Greetings! I'm new to tudiabetes. I had gestational diabetes, so I guess that makes me pre-diabetic, and my mother had Type 2. But I'm here because I'm writing a novel wherein a character, a woman, is diagnosed with Type 2 in 1972 (when it was called Adult-onset diabetes), and I'm looking for help.
Does anyone know what the dietary guidelines were for Type 2 patients in the early 1970s? Might someone have a pamphlet or nursing textbook from then?
Also, I could use some volunteers who are knowledgeable about that period to proofread the diabetes sections for accuracy.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Note: I know this site isn't for researchers, but I did get permission from an administrator to post this. It's thought that it might be helpful/fun for people to learn anything I learn about that time period.
A good resource for historical information is Open Library. You can search for terms like "diabetes diet" and then restrict the dates to dates in the 1970s. Look for books that are available electronically, they will either be in pdf or epub format. I suspect you will find that T2 in 1970 were expected to just eat whatever they wanted or do the exchange diet. There were almost no oral treatments, basically only first generation sulfonylureas. T2 patients were kind of expected to just go downhill and then they would go on insulin when their condition got out of control.
I'm familiar with type 2 in the late 60's/ early 70's. I had family with type 2 but it was a very personal illness in those days and almost no one outside the family and a doctor knew anything about it. At times She would just not eat,sometimes passing out from lack of nutrition and other time's she may give herself some insulin if we where going to eat something like a holiday meal. She almost never gave herself insulin on Sunday because the fear of having a Hypo event at church was just too great. In the late 60's early 70's poor folks (most people) could not afford a $600-$700 meter and the chemical tests just told us we where spilling sugar into our pee. I did not check my BG much even in 1984 because it was too expensive.
It was a personal Purgatory in the old days....people during those times where expected to bite down on that leather strap (figuratively speaking) so no one else close to the family would hear about it...family weakness was hidden from others.
I forgot to mention that I cannot ever remember anyone calling it (Adult-onset diabetes) especially not in the 70's. I also think treatment and the description in those days was more regional. My family and Doctor called it Sugar Diabetes in the early 70's.
