I just DON'T buy it

Type 2
21

I had a hearing check the other day, prompted by tinnitus. My hearing is normal, some lose at 2KHz, possibly from diabetes, and chatting with the doctor I mentioned something about hearing loss and dementia, something I read 20 years ago, that older adults that had been diagnosed with psychoses had improvements and/or recovery when their ears were cleaned. He clarified what I my misremembered, but it was similar, that hearing loss in older people led them to be ing non-responsive and/or non-social, and in that case diagnosed with dementia.

You are certainly not doomed, but it is something to keep in mind.

22

I’ve never been a big veg fan, and when I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian, it was more a focus on ovo-lacto and legumes. I still don’t like most green vegetables, finding them bland or even disgusting, and I’m not much for preparation. My conflict was resolved when we started buying frozen bags of vegetables, riced cauliflower/broccoli, medleys, also starches like yams and corn. I’ll mix some together, add a pepper spread, some soy, and mustard, and I gobble them down. It’s for me a happy compromise.

23

Fitness for me is key, as the transformational change that led to everything else, eating healthy and taking better care of myself, going back to school and finishing my degree, as well as solving my then sulkiness and insomnia. That was 33 years ago.

If you can get into it, fitness is good for everything, and it doesn’t have to be just the aerobic kind. I’m naturally fit, someone that performs well on a treadmill. That said, I’m also 6’4 and weight 235 pounds, not a physique that would succeed at running, but I can excel at rowing.

Back in my lates 20s I got certified as a personal trainer, ran, biked, hiked, rowed and lifted, and was somewhat ‘missionary’ about it, trying to ‘convert’ people to workout, but I understood that not everyone enjoys and can succeed with aerobic work. Some people are native sprinters, and might do better with court or group sports. Weightlifting has many equivalent benefits. For myself, I’ve considered volleyball, as it was something I was good at when I was younger, plus I could enjoy the socializing.

24

Losing your hearing is not a choice for many. My husband at 73 is almost deaf. Yes, we attended a lot of rock concerts when we were young, but for my husband his deafness is almost all caused by his genetics. His father lost his hearing as did my husband’s older brothers. Our son at 32 has some hearing loss.

We are well aware of the Alzheimer’s link, so my husband has the best hearing aids available. Unfortunately they are quite expensive so are not a good alternative for many people.

I have some hearing loss which I figure is caused a bit by my diabetes, but my mom had severe hearing loss and she wasn’t a diabetic.

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25

What caused your son’s hearing loss?

Mine is in the Mild/ Moderate area ( its in between Categories I guess you could call it )

26

To Everyone:

I dont know, I am not quite a year in being a T2. I think that I got diagnosed in …

( EDIT: I just found the Facebook post where I posted a picture of my bottle of Metformin and its dated June 18th 2020. ) So next month will be a year.

I guess I am still in mourning that things have changed and that this is permanent. There’s no going back now. Its too late. The Deed is done.

I guess I am still in DENIAL about the whole thing.

I am not ready to accept that Diabetes is going to kill me some how, some way, some day…By heart attack, stroke, heart failure, A low, kidney failure so on and so on.

I forgot to tell ya’ll when my mother had me 37 years ago, a 10 LB 8 Oz baby, my mother had gestational diabetes and they told her then that I had a chance of becoming diabetic when I got older.

SURPRISE! It happened :frowning: But it took 36 years to happen.

Chris

27

Do you realize that many people with T2D have been able to put it into remission? Through determination and persistence many of them have gotten off of all diabetes meds and now live with normal blood sugar levels. It’s not an easy path but using a certain diet regimen they have restored their health.

I don’t wish to raise this issue if you are aware of this option but for other reasons have dismissed it. You may have an option available to you as a T2D that I don’t as a T1D.

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28

My son weighed a bit over 6 lbs and is now pre diabetic at 32.

His hearing loss is mostly genetic.

29

I have read on Google about people putting it into remission. But I read it might last me 20 years and then come back to where I have to go back on pills or worse insulin.

I am hoping for remission. I go back to the GP next month for a A1C test and a follow up visit.

30

OH NO! T1 or T2?

31

I assume type 2. He is overweight and that has raised his glucose levels.

33

I hope he can get the weight off and not become diabetic…

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34

There’s actually a long held association between the two illnesses. I don’t know if its legitimate, but there a historical associations. The others will prob know more than me where that comes from.

35

You’re right not to buy it. Any study or report that talks about the impact of diabetes is absolutely useless.

Here’s why:

  • Diabetes isn’t actually any single disease. It’s a label describing one of many disease states.
  • Diabetes is a label we give people who have one of many varieties of insulin disorders. Some metabolic. Some autoimmune. Some pancreatic. Some have a combination of many disease states.
  • “Diabetic complications” is a misnomer. When you dig into the research, you find that every single “diabetic complication” is actually a glucose toxicity complication. In other words, just like any other blood imbalance, a glucose imbalance can cause harm to your system (along with blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.).

The result? What these studies actually mean is that there are correlations with elevated glucose levels and long-term complications.

And what does that mean? It means that it’s up to each of us how much long-term complications we will suffer from glucose toxicity based on our management techniques.

I make the case in my diabetes manifesto that if you manage your insulin disorder perfectly, you should not even be considered “diabetic” because you’re not physiologically in a diabetic state. And, as such, long-term complications should be quite minimal – at least from a glucose toxicity perspective.

As a self-ascribed “Type A Diabetic” myself, I plan on having something else get me in the end… not this.

Cheers,
Jon

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36

If you believe what you find on Google, diabetes is a scape goat for most everything. I don’t buy it either.

But to each their own

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37

Yes T1s typically have a higher risk of cardiovascular issues because no matter how well we do, over the long run, diabetes does damage the internal linings of veins, arteries and capillaries which causes plaques to build. This is the very same process that they believe is the cause of heart attacks, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. This is why T1s are given blood pressure and cholesterol medicine even with great A1Cs and normal lipid levels.

The pancreas does a much better job than external insulin and a CGM can ever do.

T1s in the last few decades are living longer healthier lives than ever before. Unfortunately there is no cure. Nothing short of a complete cure can really fix it.

On the upside, there are a few Type 2 medications that lowers the risk of cardiovascular issues. On going research is needed to see if they’re effective for T1s to take along with insulin.

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38

Jon, you are correct in stating that the relationship between Alzheimer’s and Diabetes is a correlation and not causality.

About every 2 or 3 years someone comes out with a ‘earth shaking’ announcement about the relationship between AD and Diabetes. In no specific order, one group will claim it is due to too low glucose levels, and another group will claim it is due to glucose levels being too high.

I’m 14 years into a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and I’m pretty anal about following the research into suspected causes and treatments. If you develop symptoms before age 65, you are considered younger onset. In general, if you are of this type, there are specific genetic defects that cause close to 100% a diagnosis of AD prior to age 65. I unfortunately fall into this category.

On the other hand, if you develop AD after age 65 you are in the bucket of sporadic AD folks with no known specific genetic cause. There are families that late onset runs in but no genetic defect is currently known. This is where correlations run rampant and cause great anguish .

John

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39

I’d suggest that diabetes doesn’t do anything, because diabetes isn’t a particular physiological condition. It represents a variety of physiological conditions that lead to dangerous levels of glucose levels in the blood stream.

It’s that elevated glucose that leads to all the things you list above. If you keep your glucose managed to the point where it’s under 5.3 A1c consistently, there is nothing beyond this that creates complications.

Now, there is the time between having elevated glucose and treating it – during this time, damage is being done. So there will always be a delta due to “diabetes.” But it can be relatively minor depending how well you manage glucose levels.

The medical community’s desire to grade diabetes on the curve (~7% A1c as a target) is why there is the belief that complications are inevitable.

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40

I’m a T2 and it does concern me that I have a higher risk of one of the dementias. I guess it takes a while to get your head around it, when you first find out.

41

I do buy it, and it is a concern, but for me it depends on your stage in life, how farsighted you are, and how you handle it.

When I found fitness in my 20’s, I transformed my life, changing my diet and most aspects of my life and self-care. I began to guard against heart disease, what I thought was the worst effect of T1D. Over time, I learned about additional effects, some aspects of heart disease, like HBP and kidney failure, but also retinopathy, calcification, neuropathy, Dupuytren’s contracture, and, more recently, dementia-like illnesses.

Does it change much?

Personally, no.

The same focus I developed in my 20s, I need in my 60s, how to avoid heart disease, and all that entails, good control, good diet, etc. Granted, the effects and the fear of them can negatively impact one’s wellbeing, but then again, you choose the best life you can. Not all the effects are caused by heart disease, but it is likely that the risk of AD/D is increased.

I do not mean to be insensitive, and I’m sure it is harder than I imagine it, or was for myself, with some people struggling much more than others. For me, I was lucky, that I had to hit bottom in my life to make a change, and for me, it was a radical one.