Recently was going to take over a Diabetic Meetup in LA area but felt it would be too much for me to handle. I recieved mail from Type 1 diabetics that made it bluntly known they really didn’t want nothing to do with Type 2 diabetics. Obviously, being a LARGE AND IN CHARGE TYPE 2 DIABETIC… I was slightly offended.
I have noticed on other sites and even on this site there are some attitude differences between Type 1 and TYPE 2. I don’t understand why? I know the treatments maybe different. And I do understand that Type 1 diabetiecs are long time sufferers of this ailment. But to be so mean and not want discuss your experiences with a TYPE 2 diabetic is ridiculous.
I personally take ownership of the fact that I caused myself to develop diabetesthrough unhealthy eating and lack of physical activity. Actually had a fun time doing it…Now that I am wiser I am doing my best to live with it and exercise. Isn’t that what ALL DIABETICS SHOULD BE DOING???
Please help me understand & give me your thoughts. I want a decent discussion about this. I am not trying to play favorites.
I would like for people to take this passion and focus it. I have replied to a number of people because i felt it was important to let them know I am paying attention. I am not just mindlessly starting riot and leaving. Please, I work the night shift and it is not terribly busy right now.
I would like to see more books on the Type 1 experience as suggested by a person.
I would like us to take this movement to congress and get some regulations on how insurances deal with us and lowering the cost of supplies. I personally would like to see some type of rules on when a person is diagnosed the doctor or hospital can direct you to the local diabetic clinic or educator or classes. All I got was food chart, a prescription for pills and was told to loose weight. when I called my insurance company they refused to pay for anything that involved a educator or classes. It was a gentleman who was diagnosed a month before me that even gave me this information.
I would like to see a movement for food manufacturers to put on the labels if foods are Diabetic Friendly… Look around the only thing I have seen that states this is a bag of splenda and certain flavors of Kellogg corn flakes. They have no problem putting fat-free, low sugar free why not diabetic friendly.
Hi Christalyn, I have noticed this as well but just peg it to the individual. those of us that are Type 2 are not all the same, in my opinion we are all highly individualized with our disease. I can only guess that the same holds true for Type 1 as well. We all do share some common traits, we don’t metabolize carbohydrates the same as non diabetics, we share the same concerns, avoid complications to the best of our ability, seeking proper medical care that is affordable. But as far as how we manage our diabetes we are all individuals, you have the ADA way at one end, Dr Bernstein at the other and what works for you somewhere in between, or at least mine is. I don’t know that either Type 1 or Type 2 is worse, or harder ir more confusing, but they are different to be sure. just my opinion
I understand everybody is individualized. What made me concern is that A Type 1 person didn’t want to be around me or share theire experience because we were similiar. I like supporting people to get to the higher ground. I really don’t have much support for my disease. I just think if I wasn’t highly motivated I would be in bed all day. I don’t want to the the tit for tat game. because I am sure there are Type 1 that are managing just fine and there are people like that are TYPE 2 who are struggling.
I look at it like this
T1s have their pancreas anihilated “boom” like a big explosion (immune reaction/auto immune reaction/ viral ? who knows) usually at a younger age.
T2s have a slow destruction of their pancreas (due to insulin resistance) - we know family genes and negative lifestyle features dont help.
T1s have the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ (of emotions of course)
T2s just have a constant ‘pain in the ■■■’ (but might someday also end up on insulin)
The common thread is all are dependent on each other for support (moral, etc) and the common hope of a cure that will replace the function of the pancreas. There’s serious talk of a cure within this generation.
Till then its be brave.
Dave, You state “we don’t metabolize carbohydrates the same as non diabetics”, which is key, because type 1s generally DO metabolize carbohydrates the same as non diabetics, the difference is that because the body’s immune system has destroyed the insulin-producing beta cells, type 1s must replace that insulin from external sources; type 1 diabetes is NOT a metabolic disease as such, it is a disease of the immune system’s inability to distinguish “self” from “non-self”. Some argue that type 1s really should be treated by immunologists rather than endocrinologists, but until there are effective immunology treatments, we must deal with endocrine doctors in an effort to replicate what happens in people who do not have any form of diabetes.
hahahahahaha! I have junk in the trunk now! I love my butt nowadays. hehe, but I’m still pretty thin. Back when I was a size 0, I was literally skin and bones. I could see all my ribs and my hip bones pointed out so dominantly that they felt like they were going to break skin. I have a picture of when I was that thin and you can see all the muscles and tendons in my neck. Gross. For someone of my height and frame, size 0 was really disgusting. I don’t miss it, though wish I was maybe ONE size smaller than I am now. But… that’s just being female I think?
I was diagnosed at 1200. I had a 17.1% A1c and I, too, was walking around living a normal life. I knew that I didnt feel well, but I didnt know how to explain it. I was peeing all the time and then I got a few really bad UTIs, then I missed my menstrual cycle for 5 months. I was a mess!
Glad to see your spirits are still high. Don’t let a few bad apples spoil the bunch, okay? Especially on TuD. We are mostly a great bunch of people all trying for the same goal: Staying afloat.
"Also, I know people with type 2 who never go low and their high is “150 mg/dl.” Honestly, that just makes me feel ■■■■■■ about myself because to me, 150 is usually a good number! Or at the very least, one that doesn’t make me cringe. "
FWIW I 'm a type 2 and i don’t like these people either
Great idea Christalyn: I am all for a RED THURSDAY: The markup on diabetic supplies, particularly for test strips, is ridiculous!! I also would like to see Type ones and Type twos , LADA’s. MODY’s united to advocate for better education of the medical community and diabetics… You would not believe the number of diabetics ( usually type 2’s, unfortunately), who are being mis- or underinformed by their health care team, out of medical ignorance… I also have had medical personnel treat me like I am not able to make decisions for myself and try to put me on a sliding scale when I was hospitalized for both minor surgeries and extended stays: They acted like they had NEVER met any diabetic who counted carbs and managed their own insulin intake… One of the nurses at a doctor’s office even told me that she had never met a healthy diabetic, and was amazed to meet me…So we all need to advocate for more realistic and applicable education about self-care ,current treatment paradigms, and finanacial and insurance practices… Keep up the Muckraking, Girlie!!!
I agree that there are differences in both. I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother me to be “lumped in” but that might be because I grew up with a large family and have struggled my whole life to “stand out”. I dunno. Maybe it is a deep rooted aggravation that’s been ingrained. Maybe it’s jealousy like Joe_h said earlier? I want my pancreas to work! If only for a few minutes! :*(
I imagine it isn’t easy not being able to get a CGM as a type 2 either. I just got approved this week for one and it’s promised to make my life MUCH easier and to lessen my long term comoplications. But, insurance doesn’t cover it for type 2s usually. I imagine that type of thing is tough to deal with too.
So, the long and the short is that I love this TuD community and that it brings so many different kinds of people together. I think the world of every one of you guys… except maybe one. There’s one member here that I can’t stomach.
I have heard the same. I wouldn’t say ALL, but I would say a large percentage. Maybe not even half of Type 2s, but still… eventually many type 2s will also have to be on injections because even at diagnosis your pancreas is saying “Man, I’m tired!”
After a few years of giving it meds (making it lazy) and/or not changing your physical habits, it’s just gonna say: “F it.” Keep in mind, when the pharmacist said that, he was also including many elderly people who are type 2. They would be older and many of their normal organs would be getting “tired” by that point anyway.
So, yes it’s possible… but I would say he was incorrect in stating ALL.
You are right .We need to understand the things we have in common and respect are differences…We most work togerther with each other to meet all of are needs. Unfortunely there is a political aspect we all must face from legal issues to insurance.
To use the words of an American Patriot ;Surely we should hang together or surely we will hang seperately.
One of the problem is that so much information and resouces is geard to the type 2 and sometime we type 1 feel left out.
Being LADA I found some type 1 were snobs about being type1 .These was before I knew I wasn’t type 2 .So i know what you are talking about.
I think the anger comes from the ability to change things in the life of a type 2 vs the life of a type 1. When I was first told that I would be in insulin for the rest of my life I was really bumbed out for a while. I accepted that life back them. I had no control over my body producing insulin. Now image if you could tell a type 1 that if he/she ran more they could lower the amount of insulin they use or if they lose 20 to 30 pounds they would no longer be required to be in insulin. That is the message that is out there and I see why a type 1 would be frustrated with that message. I always try to put myself in the other person’s shoes and walk a mile in them, figuratively speaking. I think that is the power that type 2’s have an ability to control the meds they use based on a physical activity or the amount of food we consume. We have the power to completely go off meds if we put the work into it, granted it is not easy work.
What we can offer to type 1’s is educating people about the difference and I feel I have learned a lot from the type 1’s here. Sometimes we dont see eye to eye on things but it helps me to not take things for granted.
I have lived as an insulin dependent diabetic, I dont know what to call myself I guess 1.5 since I have been in between insulin dependent and oral med dependent. So i know how both sides feel and they are very different but should not stop people from helping people
I don’t take any of it to heart. I’m much too hard-headed and vocal for that. My hubby has to stop me from re-educating the perinatalogist every time he discusses blood sugar…but my endo did say she’s thinking of doing it herself and giving him a call.
I think one thing that any long-term diabetic can tell you - regardless of type - is that they know when a treatment regimen isn’t working. Many of us are resistant to trying new treatments, sure, and that’s not good, but once we’re trying them, I think we get an intuitive feel of their effectiveness.
I know I’m doing the best I can. Like Terry said, we have to be the senior partner. The doctors that support us in being in charge can take us a long, long way toward better care for ourselves. I can’t praise my endocrine team enough for the attitudes and perspectives with which they approach their patients - T1 and T2.
Forgive me if I’m completely off base, but I think that you may have taken the T1 who you say “doesn’t want to be around you” the wrong way. I have absolutely no interest in going to a meetup/support group with T2 folks. You shouldn’t take any offense to that - it’s just that I only would go to a support/meetup group where everyone else is on a pump and/or on a CGMS and does not have insulin resistance (b/c I am very, very, very insulin sensitive). I wouldn’t be going for any emotional support or to talk about how diabetes affects me, I strictly want to learn what others are doing to alter their basal needs related to different types of exercise, to set extended boluses based on what food they are eating, to get their CGMSs functioning as accurately as possible, how they use the superbolus, etc. That’s all I want from a support group and maybe that’s all the T1s you were dealing with want, too. I really don’t think it’s that they don’t want to be around you or don’t want to have anything to do with you b/c you’re T2. It’s just that they want different things out of a support group that you and most of the other T2s can’t give.
Thanks, Christalyn. It’s been a long road with a so-far joyous outcome. Being a pregnant type 1 is something that my other pregnant friends couldn’t relate to, that my other T1 friends couldn’t relate to, etc. Being able to talk to other type 1s who have been pregnant has been life-changing for me. I think that’s what people are getting at.
You say you see more about T1 in the media. The media references type 1 only in relationship to kids, though, so what you see in regard to type 1 foundations/celebrities still doesn’t support or reflect me or other adult T1s. Once you reach adulthood as a type 1, it’s like getting kicked out of a club. There’s no place for you, no organization, no support. Parents of type 1 children often resent our input and we are often shut out of conversations about research because we’ve “had it too long.”
While I understand (and as an admin here, see an immediate need for) asking type 1s to join forces with other types because we have similar goals, there is a lot of deep, long-held resentment about having a difficult illness and nowhere to go for it. Support groups, like others have said, focus on type 2 lifestyle issues. We are left to face a very lonely environment - and hopefully social media like our community will one day change that.
Despite years of advocacy on the behalf of type 1s to get the kinds of attention and legislation you urge us to fight for, we’re told we’re just too small a group to cater to. It’s a lonely and misunderstood world for us, so please forgive those who want to sequester themselves among just other type 1s. They need a little space, a little time, and a lot of support. My T2 friends have taught me that I don’t know everything and that I someday need to find a way to get over my own resentments, but I have taught them a good deal about patience and about what a T1’s daily minute-to-minute management of this disease entails. It’s a good sharing experience. But I still need the support that I can get from only another T1 now and then.
I believe we all should live as being " predispositioned to " by not smoking , exercising, eating nutritionally , managing stress , educating ourselves , and still have fun and DON"T wait till we are in our later years …it affects a lot of diseases , not only diabetes …
