I just learned that my grandfather may have had the same weird doesn't-quite-fit the standard types diabetes that I do! He was diagnosed when he was in the Navy (during WW2) and lived with diabetes for nearly 50 years. He never had a blood glucose monitor - just those urinalysis strips that I remembered seeing in the bathroom - and he was on insulin. I'd always assumed he'd developed type 2 later in life (because that's the kind the other close family member who had diabetes had), so this was really cool to find out. My mom likes to talk about how much I take after my grandfather, and finding out that he pretty much made diabetes his ■■■■■, at a time when there weren't nearly as many resources available to him, just makes me hopeful about what I'll be able to do, despite my diagnosis.
Its funny how the 2 generations before us never talked about anything that may assist us with our health.
My mother told me her mother didnt tell her or explain her monthly cycle and how to deal with it. My mom jst used toilet paper, as she didnt know any better. Until she stayed at a friends place and learned about feminine products!! I cant even imagine!!
My mother… did something similar to me but in a different area. She had several miscarriges and gave birth to 2 other babies after I was born, both of whom died at birth. I didnt even know!!! Anyway… fast forward to 1990, I was pregnant with my son, sick as a dog,gestantional diabetes, High blood pressure,toxemia…pretty much anything that could go wrong… did. That is when my mother decided to tell me and my Dr. about what she went through… back tehn they didnt know about the condition the babies died from was… apparently, they do now. It is called anacephaly.(spelling?)
which is the opposite of spinal bifida…it affects the upper part of the spine and exposes all your circutry to your brain. There is absolutely no way to survive from this. AND it is heretitary!!! Each time I have a child… It only has a 50/50 chance! a little tidbit of info I would have liked to know BEFORE I was pregnant!!
Aaahhh well… my son was born on valentines day 1991, 1 month premature,breach,with no anestheic c section. Because lets face it… I wasnt quite sick enough or going through hell enough apparently! LOL
He was perfect. He was healthy, and as I was slipping away in the operating room to meet my maker… I heard his adorable little cry and I fought with every cell in my being to stay alive.
And no… I didnt have any more children after that… but if I had a daughter… I would promise to tell her EVERYTHING!!!
LOL isn’t family grand??? lol
Interesting that you call it a weird doesn’t-quite-fit the standards type of diabetes, because I have been calling mine Type Weird for about 18 years, and I tell people it’s because it just doesn’t fit squarely in any of the boxes. Plus my grandmother had it, and injected insulin (started in the late 1920’s, not long after insulin became available). However, my mother never had it, and she lived to be 80. She never even had any of the other things that go along with Type 2, either, no high cholesterol, blood pressure or obesity, although she was overweight in her later years. I was never obese, either, and when I first developed diabetes, the sulfonylurea, which was all that was available at the time, didn’t work for me at all, so I went on insulin within 5 months of my formal diagnosis. Although I’m sure I had it before then.
Tell me more about why yours is weird. I’ve had 2 CDEs independently tell me I should consider myself Type 1, because when I had a coma last year (long story), the Type 2 protocols didn’t work for me in the hospital, and I only responded to Type 1 protocols. My new endo also has me down as a Type 1, but it’s not exactly right, because I don’t have as many problems with highs or lows as most Type 1’s do. Although maybe if I had tighter control, I would, I don’t know. On the other hand, insulin works VERY well for me, and not in excessive doses – I take about 30 - 35 units a day.
So, in the end, I’ve figured out that it doesn’t matter exactly what type I am, but rather, how well I manage my diabetes.
It is soo much better now than even when I was diagnosed in the70’s (I had to do the clintest too) Thngs go up from here My biggest surprise ever was whewn I found out that my g-mother died of breast cancer. Here I was thinking I had that one licked (she died when I was 6 months old) my parents never told me about it it took my aunt to tell me wen I was 45 years old about it. Scared the bejesus out of me.
@ Doris - my family’s typically pretty open about medical stuff, which is why I was so surprised that this one REALLY BIG THING THAT RELATES TO MY INTERESTS had just slipped under the radar. 
@Natalie - lol - my weirdness sounds similar to yours; my lab results have made my endo’s think type 2, but I respond to treatment like a type 1 (I also average around 35 units a day). At my last appointment, there was still a big post-it question mark in my file. And while I recognize the important thing is that I maintain tight control, there’s still this nagging part of me that really wants to be labeled and filed in a particular category. Like that will make it more official somehow. I don’t know…
@kara - WOW, that’s a lot to go through. I’m lucky that my mother has always been forthcoming about things like that (for instance, I know that my grandmother was the first baby born by C-section in her county), which, again, is why I was so surprised that she hadn’t shared the info about my grandfather. It’s just such a disconnect from the usual way we communicate.
I can really relate to the wanting to make it official, because it took me a while to get diagnosed – I ended up very symptomatic with distinctly high BGs before I was actually diagnosed – I’m sure I could have been diagnosed sooner. I fretted for a long time about type, so I know where you’re coming from. Did you have antibody testing? C-peptide testing is not as reliable in the early stages. When I was diagnosed, neither one was available, so I have never had them. And now it’s probably too late for the antibody testing, I’m not sure. And I don’t really care, anyway. I’m delaying C-peptide testing until I have to do it in order for Medicare to cover my pump, 2 years from now. And I’m following the explicit directions of my CDE and endo – if I’m ever in the hospital again, I am to be treated as a Type 1. End of story.