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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
What caused your diabetes?
- Thread starter EmmaLou
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scotstigress
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
i had been to the doctor 3 weeks previous to diagnosis and was told i had a virus (their excuse for everything theses days, so they dont have to give you anything for it) then they asked if i wanted to stop smoking as i hurried out the door...to which i mumbled a maybe....but there is defo a genetic predisposition..
(the 4 litres a day of irn bru may not have helped...hehe)
(the 4 litres a day of irn bru may not have helped...hehe)
What you said about stress is interesting Bananas. I was diagnosed Type2 two weeks ago ( still a bit in denial, but increasing having to accept the evidence of the blood tester every time I push my luck re certain foods which I love ) I am on Metformin at 2 x 500mg a day, but it's not really had a chance to kick in yet.
I've been overweight most of my adult life (now 55) and currently bordering on the obese. Also a chocoholic, with a weakness for all things sweet and tasty. So there are classic Diabetes triggers. But I also had a lot of stress and anxiety over the last few years, due to my mother developing Alzheimers Disease.
When it first raised its ugly head I tried to look after her alone (we were the last of my family left. I am an only child). But I wasn't very good at it, couldn't handle it, and had to put her in residential care. The stress of it was already causing panic attacks and depression. Selling our jointly-owned home to pay for her care added to that of course - a nightmare of time-wasters and let-downs.
Finally got that all sorted out and things were starting to look up a bit, when she fell over at the Home and broke her hip. She was in hospital at death's door for 2 weeks, and I really wish now that she had slipped away then, for her sake as well as mine. She had already reached the stage where she didn't know who I was. The night after I was told she was going to pull through I suffered a heart attack!😱
For the next 3 years she was bedridden in a Nursing Home (never walked again) and almost a total vegetable. Just fed at one end and cleaned up at the other. A pitiful state and hard to bear. My panic attacks became worse and I became Agoraphobic as well. Would not leave the house for days on end, laying on my sofa reading & watching TV, only driven out to the shops by lack of ciggies and/or chocolate.
She finally died last January. I had thought that would be the end of my problems and that I would pick up mentally, but my sad and sorry lifestyle was too deeply entrenched by then and I carried on with my unhealthy and antisocial life just the same. Until a nasty boil thing came up on the back of my neck a couple of months ago and the Doc decided to test for Diabetes. And, to my shock and disbelief, there it was.
I am angry. Angry with myself cos I know it's all my own fault. Angry with whatever passes for a god (I am agnostic). And very angry with the Doc because the Practise Nurse let slip that high blood-sugar levels were detected nearly a YEAR AGO and nobody told me!!😡 They put on record that I was pre-diabetic, but neglected to inform ME!😡 I never had the chance to do something to prevent it developing (though whether I would have made the effort is admittedly debatable)
I'm sorry, I know you didn't ask for my life-story, but it just all came pouring out. Thanks for listening (if you have) 🙄
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I'm hoping that things just start getting better and better for you from now on. You've had so much to deal with there, hopefully, now that you know where you stand you can make positive efforts to take control and enjoy good health and happiness🙂
Lynwill53, most of us make choices in our lives based on what is happening at the time and how we can best cope at that point.
As a fellow Type 2, I've been overweight for much of my adult life and certainly ate all the "wrong" things when dealing with a lengthy period of stress. For a while after my diagnosis I too felt very angry at the medical and health care professionals for as I learned more about diabetes I realised that several years of health problems were all signs of diabetes and had not been picked up on and "if only I'd known then ..." kicked in although I'm not sure that mentally I'd have done much about it earlier as it may have been too much too cope with on top of much else.
The first few weeks are hard - there seems so much to learn and so much to change - and what works for you may be different to what works for me or for others. Shock, denial and anger are natural responses at first and then I found that as my blood glucose levels came down I started thinking more clearly and was able to take more and more responsibility for myself. Doesn't stop me looking at chocolate with relish but does mean I ask myself whether the short term pleasure is worth it or not - occasionally it is but it is a few squares thoroughly enjoyed rather than a whole bar eaten almost without thought
Good luck to you
As a fellow Type 2, I've been overweight for much of my adult life and certainly ate all the "wrong" things when dealing with a lengthy period of stress. For a while after my diagnosis I too felt very angry at the medical and health care professionals for as I learned more about diabetes I realised that several years of health problems were all signs of diabetes and had not been picked up on and "if only I'd known then ..." kicked in although I'm not sure that mentally I'd have done much about it earlier as it may have been too much too cope with on top of much else.
The first few weeks are hard - there seems so much to learn and so much to change - and what works for you may be different to what works for me or for others. Shock, denial and anger are natural responses at first and then I found that as my blood glucose levels came down I started thinking more clearly and was able to take more and more responsibility for myself. Doesn't stop me looking at chocolate with relish but does mean I ask myself whether the short term pleasure is worth it or not - occasionally it is but it is a few squares thoroughly enjoyed rather than a whole bar eaten almost without thought
Good luck to you
Viki
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I was diagnosed 6 weeks after finding out my dad had terminal cancer at 55. Doctors also think it was stress/trauma which triggered mine.
My cousin was diagnosed with type 1.5 recently so there is obviously a wobbly gene in our family somewhere too!
My cousin was diagnosed with type 1.5 recently so there is obviously a wobbly gene in our family somewhere too!
Katie&GraciesMum
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I had my wisdom teeth out under a local anasthetic and I always blame this as it was quite traumatic!
Viki,
You're not alone. T2 is already known to be genetic and there is mounting opinion that there is a genetic link for T1 as well. I've been running into increasing numbers of older T1s of various types who have family history or links.
And just a thought for all the T2s regarding the weight link - There appears to be a reasonable argument that the same genetic factors that cause T2 also lead to being generally overweight as well. Gretchen Becker explains it quite well in "Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year". An excellent book where chapter 1 is called "Its not your fault"
The media's got stuck on the idea of "get fat = get diabetes" but thats a long way from the full story. For starters running higher BGs causes weight gain. I hate to see T2s saying its all their own fault because frankly it isn't.
You're not alone. T2 is already known to be genetic and there is mounting opinion that there is a genetic link for T1 as well. I've been running into increasing numbers of older T1s of various types who have family history or links.
And just a thought for all the T2s regarding the weight link - There appears to be a reasonable argument that the same genetic factors that cause T2 also lead to being generally overweight as well. Gretchen Becker explains it quite well in "Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year". An excellent book where chapter 1 is called "Its not your fault"
The media's got stuck on the idea of "get fat = get diabetes" but thats a long way from the full story. For starters running higher BGs causes weight gain. I hate to see T2s saying its all their own fault because frankly it isn't.
Hi All,
I know that there is a large history of diabetes in my dads family and his father has type 2 I believe. I don't know what caused me to develop type 1 but at the age of five you don't really know what's going on. All I know is that I've had type one for thirteen years now and that there seems to be a genetic predisposition towards it in my family unfortunately.
Tom H
I know that there is a large history of diabetes in my dads family and his father has type 2 I believe. I don't know what caused me to develop type 1 but at the age of five you don't really know what's going on. All I know is that I've had type one for thirteen years now and that there seems to be a genetic predisposition towards it in my family unfortunately.
Tom H
Emmal31
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I had three Viral Infections in the previous two years to being diagnosed with type 1, I'm pretty sure it was the viral infections that destroyed my pancreas. I agree with delta people should be made more aware of type 1 I didn't even know it existed until I was rushed to hospital and told I had it and I probarbly had for at least a month because I lost near enough 3 stone in weight. I only thought there was type 2 diabetes.
Lynwill,
Thanks to metformin, carb control, BG control and regular exercise I lose 55lbs in 5 months after diagnosis. I suppose a lot of it was down to determination to beat DM, but just taking control meant that it started dropping off nicely. I went from a BMI of 33 to 25.4
Metformin helps with weight loss in the first year for T2s. I don't know if you are taking it but its fairly commonly prescribed as routine for overweight T2s.
But getting your BGs down to the 4-8 range makes a huge difference.
Thanks to metformin, carb control, BG control and regular exercise I lose 55lbs in 5 months after diagnosis. I suppose a lot of it was down to determination to beat DM, but just taking control meant that it started dropping off nicely. I went from a BMI of 33 to 25.4
Metformin helps with weight loss in the first year for T2s. I don't know if you are taking it but its fairly commonly prescribed as routine for overweight T2s.
But getting your BGs down to the 4-8 range makes a huge difference.
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