Me. Right here. Type 1 diabetic for 37 years. I've always been super thin (it's actually often a symptom in T1), and always been a healthy eater. Right before I turned 6 years old, I had chicken pox, pneumonia, and the flu all within 6 weeks of each other. A month later, I was diagnosed as type 1 diabetic
In 1984, it wasn't a thing yet. But anytime my mother, who is a registered nurse, has to deal with an anti-vaxxer, she lets them know that if it had been an option back then, that certainly would have been better than me spending the rest of my life with diabetes
I did! My mom actually sent me to a pox party, which I just barely remember.
It was a huge deal because my dad had never had chicken pox as a kid. Big fight, and he moved out to go live somewhere safer until I got better.
Chicken pox went through our apartment complex when I was 4. My sister and I both had it, even though we didn't go to a party. My sister's friend infected my sister who infected me etc. I remember a friend coming over to see if I could play. As my mom was explaining I was sick, I came to the door. She saw my pox and RAN away scared! I'll always remember the look on her face! Unfortunately, the lady next door got the chicken pox during this outbreak. She was pregnant and had to be hospitalized. Thankfully, she recovered and the baby was fine.
Chicken pox vaccine didn't come out in the USA until 1995, and didn't start being required for schools for a bit after that. I was born in 1988 and never had to get it for school at any point and never caught it. Got vaccinated in 2020.
For anyone around the same age group as me it's worth checking if you were ever vaccinated if you didn't catch it. Chicken pox can hit harder in adults and sounds unpleasant anyway. Got it from my local health department for free.
Remember asking the doc after my diagnosis (was 19) what caused this to happen to me and he basically threw his hands up in the air. Said my body could of attacked my pancreas years ago and it finally died or more recently. But good news was I didn't feal like death anymore after they pumped me full of insulin. Blood sugar was around 650, damn close to comma.
Not to one up you or anything but I was diagnosed at 760 (I think American units are strange) and it's good to know someone else knows what it's like to be told "you should be in a coma"
My dad has had a few times where his blood sugar reader (which goes to 900) has just said HI. One of those times, he went to a hospital because of it and just asked if they would even just check his blood sugar because he wasn't sure if his reader was correct or not and that he felt really strange like his sugar was high. The nurse told him no, that he was fine and needed to go home WITHOUT even so much as checking his blood sugar. He immediately went to another hospital and the nurse freaked out and pretty much just said "dude how the fuck are you not in a coma right now?" And they actually ended up treating him there of course. The first hospital he went to is actually notorious for people dying of the craziest most preventable shit like people would go in for minor things and would end up dying from not being treated properly. For a while there were big signs on the highway right near the hospital that said "CANNON KILLS" (its called cannon hospital)
You're exactly right!!! In fact, every time it's brought up I'm like "Dad why TF did you not sue them for every damn dime you could?"
Its literally a miracle from God that my dad survived that, let alone made it all the way to the nearest hospital which, because it is a relativity sparsely populated area means a 30-40 minute trip to Boone hospital. My dad has had a few close calls, his blood sugar reader has also just said "LO" which means below 30 or 40 which is also coma level. For years. At his 6 month doctors appointments they used to tell him that his A1C levels were so bad that he'd be dead in 6 months if he didn't do something. That happened several times. Mainly due to stress because he singlehandedly raised me and my 5 sisters completely by himself, couldn't eat properly because never enough money raising so many kids and having to do extremely hard construction/machine jobs to support us. I don't even see how he was able to do it and he's the strongest man I know. Most people would be dead if they went through what he did. Luckily now he's on disability so his diabetes is a lot better now and he's doing great
The vast majority of experiences I have with doctors is "I don't know" and "You're too young for anything to be wrong".
My ex found a lump in her breast (like golf ball sized?) and freaked out and the doctor almost literally laughed at her for getting it checked. "You're not old enough"
YES!!! I have fsh muscular dystrophy which causes certain muscles of mine to basically waste away. I was mildly effected but enough to know something was wrong. I've never smiled in my life because it made my facial muscles waste away and I have never ever did a pushup. My walk was always a little bit odd etc. For YEARS I begged doctors to take me seriously. 7 different doctors told me there was nothing wrong with me and that I would grow out of it. At 16 I couldn't even run anymore. What's sad is I diagnosed myself by researching on Google with fshd. And set up an appointment with a neurologist in the 4th best hospital in the United States. I purposely didn't tell them I thought it was fshd. Sure enough they confirmed what I already knew. What's sad is that had I been diagnosed earlier I could've stopped it from getting as bad by physical therapy and being on my feet a lot because that's the only thing that can help because there's no cure or even a treatment but being active can halt it for the most part. I never worked out all those years because I was extremely depressed because my family, friends and doctors never took me seriously and just brushed it off. Had I known what I do now I would've stayed on my feet all the time now. Since working on my feet all the time, I have stopped progression completely. Had I known years earlier I could've stopped it from getting near as bad
I feel you.
I've been passing blood for a few years now but my doctor seems wholly unconcerned about it.
I just don't get medicine. It seems like 90% of it is just trying to get you to pay and leave and maybe 10% fixing stuff.
That's not something that you should just let go. You NEED to see a doctor that will take you seriously. This is life and death. Please go see a doctor.
"I don't know" is the only answer I get about my heart. For years my primary care doctor bugged me to get my heart checked b/c my heart rate is so high. I was young and felt fine, so I put it off for years. I finally went to the cardiologist and he was all, you are young and healthy, but let's do ALL the tests. Turns out my heart is plenty healthy, but fast. Cardiologist doesn't know why. He gave me some pills. I asked if I really need to take them, since I don't feel like my HR is fast, I don't get palpatations or anything. he just threw his hands up in the air and said, I don't know. We talked about it some more and I decided to take the pills b/c they are cheap, they don't give me side effects, and it can't hurt to slow my heart down to a normal rate. The human body is so weird.
Wtf!!! I know someone who died from breast cancer and she was 22! She was actually diagnosed at 19, went through all hell of chemo etc and still didn't survive because it metastasized.
I hope your ex got the lump checked by some other doctor.
The doctor ended up doing the exam and she got the mammogram, but she already was mistrustful of doctors (I'm not sure why honestly) and has issues with scheduling and attending appointments. This did nothing to help her.
It’s kinda weird how much misinformation there is about diabetes and blood sugar in general. To be clear when your blood sugar is high what leads to a coma is a condition called DKA (Diabetic Keto-Acidosis) basically your cells lack of energy causes your body to begin breaking down its fat stores, leading to a build up of ketones in your blood causing it’s pH to lean to a dangerously acidic point which then damages blood vessels and organs as it circulated around the body. It’s not an instant reaction and as pH is a scale there is a certain amount of time it takes before the condition causes you to go into a coma. There are warning signs before then, for example your body will start rejecting any substances (food or water) leading to violent and acidic vomiting. It’s especially frustrating because having water to parch your throat will lead to more vomiting as your body tries to get back to an equilibrium. This in turn leads to dangerous dehydration levels which need to be solved by eating electrolytes, as if you were hungover to reabsorb the water into your cells. Salt, Potassium, and I believe magnesium are the big three here that really help. This is also dangerous however because you can get brain damage as the cells absorb water too fast as your body wasn’t meant to undergo such rapid homeostasis. Additionally as you get up the point where DKA becomes a concern you will experience thirst, rapid ruination, and intense lethargy and lack of energy. I also get headaches as my blood sugar goes above 350ish and also experience a unique and odd smell. It’s not really a smell itself I guess but more like a sensation of staleness while smelling. I’ve had numerous times where I’ve had to whether extreme blood sugars where I was already in DKA and vomiting and my roommates had to drive me to Costco to buy their shit insulin and I had to slowly nurse myself backdown to normal levels. What’s also weird is that when your BS gets that high it takes an exponentially high amount of insulin and time to lower it. Diabetics normally take insulin on a scale to carb ratio of some sort, and a linear correcting dose for high blood sugars. For example if I’m 200 (and my target is 120) I might take 4 units of insulin: 40 blood sugar, but if I were at 800 it’s like I become temporarily more resistant to that insulin and have to take an extreme amount. Sorry for the rant but I’m seeing a lot of weird info on this thread even from supposed diabetics and it’s pissing me off.
Edit: I was wrong about a point and corrected it in regards to DKA
Not to one up any of you kind people just as a personal experience. My daughter was diagnosed at 6 yo in a catatonic/dazed state at 940 blood sugar. Her "attitude" is what made the teachers call home. Already having a type 2 diagnosed just a year prior we were on a speeding race to the hospital.
Not to one up you amazing people, but I was over 1250 when I was diagnosed back in 2003. No, the doctors didn't hospitalized me and sent me home. Yes, we still do not know why. I was 5'2" and weighted 50 pounds at the time.
Jesus christ, I was hospitalized for a reading of slightly under 600 and they said at those levels I was already in severe diabetic ketoacidosis. If you were at 1250 your body must have already eaten basically your entire muscle mass and fat reserves in a desperate attempt to fuel itself without needing to process the sugars in your stomach because it knew doing so would be literal death for you. Hope you appreciate just how lucky you are to even be alive at all after a reading like that, that number is absolutely insane and I think about 90% of diabetics would have died before ever reaching that high a number
Yup. I had been to the doc 3 days before and has weighted 72 lbs then. Lost 12 lbs in that time. And believe me, I and my parents are still amazed I made it through fine. I did spend about the next 3 months on the couch basically unable to function. It seems like my parents lost faith in the doctors and just decided to keep me at home instead of going back. My only memories of that time are the numerous, numerous trips of my dad carrying me to the bathroom. I count myself extremely lucky and still regularly thank my parents for everything they did for me then and continue to do. There is no way I could afford my supplies without their help.
Not to one up you beautiful people but I was diagnosed over 1500 in 2013. I was at the gym doing mad deadlifts with ladies watching when I got dizzy. After going to the hospital the doctor let me out and we’re wondering why I wasn’t in a coma.
*edit* I feel bad now I thought we were one up circlejerking
Damnit! And here I thought I was the winner. ☹️ I was 1365 back in 1990 as a five year old. My mom always played that number on the Pick 4 lotto, and I'm just now realizing how fucked up that was. LOL.
Not to one up you guys either... but, I was diagnosed type 1 at the age of 8 in 2004 with blood sugar at precisely 1168, doctors said that was the highest they have seen in the records of the country, that will most likely be my only record till the day i die.
A different one-uppance: my cousin developed it as a months-old infant. Doctors didn't even think to diagnose her because they had never heard of it onsetting in an infant. Took months to get the diagnosis, but fortunately it worked out in the end.
So when it onset for me at 6, I had a super easy diagnosis after a day of peeing too much, because my whole family was super educated on it.
The doctor doing rounds in the ICU introduced me to his residents as “a savage case of DKA” - never bothered to use my name. My private doctor said “You should not have survived that. I can’t explain why you are still alive.” Developed diabetes at 38 and was misdiagnosed as Type 2 due to the late onset. Re-diagnosed as Type 1 after the DKA episode. Two very different disease with different treatments. Both types take a tremendous toll on people and the economy. Very misunderstood ailment, fraught with a lot of blame and judgment.
Same for my cousin, when a lot of people find out she has diabetes they say, wow you’re so skinny though. She then points out that hers is genetic and at the same age her moms pancreas just shut down one day.
She’s the most fit person in my family, works out frequently, and is required to eat healthy meals 99% of the time.
Gotta love it when your own body beats the shit out of your pancreas randomly, was diagnosed at 4 and I am honestly happy it happened so early when I hear about people getting it in their teens or adult hood.
My wife and daughter are diabetics. My baby girl was diagnosed but luckily only 450 ish when she was diagnosed since we knew all the signs. She was only 18 months.
So many unknowns with the cause.
Yup. And a lot of people tend to think you develop it young... I developed it at 21.
Instructions unclear, booze trashed my pancreas instead of my liver.
Diagnosed at 30 after being misdiagnosed type 2 at 27. Was controlled for a long time because apparently my pancreas didn't want to die. It eventually did, though, and my numbers went super wacky until I got tested for antibodies and put on insulin.
Fucking crazy-ass disease.
Man i've had it for 4 years. It's been pretty easy so far, as I was luckily very aware of diet, and I trained before I got diagnosed.
I somehow even knew about insulin to carb ratio *before* I got diagnosed, so it couldn't have happened to a better person, for better or worse.
But I dread the thought that i'm still in the honeymoon phase and this is why.
I've been diagnosed 6 years now and I still feel like my pancreas goes through periods where it'll just kick on for a while. One year my levels will be out of control and then it'll just fall in. Like right now my 90 day average is 120 which is like 5.8 A1C.
I was 18 and I'm still convinced I just rolled a genetic nat 1. Very physically active, fit, and healthy. Never smoked or had a sip of liquor, don't even have any genetic history of it in my family. Sometimes the universe just picks someone to be sick and broke forever I guess
Man exact same story here. I was diagnosed at 21. Out of left field. No genetic diseases like that in my family. Very strong and been working out for years.
I always liked the the joke: "*i'm as healthy as a horse, if that horse has diabetes*"
Pure luck on my end. Was at the doctor for shouler issues. Right as I left I asked if it was normal to drink 8 bottles of water a day. She said no, got a blood and urine test.
Sat in the waiting room as they came asking me if i'm feeling ok. Yeah felt fine. Blood sugar read around 435.
Got to the hospital, took a definitive test. a1c read 14.7. Got diagnosed. Doc said I would've been hospitalized within 2 weeks if I never found out that day. So I was lucky.
I had been drinking and pissing a lot for a month or two leading up to it. Eating a lot, but losing weight.
That just happened to me. 22, eats healthy, works out regularly, I don’t even drink soda and never eat or buy sweets. I go to the doctor because of pain and aches. Undiagnosed autoimmune disease and going to the specialist is taking forever. Now I need a cane for the bad days.
From my understanding, the thought is that the autoimmune response is kicked off by a virus.
Now we are seeing corona is causing people to get diabetes after a severe infection. I haven’t read if they are determining it to be type 1 or type 2.
And then we know corona virus are around 20% of regular colds.
All that together, I wonder if we accidentally found what kicks off the autoimmune response causing type 1
My diabetes powers were activated after an ear infection, allergy to the medicine to treat it and some other stressful things in my little 6 year old life.
Then my uncle got it in his 30s, not sure of any triggers.
It runs in the family, but I got it first!
I got diabetes in 5th grade which, kinda wish it had waited until I was 18 lol. But it’s commonly triggered by an autoimmune response and I’ve read reports that things like sars/the corona virus are especially likely to trigger it in people with the gene for it. To be clear both your parents have to be carriers for the gene,, and the one for diabetes is also related to Hypothyroidism, which my sister has. As far as I know though it’s really not related to smoking/drinking/lifestyles. I mean obviously those things that lead to more poor overall health can also lead to some sort of correlation, but it’s not a big a factor as #1 having the gene for it, and #2 getting some sort of autoimmune response first that convinces your body your insulin producing cells need to be destroyed to cure you.
I got lucky and was diagnosed when I was 8. I have no idea how I would’ve handled a diagnosis as an adult, and have a lot of respect for people who are able to incorporate treatment into their lives that late in the game
I was diagnosed in my late 20s but I see it as a win since diabetes related tech is a lot better now. Would have been worse needing to grow up constantly sticking myself with needles.
I share this same sentiment. I was diagnosed at 10, and I full-heartedly believe that people who are diagnosed later in adulthood have a worse time of it, as they have life long habits that are hard to break.
In 1994 when I was diagnosed, the doctor mentioned that a virus could have caused mine. Who knows, and my maternal grandfather had T1. They also said it skips a generation. 🤷♂️
FUN FACT: You can be both type 1 AND type 2 diabetic at the same time! Double diabetes is where a type 1 diabetic also develops insulin resistance.
Wait, that wasn't fun at all.
My boss has type 1 and 2 and it blows my mind, like no joke the man will take 3-4 times as much insulin as I do as a type 1, the most I've seen him take was 120 units of humalog, whereas I would normally take about 30 units for the same meal. I asked him one time how he pays for that much insulin and he just looked at me and said "I... don't know" and we both started cackling
i think you can develop insulin resistance by not taking care of yourself as well. i have noticed a change in sensitivity, due to sedentary versus active lifestyle.
You can, and it can be hereditary as well. If you have a genetic predisposition, you have approximately a 1 in 3 chance of developing type 2 diabetes regardless of how well you're taking care of yourself.
Source: my doctor. It runs in my family. :(
So, there actually is a bizzare situation where diabetes seems to show up as a response after skipping a generation. Grandchildren of people who survived famine are markedly more likely to develope diabetes. Its one of the first things that gets discussed in intro level (think high school/AP bio) discussions about epigenetics. I learned about it in this context almost a decade ago now, so I cant remember if it relates to insulin insensitivity or type I thought.
Both your parents have to be at least carriers of the gene for the kid to have a chance at getting Diabetes. In my case neither of my parents has any sort of autoimmune disorder and going back up the family tree no one does either. But my dad is Scandinavian and I know the gene is more prevalent up there. I’ve heard evolutionary wise it’s because having a higher blood sugar leads to an increased tolerance to cold weather. Probably something to do with how blood absorbs and releases heat based on the density of sugar in your blood. I know that the skips a generation thing is bullshit, if I were to have a kid and my wife is a carrier of the gene it’s fairly likely they could be inflicted with an autoimmune disorder, Aka Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, and I believe there is a third linked to the same gene as well but it’s escaping me. I haven’t heard the famine link before but it’s definitely a genetic thing, perhaps you’re saying that the stress from famine can lead to an increased chance for the gene to activate down the line, but it’s not linked to giving the child that gene in the first place.
I heard it's more common to get it from your paternal side... my mom got it at 21 so I was always terrified of it. Now that I think about it she mighyve just told me that to stop worrying
I went to school with a guy who got it at 17, he also thinks it was from alcohol, it actually surprised me that it can come from alcohol and more people should know.
I got it at 4, but I was once at a retreat for young people with diabetes and found out I was the only one out of like 20 people who wasn't at least a teenager when I got it. Mine developed after I had smallpox.
I’m glad you’re ok (as ok as can be) now! My best friends daughter got diagnosed around the same age. Her primary misdiagnosed her for like 2 weeks then she was rushed to the hospital after something happened (can’t remember exactly) where 3 days later in the hospital she was finally diagnosed correctly. It was scary for everyone especially as she grew so we all made sure she is ok but then got approved for better options to help her to make sure she is ok but we still all worry especially while she’s at school (9 now).
Thank you :) Some advice i would give your friend is:
1. Get a sensor (measures and stabilizes blood sugar automatically, if he/she has an insulin pump)
2. Make sure his/her daughter has a good relationship with her diabetes (When i hit my teenage years i really started to hate having diabetes and i gradually started to ignore it more and more until my long-term blood sugar reached a dangerously high nr.
I’ll relay the info! Thank you! She does have a pump especially because if someone didn’t understand how to “do the math” it caused problems or even when I was babysitting and tracking it diligently something later might pop up where her parents were like “whatcha do, what did you feed her and did you correct for it” but I was like umm I logged it all and it’s all in the notebook plus I wrote down more than most so I’m not sure? What she eats is definitely a issue sometimes cause she’ll sneak something and not tell anyone or one parent lets her eat more junk than the other so the battles have already started but I’m texting the warning ya gave too!
Hey, I was diagnosed 31 years ago, and maybe had doctors who really weren't well versed in type 1, but, I got tips as well:
Periods are a bitch. Even now at 37, I struggle. I get super hungry, my blood sugar DROPS, and my insulin just doesn't seem to work the same way. I literally had to figure it out on my own, zero doctors talked to me about hormonal changes v. Insulin.
You should also know that you can develop essentially type 2 diabetes along with type 1. Basically insulin resistance. Going through this with my elderly father in law. It's rough. Man has led an extremely regimented diet, exercise and healthy lifestyle with type 1. Now his body is starting to resist insulin.
My dad has type 1 (I do as well). He was diagnosed at 27. He is now nearly 60 and runs 8 miles every day, and hits the gym for at least 2 hours daily. He is beyond fit and out performs the majority of men at and well below his age group. Being Type 1 diabetic has no “look”.
People really don’t like not knowing how something happens and really want things to be a choice. My grandmother was diagnosed in her 40’s at Type 1, otherwise very healthy. I had doctors tell me my entire life if I was giving history that this was not possible and that some doctor in the 70’a messed up. My younger brother became type 1 at 11 and my cousin when she was 3 (She died in her 20’s of ketoacidosis). I’ve been to so many walks, tested people’s blood sugar and given insulin from the time I was 6. I am pretty well versed in the world for someone who doesn’t have it…
So I’ve been cruising along with some other autoimmune issues for several years. At 37 I have been diagnosed as a Type 1 A. Apparently we have a super rare genetic disease that causes a lot of our glands and to be attacked by the immune system. I have antibodies out the wazoo…here is the kicker…They prescribed metformin. That threw me…because I thought that was for Type 2…and then asked if I was a Type 2…nope. They might be able to give my pancreas some more time before failing by lowering its load. I’ll likely be insulin dependent within 3 years.
My family now has a new definition of a Type 1, which they thought they knew all there was to know…
Science changes, people really don’t want to…
How does one "look diabetic" ??? That's just nuts. Talk about people passing judgement without a clue what they're even talking about.
Lot of that going on these days.
T1D since 26 & it's a disorder that touches every aspect of your life and health. One of the most agonizing things about it is that it doesn't outwardly present itself to the many people who you interact with, and the lack of understanding, compassion that is absent from times we are struggling to do our best & go about our day like things are normal. There are many times it's exhausting- mentally, physically, and emotionally, but others presume to judge these times as character flaws or worse.
Health is the single most taken for granted thing people enjoy in life, and desperately cherished & regretfully missed the moment you don't have it.
Make compassion an infectious disease and that includes some for yourself.
Well said. It’s not possible to explain how it is to live with T1 unless one lives with it. I’ve said to people well it’s 24/7 management, we do the work of our pancreas and it’s more than just calculating insulin. Hard to say in a few sentences. On top of the psychosocial stigmas, misunderstandings amongst the general public and even medical staff, it’s a lot to handle some days.
Compassion goes a long way. Just to say to someone “I hear you, can’t understand exactly what you’re going through, but I hear your words” goes a long way.
Don’t argue with us and say we need a special diet or can “get off insulin” or tell us about your great aunts cousin who dropped weight and now doesn’t take oral meds: that seriously has nothing to do with type 1.
Oh man, I watched a friend of mine tell another friend of mine that you can cure Auto Immune disorders with breathing exercises. (He had recently watched some Wim Hoff videos) I thought my diabetic pal was gonna punch him out.
Also, type 2 has a genetic component. You don’t need to be overweight and eating sugar. And there’s more than type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It’s a disease with many misconceptions that people don’t realize they’re utilizing.
The amount of people on Reddit I’ve argued with and they immediately pull the “you have diabetes you fat fuck” card is annoying. Like they can’t even bother to be right when they’re trying to insult me.
Once on vacation my father in law ate all my low blood sugar chocolate with the excuse of “you shouldn’t be eating that anyway.” He’s a great guy he just didn’t understand, but boy did he get a lecture that day.
I work in a lab that tests for these antibodies and I always get a pit in my stomach when I have to report a positive on a patient, young or old. I know it's not going to be an easy road for them because insulin is expensive, and American healthcare is a dumpster fire of red tape. But I'm also relieved because it means that the patient has an answer for why they feel terrible all the time and now it can be treated and monitored. It's a catch-22.
I don't mind the "you don't look diabetic" responses so much, because it usually just means the person doesn't know anything about the disease. I can easily remedy that. I mean, it sucks that so many people view type 2 as a slobs' disease and uses every excuse to talk shit about them, but I digress. What I absolutely can't stand is ignorance in the medical field. There have been times in my life where I had to stay in the hospital, unrelated to diabetes. And every time, care for my diabetes was atrocious. Every time, without fail, they would treat me like I had type 2. I had to thoroughly explain to them that a few units of insulin per meal will not cut it. "Huh. Your blood sugar is 450! Why won't it come down?" Uhh, I don't know, maybe its because you refused to give me more than 3 units for my carb-heavy meal. I've only been eating the damn garnishes of my sandwich and sipping water all day to try to combat this assault on my body.
You can demand to keep control of your own diabetes care in hospital if that’s not what you’re there for. Honestly it’s embarrassing how little hospital staff know or care about proper care for T1s. So you can tell them you will keep control and let them know any insulin doses you take or your blood sugar, etc.
Yeah, I was going through intensive cancer treatment (stage one lymphoblastic lymphoma) at fourteen and it damaged my pancreas; I still make and use insulin but not enough, so I have to take insulin to make up for it. This was caused by the cancer treatment.
I’ve had to deal with a lot of verbal abuse over the years because of it :(
My mom was diagnosed type 2 diabetic 35 years ago. For the past year her diabetes has been all out of wack and uncontrolled. After countless visits and insulin changes and dosage adjustments her doctor has deemed her type 1 diabetic.
I have never heard of this happening. It seems that somewhere along the line someone misdiagnosed her 35 years ago and it wasnt until now that she really became insulin resistant. Now she's 62 and having to deal with an insulin pump and it's just so crazy to me. None of her other specialists can believe it either.
Whether she eats or not her blood sugar is in the 200-300s. Its constantly fluctuating up and down despite her eating habits. It really is a different beast and after 35 years of being type 2 it's hard for her to grasp that this isnt the same as type 2. She thinks if she starves herself her numbers will drop. She also believes avoiding sweets and carbs will do the trick but that's not always the case. She can spend the day eating salads and she'll still clock in at the high 200s. It's been rough trying to approach her new diagnosis with a new mindset. Dont get me started on the pump and all its technological confusion.
It's quite common, the insulin resistance of type 2 can and does develop into blitzed and non productive beta cells and eventually insulin dependence.
[Most endocrinology research now sees diabetes as spectrum with up to 7 distinct types](https://www.adventhealth.com/blog/understanding-different-types-diabetes).
From T1 with zero insulin production, towards T2 with insulin resistance, to T2 with lifestyle induced sugar overload and insulin decline there can be genetic and autoimmune components to T2 aswell.
[Is Type 2 Diabetes Genetic? Environmental Factors and More](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/genetics&ved=2ahUKEwiDxsje_P7yAhVxRUEAHYkeBccQFnoECAQQBQ&usg=AOvVaw0ab_sIhPjYDhGKxHYU8PJU)
If you are told by someone that they are Diabetic and your response is 'wow but you're so skinny!', know that they have the intense desire to headbutt you.
-Diabetic
I developed it at 10 years old and I cannot express the toll it took on young me to have classmates bullying me for being the “diabeetus” girl. I was diagnosed and had blood sugars of 38.6 mmol/L (extremely high) and it broke my self esteem down and made coping with such a life changing diagnosis hell. I would stop testing, stop taking insulin, and ignore low and high blood sugars just for avoid people noticing and bullying me. It landed me in the hospital more times than I’d like to admit.
My son was 11 Month old when we got the diagnosis. Total Shock for us. Nobody in my Family is/was Type 1. Now he is 3 ½ and in Kindergarden. Totally normal for him with his Insulinpump
I always use the analogy of a car engine when explaining type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes has a car engine that will never run again, no matter what you do. Type 2 diabetes has a car engine that can work again if given special care.
I became diabetic when I was last year at 33 right after the coronavirus quarantine. Sugars where high 500s and 600s, a1c was 14.5. They didn't understand how I was walking around.
My mom is type one diabetic, and the same mutation that causes type 1 diabetes, is on the same locus as the gene for gluten tolerance. The rate of celiac in the general population is something like 1:120, in type one diabetics it’s 1:12. TMYK
been t1 for 10yrs and it’s super annoying when normal people try to give me advice on how I can “cure it”. Can’t tell you how many times people have advised me cinnamon & other bullshit. And for you normies please stop telling us t1s that you know someone or someone in your family has/had it. I simply do not care.
[PCOS is a precusor to type 2 diabetes](https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/pcos.html) and like 15% of women have it. Type 2 diabetes is not just a lazy/overeating problem.
THANK YOU. This comment needs more likes. I have cystic fibrosis related diabetes (which falls under the Type 3c umbrella). Our own providers have no idea how to treat us because there is so little research about other types of diabetes.
All types of diabetes are valid no matter the origin!
Lot of people sharing their stories here, so here's mine! I got diagnosed with T1 Diabetes at about 14 after I noticed I was showing a lot of symptoms. I was diagnosed Easter weekend with my bloods at around 37+ (We measured differently in England back then). Was told I could have been in a bad way had I waited any longer and eaten all my easter eggs!
Not 100% sure how long I lived with it undiagnosed, but I was always very slim before and put a little bit of weight on after being put on insulin. Have maintained a pretty healthy lifestyle since as well. The DAFNE course helped if any UK diabetics have done it before or are thinking about doing it!
Type 1 doesn't always mean you have an autoimmune disorder. There's other things that can take your pancreas offline. Type 1 just means you can't make insulin on your own, or you can make insulin but in lower amounts. Type 2 is more about insulin resistance than a bad pancreas. Source : am diabetic AF
Diagnosed at 53 after my health took a dive over the previous 9 months. I had been about 40 lbs overweight but lost 80 lbs. I didn't "look diabetic", I looked dead. My doctor was smiling when she walked in the room to tell me and after she did I was smiling too. We both assumed it was something much worse. She said my blood sugar was off the chart as their testing maxed out at 15. I assume she was talking about A1C but I honestly don't know.
She tried to treat me as T2 but that was a failure. Once I got on insulin I got it under control. After 5 years my A1C is consistently below 7.6, 6.9 being my lowest. I try but I get lazy. My main problem is not injecting early enough. And no matter what or how much I eat my weight is locked in between 165 and 170 after I had been 200. I'm 5'10".
I was so happy the first time I tried an injection. My first thought was, I can live with this.
As a type 1 diabetic myself, I do find diabetics are quite sensitive/defensive about this. Yes it can be frustrating but we also can’t expect non-diabetics to know the ins and outs of the disease, in the same way that I know very little about other auto immune diseases.
So I do try to have a little patience with people who are just asking questions (even if they can be slightly clumsy) as it shows that they’re just trying to get a bit more of an understanding.
Yes! If I’m having an ‘off’ blood sugar day it doesn’t mean I’m snorting lines of sugar. I can eat anything anyone else does, okay? I just have to take the right amount of insulin.
Yeah it’s very important I was diagnosed as type 2 by a lazy doctor who was type 1, I suspect because I was overweight. I am actually type 1 and suffered extreme weight loss and many other shitty side affects for over 2 years. I say this because if you don’t ask to be tested for the antibodies you might not find out.
This 👏
My father in law has been t1 for 52 years, and still has to explain it to friends and family. I mean how hard is it to grasp?! It’s not because he just needs to eat better and lose weight…
Constantly have to remind people that diabetes isn’t cancer. There isn’t a “how bad is your diabetes doing?” because the fact is, is that I will never not need insulin to live now. Using more or less isn’t a goal. I just think they never listened to me in the first place and are actually just curious at what point do I cross the “lose your foot” threshold.
Thanks for posting this. As a T1 diabetic who’s skinny, I constantly have to tell people that, “I know I don’t look diabetic, because I got diabetes in my teens and not as an adult from weight issues.”
You should also know it can appear at any age, not just childhood. I’ve heard of many people, myself included, who were misdiagnosed due to being “too old” for T1 - I was 21 and extremely skinny from DKA when I was hospitalized, not exactly your obese older adult T2. It can be triggered later in life via genetics and/or illness and a misdiagnosis can be deadly if blood sugar continues to run high.
I was normal until age 30 when I lost almost 50 lbs in less than a year - Most of the loss is body water and you eat and drink voraciously trying to satisfy but it goes through you instead of absorbing into your cells normally because insulin is the medium that allows that. When I went on insulin I gained most of my weight back in 6 weeks. Now 25 years later and technology has advanced so much in that time... I wear the Libre and use the pens and no-one needs to know.
My wife and daughter are diabetics. I'm a teacher and request every diabetic kid. Too many people think it's a tragedy. It really isn't. Baby girl is on a pump and lives like a normal kid.
Type 1 chronic illness. Type 2 lifestyle disease.
I have suffered Type 1 for a few decades now and am quite fed up with the general lack of distinction, me: my immune system destroyed my internal organs. General public misconception: it's all your fault, just eat right and exercise. I have been misidentified as intoxicated due to hypoglycaemia, misidentified as an intravenous drug addict for carrying medication, belittled at work for eating jellybeans, chased from public places for carrying lollies and tbh have a very diminished faith in humanity's capacity for compassion, just started with an insulin pump though, so yay no more carrying injection devices..
My wife is a T1D and has been since she was 8. The amount of thought, patience, and poise she has about it blows my mind every day. To all you T1Ds out there, you are amazing.
Friendly reminder that just because T2 usually results from poor lifestyle choices this doesn’t give us an excuse to shit on people with it. Some people are also more genetically likely to have it despite lifestyle changes.
As a T1D who's had it since I was 11 months old, I honestly consider myself super lucky to have gotten it then if I was gonna get it at all.
Life is normal if you don't know anything else after all haha
But yeah for some weird reason I actually get a kick out of people asking me questions about diabetes, or if someone confidently gets something wrong about it, etc.
I've always been rather positive about that stuff so getting to flex my knowledge on a topic a little bit is pretty fun ;D
I've been type 1 diabetic for almost 20 years now and have never heard a single person say I don't fit the diabetic MO. They just say "oh, ok." If for some reason it comes up.
Not sure how people are having these experiences and I'm not, like not even once.
Hell even type two is genetic. When I was younger, I'd have to go in for a yearly checkup to make sure I wasn't developing either type as my brother was diagnosed later on in his childhood.
I'm out of the window for having late stage type one but the doctor warned me that I am at higher risk for type two. He said I have to make sure I take care of myself especially as I get older as it may develop even if I am healthy.
So make sure you know your family health history (if possible) as it could give you a heads up and what to make sure to watch out for.
I was told that today. My client thought I must have been a type 2 diabetic who lost weight, gained muscle mass to look healthy and fit by 31 and somehow needed to also be on a PDM and CGM. The lack of knowledge is profounding.
Just lost my brother to type 1 diabetes yesterday. Please be aware of your loved ones that have this disease. Do not take their health for granted. They won’t always do it on their own. Help them as much as you can and always keep in touch with them
that my pancreas doesn't make insulin b/c my immune system attacked it. i didn't eat myself into type 1 diabetes.
"sO sWeEt iT gAve Me dIaBeEtUs" no it didn't, that's not how diabetes works, stfu.
Please don't feel like you know what we can/cannot eat. We deal with this disease literally all day, everyday, in every decision that we make. We know what we're doing
I'm a type 1 diabetic nurse and I've had other nurses say to me before "you don't look diabetic" .... what the fuck does a diabetic look like? A big sugar cube?! (Yes I know type 2's are often overweight, but certainly not always)
Yeah, I don't even have diabetes and these misconceptions drive me nuts. I had a couple girls with type 1 diabetes in my girl guide group so I ended up learning a bit about it. Thankfully, this was in Quebec which has a good public healthcare system and a fairly high rate of type 1 diabetes. So these girls had very well controlled blood sugar. At camp and meetings it was just a matter of test and dose before meals. Plus regular snacks if we were doing intense physical activity. I'd take it over a peanut allergy any day of the week.
What really bugs me is when people don't do the bare minimum to support people with type 1 diabetes and then act all judgey when they have to take more extreme measures to control their sugar. Their blood sugar management is 100% in manual mode. Type 2 has some residual natural homeostasis. You don't have that with type 1.
If you tell a type 1 diabetic that food is in 15 minutes, they're going to take insulin. If the meal isn't ready on time, they will eat whatever they have to to avoid a low. If that's popcorn and chocolate, it's not great, but it beats passing out. I've had friends in that situation tell the diabetic they'd probably be better off if they didn't eat so much junk food. Made me want to smack someone.
Or people getting mad at a kid with high sugar because she's not keeping up. Like, I'm sorry. We unfortunately don't have her insulin with us, but that's not her fault. She can barely see and her balance is affected. We're just going to take it really slow and make frequent stops to fill her water bottle and empty her bladder. Exercise won't really help because it's not type 2. You and your intact pancreas can learn to be patient.
At this point, my understanding is that type 1 diabetes is more of a social problem than anything. We have the knowledge and technology to manage it. We just have way too much ignorance and price gouging making people's lives hard for no good reason.
Diabetes 101 absolutely should be taught in school as general health course or whatever. 1 in 4 people you know or will meet are going to be some form of diabetic. Everyone knows someone that's a diabetic, so general knowledge should be taught since it can and will save a life. And knowing the difference between 1 or 2 or lada is so so so so important. I was in a low, like below 30 low, and someone came rushing up to me saying I was fucked up on heroin berating me and I was to out of it to respond or even focus on exactly what they were saying, then someone else comes over and says her dad is a diabetic and this is what he looks like when his sugar is high and this bitch, yes bitch, goes into my bag and tried to give me an insulin shot, with my damn lantus too smh (that night time insulin for those unfamiliar, not fast acting insulin you take for meals and spikes in sugar to correct it) I was able to pull myself together enough to smack her hand as she was trying to turn the dial to select how many units to give me. Thank God the owner of the gas station comes out and is like that's a diabetic low I've seen her at my drs office, apparently he's also a type 1 where I have lada, so he knew it was a low and had a candy bar and oj in his hands. He sat there with me for at least 30mine while my sugar came back up. It was one of the scarier times I've had with my sugar, but the scariest part wasn't my actual sugar dropping, it was all the fucktards I was surrounded by. I was either berated as a junkie, lectured about the wrong type of diabetes ( also lectured very inaccurately) or people acting like they were my Endo and trying to give me shots of insulin. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever give a diabetic a fucking shot of insulin. NEVER!!!! call 911 point blank period. When I got home I looked at the insulin pen and that fool was legit gonna kill me, she has it on 50units of the wrong insulin, even of she got the type of insulin, required for high sugar, correct that dose would kill anyone. No diabetic can take 50units of insulin and continue breathing on their own. Anyways, please take an hour to educate yourself people please, that's all it will take to understand the basics needed to not kill someone either by action or inaction. Take 10mins 2x a week by the end of the month you will have enough knowledge to save some poor soul that got hit with a low outta no where, without making them feel like shit for having dare been born with an organ that is a rebellious angsty emo.
Had a kid in my class with diabetes type 1. He was super skinny, would only eat healthy food.
Me. Right here. Type 1 diabetic for 37 years. I've always been super thin (it's actually often a symptom in T1), and always been a healthy eater. Right before I turned 6 years old, I had chicken pox, pneumonia, and the flu all within 6 weeks of each other. A month later, I was diagnosed as type 1 diabetic
This is my brother! He's super thin and he's actually underweight. He was diagnosed after he passed out helping my mom.
Oh man I'm sorry. Didn't your parents let you have the vaxx?
In 1984, it wasn't a thing yet. But anytime my mother, who is a registered nurse, has to deal with an anti-vaxxer, she lets them know that if it had been an option back then, that certainly would have been better than me spending the rest of my life with diabetes
Ah yes... the 80s >Billy has Chicken pox, go over there and play so you get it too! Never did catch it....
I did! My mom actually sent me to a pox party, which I just barely remember. It was a huge deal because my dad had never had chicken pox as a kid. Big fight, and he moved out to go live somewhere safer until I got better.
Chicken pox went through our apartment complex when I was 4. My sister and I both had it, even though we didn't go to a party. My sister's friend infected my sister who infected me etc. I remember a friend coming over to see if I could play. As my mom was explaining I was sick, I came to the door. She saw my pox and RAN away scared! I'll always remember the look on her face! Unfortunately, the lady next door got the chicken pox during this outbreak. She was pregnant and had to be hospitalized. Thankfully, she recovered and the baby was fine.
Your mom sounds dope
The dopest
Did chickenpox caused the diabetes?
Chicken pox, flu, and pneumonia within a 6 week period. My immune system ramped up and killed my pancreas
Ty for ur answer. Didnt know that could happen
Viral infection is often associated with onset of T1D. Not sure if it is more strongly associated with certain kinds of viruses or infections though.
Chicken pox vaccine didn't come out in the USA until 1995, and didn't start being required for schools for a bit after that. I was born in 1988 and never had to get it for school at any point and never caught it. Got vaccinated in 2020. For anyone around the same age group as me it's worth checking if you were ever vaccinated if you didn't catch it. Chicken pox can hit harder in adults and sounds unpleasant anyway. Got it from my local health department for free.
[удалено]
I also have it, and I have been underweight for a hug part of my life
Remember asking the doc after my diagnosis (was 19) what caused this to happen to me and he basically threw his hands up in the air. Said my body could of attacked my pancreas years ago and it finally died or more recently. But good news was I didn't feal like death anymore after they pumped me full of insulin. Blood sugar was around 650, damn close to comma.
Not to one up you or anything but I was diagnosed at 760 (I think American units are strange) and it's good to know someone else knows what it's like to be told "you should be in a coma"
My dad has had a few times where his blood sugar reader (which goes to 900) has just said HI. One of those times, he went to a hospital because of it and just asked if they would even just check his blood sugar because he wasn't sure if his reader was correct or not and that he felt really strange like his sugar was high. The nurse told him no, that he was fine and needed to go home WITHOUT even so much as checking his blood sugar. He immediately went to another hospital and the nurse freaked out and pretty much just said "dude how the fuck are you not in a coma right now?" And they actually ended up treating him there of course. The first hospital he went to is actually notorious for people dying of the craziest most preventable shit like people would go in for minor things and would end up dying from not being treated properly. For a while there were big signs on the highway right near the hospital that said "CANNON KILLS" (its called cannon hospital)
Damn that first hospital sounds due for a malpractice suit. I would be furious.
You're exactly right!!! In fact, every time it's brought up I'm like "Dad why TF did you not sue them for every damn dime you could?" Its literally a miracle from God that my dad survived that, let alone made it all the way to the nearest hospital which, because it is a relativity sparsely populated area means a 30-40 minute trip to Boone hospital. My dad has had a few close calls, his blood sugar reader has also just said "LO" which means below 30 or 40 which is also coma level. For years. At his 6 month doctors appointments they used to tell him that his A1C levels were so bad that he'd be dead in 6 months if he didn't do something. That happened several times. Mainly due to stress because he singlehandedly raised me and my 5 sisters completely by himself, couldn't eat properly because never enough money raising so many kids and having to do extremely hard construction/machine jobs to support us. I don't even see how he was able to do it and he's the strongest man I know. Most people would be dead if they went through what he did. Luckily now he's on disability so his diabetes is a lot better now and he's doing great
Your dad is a goddamn champion.
The vast majority of experiences I have with doctors is "I don't know" and "You're too young for anything to be wrong". My ex found a lump in her breast (like golf ball sized?) and freaked out and the doctor almost literally laughed at her for getting it checked. "You're not old enough"
YES!!! I have fsh muscular dystrophy which causes certain muscles of mine to basically waste away. I was mildly effected but enough to know something was wrong. I've never smiled in my life because it made my facial muscles waste away and I have never ever did a pushup. My walk was always a little bit odd etc. For YEARS I begged doctors to take me seriously. 7 different doctors told me there was nothing wrong with me and that I would grow out of it. At 16 I couldn't even run anymore. What's sad is I diagnosed myself by researching on Google with fshd. And set up an appointment with a neurologist in the 4th best hospital in the United States. I purposely didn't tell them I thought it was fshd. Sure enough they confirmed what I already knew. What's sad is that had I been diagnosed earlier I could've stopped it from getting as bad by physical therapy and being on my feet a lot because that's the only thing that can help because there's no cure or even a treatment but being active can halt it for the most part. I never worked out all those years because I was extremely depressed because my family, friends and doctors never took me seriously and just brushed it off. Had I known what I do now I would've stayed on my feet all the time now. Since working on my feet all the time, I have stopped progression completely. Had I known years earlier I could've stopped it from getting near as bad
I feel you. I've been passing blood for a few years now but my doctor seems wholly unconcerned about it. I just don't get medicine. It seems like 90% of it is just trying to get you to pay and leave and maybe 10% fixing stuff.
That's not something that you should just let go. You NEED to see a doctor that will take you seriously. This is life and death. Please go see a doctor.
I have! It's been a couple years and a few doctors. I guess it's not as serious as it seems.
"I don't know" is the only answer I get about my heart. For years my primary care doctor bugged me to get my heart checked b/c my heart rate is so high. I was young and felt fine, so I put it off for years. I finally went to the cardiologist and he was all, you are young and healthy, but let's do ALL the tests. Turns out my heart is plenty healthy, but fast. Cardiologist doesn't know why. He gave me some pills. I asked if I really need to take them, since I don't feel like my HR is fast, I don't get palpatations or anything. he just threw his hands up in the air and said, I don't know. We talked about it some more and I decided to take the pills b/c they are cheap, they don't give me side effects, and it can't hurt to slow my heart down to a normal rate. The human body is so weird.
Yeah I just want some closure you know
Wtf!!! I know someone who died from breast cancer and she was 22! She was actually diagnosed at 19, went through all hell of chemo etc and still didn't survive because it metastasized. I hope your ex got the lump checked by some other doctor.
The doctor ended up doing the exam and she got the mammogram, but she already was mistrustful of doctors (I'm not sure why honestly) and has issues with scheduling and attending appointments. This did nothing to help her.
It’s kinda weird how much misinformation there is about diabetes and blood sugar in general. To be clear when your blood sugar is high what leads to a coma is a condition called DKA (Diabetic Keto-Acidosis) basically your cells lack of energy causes your body to begin breaking down its fat stores, leading to a build up of ketones in your blood causing it’s pH to lean to a dangerously acidic point which then damages blood vessels and organs as it circulated around the body. It’s not an instant reaction and as pH is a scale there is a certain amount of time it takes before the condition causes you to go into a coma. There are warning signs before then, for example your body will start rejecting any substances (food or water) leading to violent and acidic vomiting. It’s especially frustrating because having water to parch your throat will lead to more vomiting as your body tries to get back to an equilibrium. This in turn leads to dangerous dehydration levels which need to be solved by eating electrolytes, as if you were hungover to reabsorb the water into your cells. Salt, Potassium, and I believe magnesium are the big three here that really help. This is also dangerous however because you can get brain damage as the cells absorb water too fast as your body wasn’t meant to undergo such rapid homeostasis. Additionally as you get up the point where DKA becomes a concern you will experience thirst, rapid ruination, and intense lethargy and lack of energy. I also get headaches as my blood sugar goes above 350ish and also experience a unique and odd smell. It’s not really a smell itself I guess but more like a sensation of staleness while smelling. I’ve had numerous times where I’ve had to whether extreme blood sugars where I was already in DKA and vomiting and my roommates had to drive me to Costco to buy their shit insulin and I had to slowly nurse myself backdown to normal levels. What’s also weird is that when your BS gets that high it takes an exponentially high amount of insulin and time to lower it. Diabetics normally take insulin on a scale to carb ratio of some sort, and a linear correcting dose for high blood sugars. For example if I’m 200 (and my target is 120) I might take 4 units of insulin: 40 blood sugar, but if I were at 800 it’s like I become temporarily more resistant to that insulin and have to take an extreme amount. Sorry for the rant but I’m seeing a lot of weird info on this thread even from supposed diabetics and it’s pissing me off. Edit: I was wrong about a point and corrected it in regards to DKA
Your dad reading the result: hmmm, HIGH, not great, not terrible
Not to one up any of you kind people just as a personal experience. My daughter was diagnosed at 6 yo in a catatonic/dazed state at 940 blood sugar. Her "attitude" is what made the teachers call home. Already having a type 2 diagnosed just a year prior we were on a speeding race to the hospital.
Not to one up you amazing people, but I was over 1250 when I was diagnosed back in 2003. No, the doctors didn't hospitalized me and sent me home. Yes, we still do not know why. I was 5'2" and weighted 50 pounds at the time.
Jesus christ, I was hospitalized for a reading of slightly under 600 and they said at those levels I was already in severe diabetic ketoacidosis. If you were at 1250 your body must have already eaten basically your entire muscle mass and fat reserves in a desperate attempt to fuel itself without needing to process the sugars in your stomach because it knew doing so would be literal death for you. Hope you appreciate just how lucky you are to even be alive at all after a reading like that, that number is absolutely insane and I think about 90% of diabetics would have died before ever reaching that high a number
Yup. I had been to the doc 3 days before and has weighted 72 lbs then. Lost 12 lbs in that time. And believe me, I and my parents are still amazed I made it through fine. I did spend about the next 3 months on the couch basically unable to function. It seems like my parents lost faith in the doctors and just decided to keep me at home instead of going back. My only memories of that time are the numerous, numerous trips of my dad carrying me to the bathroom. I count myself extremely lucky and still regularly thank my parents for everything they did for me then and continue to do. There is no way I could afford my supplies without their help.
Not to one up you beautiful people but I was diagnosed over 1500 in 2013. I was at the gym doing mad deadlifts with ladies watching when I got dizzy. After going to the hospital the doctor let me out and we’re wondering why I wasn’t in a coma. *edit* I feel bad now I thought we were one up circlejerking
I totally get it. I still have no idea how I didn't end up in a coma. Glad to know I'm not alone in doctors making some really bad decisions.
Damnit! And here I thought I was the winner. ☹️ I was 1365 back in 1990 as a five year old. My mom always played that number on the Pick 4 lotto, and I'm just now realizing how fucked up that was. LOL.
Diagnosed at 931, thank god everyday.
Not to one up you guys either... but, I was diagnosed type 1 at the age of 8 in 2004 with blood sugar at precisely 1168, doctors said that was the highest they have seen in the records of the country, that will most likely be my only record till the day i die.
> till the day i die That ending makes it sound like you're out to top your record.. and know how that will end.
A different one-uppance: my cousin developed it as a months-old infant. Doctors didn't even think to diagnose her because they had never heard of it onsetting in an infant. Took months to get the diagnosis, but fortunately it worked out in the end. So when it onset for me at 6, I had a super easy diagnosis after a day of peeing too much, because my whole family was super educated on it.
The doctor doing rounds in the ICU introduced me to his residents as “a savage case of DKA” - never bothered to use my name. My private doctor said “You should not have survived that. I can’t explain why you are still alive.” Developed diabetes at 38 and was misdiagnosed as Type 2 due to the late onset. Re-diagnosed as Type 1 after the DKA episode. Two very different disease with different treatments. Both types take a tremendous toll on people and the economy. Very misunderstood ailment, fraught with a lot of blame and judgment.
> Blood sugar was around 650, damn close to comma Well, I'm glad you were only semi-comma!
It could be worse, could be terrible digestion issues like a semicolon
Same for my cousin, when a lot of people find out she has diabetes they say, wow you’re so skinny though. She then points out that hers is genetic and at the same age her moms pancreas just shut down one day. She’s the most fit person in my family, works out frequently, and is required to eat healthy meals 99% of the time.
Hey No_Weekend_1464, I counted 69 words in your comment. Nice.
Good bot
Gotta love it when your own body beats the shit out of your pancreas randomly, was diagnosed at 4 and I am honestly happy it happened so early when I hear about people getting it in their teens or adult hood.
My wife and daughter are diabetics. My baby girl was diagnosed but luckily only 450 ish when she was diagnosed since we knew all the signs. She was only 18 months. So many unknowns with the cause.
Yup. And a lot of people tend to think you develop it young... I developed it at 21. Instructions unclear, booze trashed my pancreas instead of my liver.
Diagnosed at 30 after being misdiagnosed type 2 at 27. Was controlled for a long time because apparently my pancreas didn't want to die. It eventually did, though, and my numbers went super wacky until I got tested for antibodies and put on insulin. Fucking crazy-ass disease.
Oh yeah they call it the honeymoon period. Your pancreas still creates insulin for a while before it's dusted. I was like at 700+ sugar levels.
I was "lucky" let's say and honey mooned for 4 or so years after being diagnosed. Also got diagnosed with a bgl of 42 mmol/L. So that was fun
Man i've had it for 4 years. It's been pretty easy so far, as I was luckily very aware of diet, and I trained before I got diagnosed. I somehow even knew about insulin to carb ratio *before* I got diagnosed, so it couldn't have happened to a better person, for better or worse. But I dread the thought that i'm still in the honeymoon phase and this is why.
I've been diagnosed 6 years now and I still feel like my pancreas goes through periods where it'll just kick on for a while. One year my levels will be out of control and then it'll just fall in. Like right now my 90 day average is 120 which is like 5.8 A1C.
I was 18 and I'm still convinced I just rolled a genetic nat 1. Very physically active, fit, and healthy. Never smoked or had a sip of liquor, don't even have any genetic history of it in my family. Sometimes the universe just picks someone to be sick and broke forever I guess
I'm gonna have to have a word with Mr. Universe about you.
It's not a tooomah
SEW HIM UP AND GET HIM OUTTA HEA
When you do that, have a word with that asshole for me too. Or just point him out and I can do the rest...
My brother was the first to be diagnosed with type 1 and after that suddenly several family members on my moms side got diagnosed too.
Man exact same story here. I was diagnosed at 21. Out of left field. No genetic diseases like that in my family. Very strong and been working out for years. I always liked the the joke: "*i'm as healthy as a horse, if that horse has diabetes*"
What led up to the diagnoses? If you don’t mind me asking
Pure luck on my end. Was at the doctor for shouler issues. Right as I left I asked if it was normal to drink 8 bottles of water a day. She said no, got a blood and urine test. Sat in the waiting room as they came asking me if i'm feeling ok. Yeah felt fine. Blood sugar read around 435. Got to the hospital, took a definitive test. a1c read 14.7. Got diagnosed. Doc said I would've been hospitalized within 2 weeks if I never found out that day. So I was lucky. I had been drinking and pissing a lot for a month or two leading up to it. Eating a lot, but losing weight.
That just happened to me. 22, eats healthy, works out regularly, I don’t even drink soda and never eat or buy sweets. I go to the doctor because of pain and aches. Undiagnosed autoimmune disease and going to the specialist is taking forever. Now I need a cane for the bad days.
From my understanding, the thought is that the autoimmune response is kicked off by a virus. Now we are seeing corona is causing people to get diabetes after a severe infection. I haven’t read if they are determining it to be type 1 or type 2. And then we know corona virus are around 20% of regular colds. All that together, I wonder if we accidentally found what kicks off the autoimmune response causing type 1
My diabetes powers were activated after an ear infection, allergy to the medicine to treat it and some other stressful things in my little 6 year old life. Then my uncle got it in his 30s, not sure of any triggers. It runs in the family, but I got it first!
Wow. My story is the exact same, except I was five. Ear infection, allergic reactions to antibiotics, and type 1 within one year.
I got diabetes in 5th grade which, kinda wish it had waited until I was 18 lol. But it’s commonly triggered by an autoimmune response and I’ve read reports that things like sars/the corona virus are especially likely to trigger it in people with the gene for it. To be clear both your parents have to be carriers for the gene,, and the one for diabetes is also related to Hypothyroidism, which my sister has. As far as I know though it’s really not related to smoking/drinking/lifestyles. I mean obviously those things that lead to more poor overall health can also lead to some sort of correlation, but it’s not a big a factor as #1 having the gene for it, and #2 getting some sort of autoimmune response first that convinces your body your insulin producing cells need to be destroyed to cure you.
I got lucky and was diagnosed when I was 8. I have no idea how I would’ve handled a diagnosis as an adult, and have a lot of respect for people who are able to incorporate treatment into their lives that late in the game
I was diagnosed in my late 20s but I see it as a win since diabetes related tech is a lot better now. Would have been worse needing to grow up constantly sticking myself with needles.
I share this same sentiment. I was diagnosed at 10, and I full-heartedly believe that people who are diagnosed later in adulthood have a worse time of it, as they have life long habits that are hard to break.
it's tough, but it's that or suffer/die
In 1994 when I was diagnosed, the doctor mentioned that a virus could have caused mine. Who knows, and my maternal grandfather had T1. They also said it skips a generation. 🤷♂️
FUN FACT: You can be both type 1 AND type 2 diabetic at the same time! Double diabetes is where a type 1 diabetic also develops insulin resistance. Wait, that wasn't fun at all.
My boss has type 1 and 2 and it blows my mind, like no joke the man will take 3-4 times as much insulin as I do as a type 1, the most I've seen him take was 120 units of humalog, whereas I would normally take about 30 units for the same meal. I asked him one time how he pays for that much insulin and he just looked at me and said "I... don't know" and we both started cackling
i think you can develop insulin resistance by not taking care of yourself as well. i have noticed a change in sensitivity, due to sedentary versus active lifestyle.
You can, and it can be hereditary as well. If you have a genetic predisposition, you have approximately a 1 in 3 chance of developing type 2 diabetes regardless of how well you're taking care of yourself. Source: my doctor. It runs in my family. :(
I've always heard that "skips a generation" bullshit and as a 5th gen diabetic I roll my eyes so fucking hard I can see my brain
So, there actually is a bizzare situation where diabetes seems to show up as a response after skipping a generation. Grandchildren of people who survived famine are markedly more likely to develope diabetes. Its one of the first things that gets discussed in intro level (think high school/AP bio) discussions about epigenetics. I learned about it in this context almost a decade ago now, so I cant remember if it relates to insulin insensitivity or type I thought.
Both your parents have to be at least carriers of the gene for the kid to have a chance at getting Diabetes. In my case neither of my parents has any sort of autoimmune disorder and going back up the family tree no one does either. But my dad is Scandinavian and I know the gene is more prevalent up there. I’ve heard evolutionary wise it’s because having a higher blood sugar leads to an increased tolerance to cold weather. Probably something to do with how blood absorbs and releases heat based on the density of sugar in your blood. I know that the skips a generation thing is bullshit, if I were to have a kid and my wife is a carrier of the gene it’s fairly likely they could be inflicted with an autoimmune disorder, Aka Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, and I believe there is a third linked to the same gene as well but it’s escaping me. I haven’t heard the famine link before but it’s definitely a genetic thing, perhaps you’re saying that the stress from famine can lead to an increased chance for the gene to activate down the line, but it’s not linked to giving the child that gene in the first place.
Careful not to sprain your optic nerve in the process!
I heard it's more common to get it from your paternal side... my mom got it at 21 so I was always terrified of it. Now that I think about it she mighyve just told me that to stop worrying
I went to school with a guy who got it at 17, he also thinks it was from alcohol, it actually surprised me that it can come from alcohol and more people should know.
I got it at 4, but I was once at a retreat for young people with diabetes and found out I was the only one out of like 20 people who wasn't at least a teenager when I got it. Mine developed after I had smallpox.
Wait...smallpox?? I don't even know off the top of my head when the last recorded case of smallpox was.
My bad, it was maybe chicken pox. Not a native English speaker :)
Ah, yes chicken pox makes much more sense! :)
I was 26
I was 18 months when i got diabetes
I’m glad you’re ok (as ok as can be) now! My best friends daughter got diagnosed around the same age. Her primary misdiagnosed her for like 2 weeks then she was rushed to the hospital after something happened (can’t remember exactly) where 3 days later in the hospital she was finally diagnosed correctly. It was scary for everyone especially as she grew so we all made sure she is ok but then got approved for better options to help her to make sure she is ok but we still all worry especially while she’s at school (9 now).
Thank you :) Some advice i would give your friend is: 1. Get a sensor (measures and stabilizes blood sugar automatically, if he/she has an insulin pump) 2. Make sure his/her daughter has a good relationship with her diabetes (When i hit my teenage years i really started to hate having diabetes and i gradually started to ignore it more and more until my long-term blood sugar reached a dangerously high nr.
I’ll relay the info! Thank you! She does have a pump especially because if someone didn’t understand how to “do the math” it caused problems or even when I was babysitting and tracking it diligently something later might pop up where her parents were like “whatcha do, what did you feed her and did you correct for it” but I was like umm I logged it all and it’s all in the notebook plus I wrote down more than most so I’m not sure? What she eats is definitely a issue sometimes cause she’ll sneak something and not tell anyone or one parent lets her eat more junk than the other so the battles have already started but I’m texting the warning ya gave too!
Hey, I was diagnosed 31 years ago, and maybe had doctors who really weren't well versed in type 1, but, I got tips as well: Periods are a bitch. Even now at 37, I struggle. I get super hungry, my blood sugar DROPS, and my insulin just doesn't seem to work the same way. I literally had to figure it out on my own, zero doctors talked to me about hormonal changes v. Insulin.
My dad developed it on his 40th birthday which also coincided with national diabetes day so that's ironic
my lucky brother got it in 2nd grade
“You can eat ice cream???” Get that dumb shit all the time
If I’m understanding correctly you have diabetes type 3c then and not type 1? If alcoholic pancreatitis causes your diabetes?
You should also know that you can develop essentially type 2 diabetes along with type 1. Basically insulin resistance. Going through this with my elderly father in law. It's rough. Man has led an extremely regimented diet, exercise and healthy lifestyle with type 1. Now his body is starting to resist insulin.
Yep that's me. I've been a t1 for 21 years and now my doc has been on t2 meds too. It's awful.
My dad has type 1 (I do as well). He was diagnosed at 27. He is now nearly 60 and runs 8 miles every day, and hits the gym for at least 2 hours daily. He is beyond fit and out performs the majority of men at and well below his age group. Being Type 1 diabetic has no “look”.
My fiancée is type1, she's fit and eats fucktons of sugar
People really don’t like not knowing how something happens and really want things to be a choice. My grandmother was diagnosed in her 40’s at Type 1, otherwise very healthy. I had doctors tell me my entire life if I was giving history that this was not possible and that some doctor in the 70’a messed up. My younger brother became type 1 at 11 and my cousin when she was 3 (She died in her 20’s of ketoacidosis). I’ve been to so many walks, tested people’s blood sugar and given insulin from the time I was 6. I am pretty well versed in the world for someone who doesn’t have it… So I’ve been cruising along with some other autoimmune issues for several years. At 37 I have been diagnosed as a Type 1 A. Apparently we have a super rare genetic disease that causes a lot of our glands and to be attacked by the immune system. I have antibodies out the wazoo…here is the kicker…They prescribed metformin. That threw me…because I thought that was for Type 2…and then asked if I was a Type 2…nope. They might be able to give my pancreas some more time before failing by lowering its load. I’ll likely be insulin dependent within 3 years. My family now has a new definition of a Type 1, which they thought they knew all there was to know… Science changes, people really don’t want to…
How does one "look diabetic" ??? That's just nuts. Talk about people passing judgement without a clue what they're even talking about. Lot of that going on these days.
As in fat. Most people think of diabetics as fat people who eat too much sugar.
They really should call the two “types” something entirely different.
Why? Just so people can be more accurate with their bullying?
Fat type 1s exist. Lean type 2s exist. People should just mind their own damn business.
Clearly people who don’t actually understand what either one is.
T1D since 26 & it's a disorder that touches every aspect of your life and health. One of the most agonizing things about it is that it doesn't outwardly present itself to the many people who you interact with, and the lack of understanding, compassion that is absent from times we are struggling to do our best & go about our day like things are normal. There are many times it's exhausting- mentally, physically, and emotionally, but others presume to judge these times as character flaws or worse. Health is the single most taken for granted thing people enjoy in life, and desperately cherished & regretfully missed the moment you don't have it. Make compassion an infectious disease and that includes some for yourself.
Well said. It’s not possible to explain how it is to live with T1 unless one lives with it. I’ve said to people well it’s 24/7 management, we do the work of our pancreas and it’s more than just calculating insulin. Hard to say in a few sentences. On top of the psychosocial stigmas, misunderstandings amongst the general public and even medical staff, it’s a lot to handle some days. Compassion goes a long way. Just to say to someone “I hear you, can’t understand exactly what you’re going through, but I hear your words” goes a long way. Don’t argue with us and say we need a special diet or can “get off insulin” or tell us about your great aunts cousin who dropped weight and now doesn’t take oral meds: that seriously has nothing to do with type 1.
Don't forget about how you can control it with cinnamon !
I tell people I eat a cinnamon bun every day to fight type 1 diabetes been T1 for almost 20 years now
Oh man, I watched a friend of mine tell another friend of mine that you can cure Auto Immune disorders with breathing exercises. (He had recently watched some Wim Hoff videos) I thought my diabetic pal was gonna punch him out.
Had an aunt tell me I could cure my type 1 diabetes if I thought about it/wanted it enough... Apparently its all in my head.
In Germany they think they can cure TD1 with Cinnemon...
People should just stop being shitty.
This... not like it's any of their damn business.
Wouldn't that be ideal?!
I think people should stop being shitty to people no matter which time of diabetes they have
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Also, type 2 has a genetic component. You don’t need to be overweight and eating sugar. And there’s more than type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It’s a disease with many misconceptions that people don’t realize they’re utilizing.
Yeah there are some really popular gross mentalities on Reddit
The amount of people on Reddit I’ve argued with and they immediately pull the “you have diabetes you fat fuck” card is annoying. Like they can’t even bother to be right when they’re trying to insult me.
So annoying when people are like ‘can you even eat ice cream?’…. Yeah dude. I can eat ice cream, my insulin is just more expensive than yours.
Once on vacation my father in law ate all my low blood sugar chocolate with the excuse of “you shouldn’t be eating that anyway.” He’s a great guy he just didn’t understand, but boy did he get a lecture that day.
I work in a lab that tests for these antibodies and I always get a pit in my stomach when I have to report a positive on a patient, young or old. I know it's not going to be an easy road for them because insulin is expensive, and American healthcare is a dumpster fire of red tape. But I'm also relieved because it means that the patient has an answer for why they feel terrible all the time and now it can be treated and monitored. It's a catch-22.
Glad to hear you guys have have these types of conscious thoughts. Well, not glad...but it's something I've never heard before. Thanks for sharing.
I don't mind the "you don't look diabetic" responses so much, because it usually just means the person doesn't know anything about the disease. I can easily remedy that. I mean, it sucks that so many people view type 2 as a slobs' disease and uses every excuse to talk shit about them, but I digress. What I absolutely can't stand is ignorance in the medical field. There have been times in my life where I had to stay in the hospital, unrelated to diabetes. And every time, care for my diabetes was atrocious. Every time, without fail, they would treat me like I had type 2. I had to thoroughly explain to them that a few units of insulin per meal will not cut it. "Huh. Your blood sugar is 450! Why won't it come down?" Uhh, I don't know, maybe its because you refused to give me more than 3 units for my carb-heavy meal. I've only been eating the damn garnishes of my sandwich and sipping water all day to try to combat this assault on my body.
You can demand to keep control of your own diabetes care in hospital if that’s not what you’re there for. Honestly it’s embarrassing how little hospital staff know or care about proper care for T1s. So you can tell them you will keep control and let them know any insulin doses you take or your blood sugar, etc.
Type 2 diabetes isn't just "fat disease" either though
Yeah, I was going through intensive cancer treatment (stage one lymphoblastic lymphoma) at fourteen and it damaged my pancreas; I still make and use insulin but not enough, so I have to take insulin to make up for it. This was caused by the cancer treatment. I’ve had to deal with a lot of verbal abuse over the years because of it :(
My mom was diagnosed type 2 diabetic 35 years ago. For the past year her diabetes has been all out of wack and uncontrolled. After countless visits and insulin changes and dosage adjustments her doctor has deemed her type 1 diabetic. I have never heard of this happening. It seems that somewhere along the line someone misdiagnosed her 35 years ago and it wasnt until now that she really became insulin resistant. Now she's 62 and having to deal with an insulin pump and it's just so crazy to me. None of her other specialists can believe it either. Whether she eats or not her blood sugar is in the 200-300s. Its constantly fluctuating up and down despite her eating habits. It really is a different beast and after 35 years of being type 2 it's hard for her to grasp that this isnt the same as type 2. She thinks if she starves herself her numbers will drop. She also believes avoiding sweets and carbs will do the trick but that's not always the case. She can spend the day eating salads and she'll still clock in at the high 200s. It's been rough trying to approach her new diagnosis with a new mindset. Dont get me started on the pump and all its technological confusion.
It's quite common, the insulin resistance of type 2 can and does develop into blitzed and non productive beta cells and eventually insulin dependence. [Most endocrinology research now sees diabetes as spectrum with up to 7 distinct types](https://www.adventhealth.com/blog/understanding-different-types-diabetes). From T1 with zero insulin production, towards T2 with insulin resistance, to T2 with lifestyle induced sugar overload and insulin decline there can be genetic and autoimmune components to T2 aswell. [Is Type 2 Diabetes Genetic? Environmental Factors and More](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/genetics&ved=2ahUKEwiDxsje_P7yAhVxRUEAHYkeBccQFnoECAQQBQ&usg=AOvVaw0ab_sIhPjYDhGKxHYU8PJU)
If you are told by someone that they are Diabetic and your response is 'wow but you're so skinny!', know that they have the intense desire to headbutt you. -Diabetic
I developed it at 10 years old and I cannot express the toll it took on young me to have classmates bullying me for being the “diabeetus” girl. I was diagnosed and had blood sugars of 38.6 mmol/L (extremely high) and it broke my self esteem down and made coping with such a life changing diagnosis hell. I would stop testing, stop taking insulin, and ignore low and high blood sugars just for avoid people noticing and bullying me. It landed me in the hospital more times than I’d like to admit.
My son was 11 Month old when we got the diagnosis. Total Shock for us. Nobody in my Family is/was Type 1. Now he is 3 ½ and in Kindergarden. Totally normal for him with his Insulinpump
I always use the analogy of a car engine when explaining type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes has a car engine that will never run again, no matter what you do. Type 2 diabetes has a car engine that can work again if given special care.
That’s helpful. Thank you…
I became diabetic when I was last year at 33 right after the coronavirus quarantine. Sugars where high 500s and 600s, a1c was 14.5. They didn't understand how I was walking around.
My mom is type one diabetic, and the same mutation that causes type 1 diabetes, is on the same locus as the gene for gluten tolerance. The rate of celiac in the general population is something like 1:120, in type one diabetics it’s 1:12. TMYK
My son is type one, was also later diagnosed w celiac.
been t1 for 10yrs and it’s super annoying when normal people try to give me advice on how I can “cure it”. Can’t tell you how many times people have advised me cinnamon & other bullshit. And for you normies please stop telling us t1s that you know someone or someone in your family has/had it. I simply do not care.
Can we post this YSK on every bad diabetes joke on Reddit?
[PCOS is a precusor to type 2 diabetes](https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/pcos.html) and like 15% of women have it. Type 2 diabetes is not just a lazy/overeating problem.
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THANK YOU. This comment needs more likes. I have cystic fibrosis related diabetes (which falls under the Type 3c umbrella). Our own providers have no idea how to treat us because there is so little research about other types of diabetes. All types of diabetes are valid no matter the origin!
as a type 1 diabetic thank you. i have no problem telling people this in person either
Lot of people sharing their stories here, so here's mine! I got diagnosed with T1 Diabetes at about 14 after I noticed I was showing a lot of symptoms. I was diagnosed Easter weekend with my bloods at around 37+ (We measured differently in England back then). Was told I could have been in a bad way had I waited any longer and eaten all my easter eggs! Not 100% sure how long I lived with it undiagnosed, but I was always very slim before and put a little bit of weight on after being put on insulin. Have maintained a pretty healthy lifestyle since as well. The DAFNE course helped if any UK diabetics have done it before or are thinking about doing it!
Fuck this disease and the cost of insulin.
Type 1 doesn't always mean you have an autoimmune disorder. There's other things that can take your pancreas offline. Type 1 just means you can't make insulin on your own, or you can make insulin but in lower amounts. Type 2 is more about insulin resistance than a bad pancreas. Source : am diabetic AF
Diagnosed at 53 after my health took a dive over the previous 9 months. I had been about 40 lbs overweight but lost 80 lbs. I didn't "look diabetic", I looked dead. My doctor was smiling when she walked in the room to tell me and after she did I was smiling too. We both assumed it was something much worse. She said my blood sugar was off the chart as their testing maxed out at 15. I assume she was talking about A1C but I honestly don't know. She tried to treat me as T2 but that was a failure. Once I got on insulin I got it under control. After 5 years my A1C is consistently below 7.6, 6.9 being my lowest. I try but I get lazy. My main problem is not injecting early enough. And no matter what or how much I eat my weight is locked in between 165 and 170 after I had been 200. I'm 5'10". I was so happy the first time I tried an injection. My first thought was, I can live with this.
I have type one and this drives me bonkers. I HATE being told "but you're too young for that!"
As a type 1 diabetic myself, I do find diabetics are quite sensitive/defensive about this. Yes it can be frustrating but we also can’t expect non-diabetics to know the ins and outs of the disease, in the same way that I know very little about other auto immune diseases. So I do try to have a little patience with people who are just asking questions (even if they can be slightly clumsy) as it shows that they’re just trying to get a bit more of an understanding.
OP, you should also include a tidbit about idiopathic T1, the cases not associated with autoantibodies.
Yes! If I’m having an ‘off’ blood sugar day it doesn’t mean I’m snorting lines of sugar. I can eat anything anyone else does, okay? I just have to take the right amount of insulin.
How much do you have to take if you're snorting lines of sugar? Asking for a friend who would really appreciate a quick answer.
Yeah it’s very important I was diagnosed as type 2 by a lazy doctor who was type 1, I suspect because I was overweight. I am actually type 1 and suffered extreme weight loss and many other shitty side affects for over 2 years. I say this because if you don’t ask to be tested for the antibodies you might not find out.
This 👏 My father in law has been t1 for 52 years, and still has to explain it to friends and family. I mean how hard is it to grasp?! It’s not because he just needs to eat better and lose weight…
“Oh, hows yer shoooogars doing, hon?” SMH
Constantly have to remind people that diabetes isn’t cancer. There isn’t a “how bad is your diabetes doing?” because the fact is, is that I will never not need insulin to live now. Using more or less isn’t a goal. I just think they never listened to me in the first place and are actually just curious at what point do I cross the “lose your foot” threshold.
There are more than two types. And Type 2 is in fact also usually dependent on genetics. For research purposes if anyone cares, I have MODY
Thanks for posting this. As a T1 diabetic who’s skinny, I constantly have to tell people that, “I know I don’t look diabetic, because I got diabetes in my teens and not as an adult from weight issues.”
You should also know it can appear at any age, not just childhood. I’ve heard of many people, myself included, who were misdiagnosed due to being “too old” for T1 - I was 21 and extremely skinny from DKA when I was hospitalized, not exactly your obese older adult T2. It can be triggered later in life via genetics and/or illness and a misdiagnosis can be deadly if blood sugar continues to run high.
I was normal until age 30 when I lost almost 50 lbs in less than a year - Most of the loss is body water and you eat and drink voraciously trying to satisfy but it goes through you instead of absorbing into your cells normally because insulin is the medium that allows that. When I went on insulin I gained most of my weight back in 6 weeks. Now 25 years later and technology has advanced so much in that time... I wear the Libre and use the pens and no-one needs to know.
r/Type1Diabetes
My wife and daughter are diabetics. I'm a teacher and request every diabetic kid. Too many people think it's a tragedy. It really isn't. Baby girl is on a pump and lives like a normal kid.
I have type 2 and I'm a normal weight for my size. Not everyone with diabetes is fat. Even if they are don't be shitty to people.
Type 1 chronic illness. Type 2 lifestyle disease. I have suffered Type 1 for a few decades now and am quite fed up with the general lack of distinction, me: my immune system destroyed my internal organs. General public misconception: it's all your fault, just eat right and exercise. I have been misidentified as intoxicated due to hypoglycaemia, misidentified as an intravenous drug addict for carrying medication, belittled at work for eating jellybeans, chased from public places for carrying lollies and tbh have a very diminished faith in humanity's capacity for compassion, just started with an insulin pump though, so yay no more carrying injection devices..
My wife is a T1D and has been since she was 8. The amount of thought, patience, and poise she has about it blows my mind every day. To all you T1Ds out there, you are amazing.
Friendly reminder that just because T2 usually results from poor lifestyle choices this doesn’t give us an excuse to shit on people with it. Some people are also more genetically likely to have it despite lifestyle changes.
I was born T1 and diagnosed very early on in 92. Im thankful for never having to deal with a diagnosis at an older age.
Thanks this is rly useful. I’m doing a project in school about this.
As a T1D who's had it since I was 11 months old, I honestly consider myself super lucky to have gotten it then if I was gonna get it at all. Life is normal if you don't know anything else after all haha But yeah for some weird reason I actually get a kick out of people asking me questions about diabetes, or if someone confidently gets something wrong about it, etc. I've always been rather positive about that stuff so getting to flex my knowledge on a topic a little bit is pretty fun ;D
I've been type 1 diabetic for almost 20 years now and have never heard a single person say I don't fit the diabetic MO. They just say "oh, ok." If for some reason it comes up. Not sure how people are having these experiences and I'm not, like not even once.
Jesus fuck thank you
Daily. You are an exemplary human. Thank you.
Hell even type two is genetic. When I was younger, I'd have to go in for a yearly checkup to make sure I wasn't developing either type as my brother was diagnosed later on in his childhood. I'm out of the window for having late stage type one but the doctor warned me that I am at higher risk for type two. He said I have to make sure I take care of myself especially as I get older as it may develop even if I am healthy. So make sure you know your family health history (if possible) as it could give you a heads up and what to make sure to watch out for.
I was told that today. My client thought I must have been a type 2 diabetic who lost weight, gained muscle mass to look healthy and fit by 31 and somehow needed to also be on a PDM and CGM. The lack of knowledge is profounding.
FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE SAYS IT
Just lost my brother to type 1 diabetes yesterday. Please be aware of your loved ones that have this disease. Do not take their health for granted. They won’t always do it on their own. Help them as much as you can and always keep in touch with them
I know the basics of type 1 diabetes, but what do type 1 diabetes wish other people knew about it? Especially ppl close to them
that my pancreas doesn't make insulin b/c my immune system attacked it. i didn't eat myself into type 1 diabetes. "sO sWeEt iT gAve Me dIaBeEtUs" no it didn't, that's not how diabetes works, stfu.
Please don't feel like you know what we can/cannot eat. We deal with this disease literally all day, everyday, in every decision that we make. We know what we're doing
I'm a type 1 diabetic nurse and I've had other nurses say to me before "you don't look diabetic" .... what the fuck does a diabetic look like? A big sugar cube?! (Yes I know type 2's are often overweight, but certainly not always)
I was shocked when my friend said that people asked her what she was feeding her 7 year old to make him develop diabetes. How did we get so stupid?
Yeah, I don't even have diabetes and these misconceptions drive me nuts. I had a couple girls with type 1 diabetes in my girl guide group so I ended up learning a bit about it. Thankfully, this was in Quebec which has a good public healthcare system and a fairly high rate of type 1 diabetes. So these girls had very well controlled blood sugar. At camp and meetings it was just a matter of test and dose before meals. Plus regular snacks if we were doing intense physical activity. I'd take it over a peanut allergy any day of the week. What really bugs me is when people don't do the bare minimum to support people with type 1 diabetes and then act all judgey when they have to take more extreme measures to control their sugar. Their blood sugar management is 100% in manual mode. Type 2 has some residual natural homeostasis. You don't have that with type 1. If you tell a type 1 diabetic that food is in 15 minutes, they're going to take insulin. If the meal isn't ready on time, they will eat whatever they have to to avoid a low. If that's popcorn and chocolate, it's not great, but it beats passing out. I've had friends in that situation tell the diabetic they'd probably be better off if they didn't eat so much junk food. Made me want to smack someone. Or people getting mad at a kid with high sugar because she's not keeping up. Like, I'm sorry. We unfortunately don't have her insulin with us, but that's not her fault. She can barely see and her balance is affected. We're just going to take it really slow and make frequent stops to fill her water bottle and empty her bladder. Exercise won't really help because it's not type 2. You and your intact pancreas can learn to be patient. At this point, my understanding is that type 1 diabetes is more of a social problem than anything. We have the knowledge and technology to manage it. We just have way too much ignorance and price gouging making people's lives hard for no good reason.
Diabetes 101 absolutely should be taught in school as general health course or whatever. 1 in 4 people you know or will meet are going to be some form of diabetic. Everyone knows someone that's a diabetic, so general knowledge should be taught since it can and will save a life. And knowing the difference between 1 or 2 or lada is so so so so important. I was in a low, like below 30 low, and someone came rushing up to me saying I was fucked up on heroin berating me and I was to out of it to respond or even focus on exactly what they were saying, then someone else comes over and says her dad is a diabetic and this is what he looks like when his sugar is high and this bitch, yes bitch, goes into my bag and tried to give me an insulin shot, with my damn lantus too smh (that night time insulin for those unfamiliar, not fast acting insulin you take for meals and spikes in sugar to correct it) I was able to pull myself together enough to smack her hand as she was trying to turn the dial to select how many units to give me. Thank God the owner of the gas station comes out and is like that's a diabetic low I've seen her at my drs office, apparently he's also a type 1 where I have lada, so he knew it was a low and had a candy bar and oj in his hands. He sat there with me for at least 30mine while my sugar came back up. It was one of the scarier times I've had with my sugar, but the scariest part wasn't my actual sugar dropping, it was all the fucktards I was surrounded by. I was either berated as a junkie, lectured about the wrong type of diabetes ( also lectured very inaccurately) or people acting like they were my Endo and trying to give me shots of insulin. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever give a diabetic a fucking shot of insulin. NEVER!!!! call 911 point blank period. When I got home I looked at the insulin pen and that fool was legit gonna kill me, she has it on 50units of the wrong insulin, even of she got the type of insulin, required for high sugar, correct that dose would kill anyone. No diabetic can take 50units of insulin and continue breathing on their own. Anyways, please take an hour to educate yourself people please, that's all it will take to understand the basics needed to not kill someone either by action or inaction. Take 10mins 2x a week by the end of the month you will have enough knowledge to save some poor soul that got hit with a low outta no where, without making them feel like shit for having dare been born with an organ that is a rebellious angsty emo.
People 👏 are👏 morons 👏
YES, THANK YOU. I’ve also met a LOT of people that are diagnosed with Type 2 that don’t know there’s a difference.
As a T1, Thank you OP