawn which was disgusting and Savormix rissoles which was a bit like a stuffing which you made into sausages and fried, which were quite nice.

 

[Maca44]

(Nut Meat Brawn) sounds gross

 

[Leadinglights]

(Nut Meat Brawn) sounds gross View attachment 16591

Exactly!!!! Love the emoji