NEW poll! Types of Diabetes (PLEASE PARTICIPATE FOR INTERNAL PURPOSES)

With what type of diabetes, you live with?

  • Type 1
  • Type 2 on insulin
  • Type 2 non insulin
  • Gestational diabetes
  • LADA

0 voters

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Thanks for this poll @Mila, it’s good to know how the community stands on this disease.

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What about other types of diabetes–for example, type 3CDM. That meaning, diabetes caused by pancreatic surgery for example.

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Wow, surprisingly few type II’s. I’m surprised. Is anybody using these cluster X classifications? Diabetes is actually five separate diseases, research suggests - BBC News

They forgot about the diabetics that lost their pancreas due to traumatic injury, but I’m lumping them in with Shelly10’s surgery diabetics.

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type1 is leading, I thought there were more type 2

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There are more t2 in the US. In this forum, it seems the overwhelming majority are T1.

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@Mila, just out of curiosity…Could you do a poll on how many people have had their license suspended or revoked as a result of diabetes? To include anyone who forgot to submit paperwork or anything. And, perhaps, what the longest period of time it had ever taken them to get reinstated. ???

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Type 1 has always been the largest percentage of users, one thing that I found interesting is that among Type 2s that responded there are more that are insulin dependent than not. What we see so far is just a small sample of our membership, I wonder if these numbers are representative of the whole community.

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They can report the % of users that responded. Maybe thats published - how many total members there are.

I just think Type 1’s/LADA’s are more likely to seek advice and help on treating their disease? It plays a much bigger part of their life because for one, insulin usage every day. So they are more likely to be more aggressive treating, finding ways to improve treatment and common problems people have already experienced?

So it kind of makes sense more insulin using type 2’s are on this site too.

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I think it is also an age of impact and generation thing… Most T2s are diagnosed when older, and may be in the generation of folks not quite online savvy.

I have older relatives with T2, who don’t have interest in internet, and are of the mind set to just follow doctors orders. The impact to their lives is minimal, test one time per day and take a few pills, whatever the Dr prescribes. No interest in lowering A1C as long as the doctor is happy with it.

I am a 77-year-old T1. I left another forum for this one recently because it was inhabited mostly by T2s whose interests did not match mine. My attraction to this site is that it deals with a great many T1 problems that include pumps and other equipment.

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A while ago a member (don’t remember who) who frequents T2-focused sites commented that TUD is regarded as being very insulin-centric, and that can be off-putting, especially to those who are afraid of having to go on insulin. It does seem to me like it’s insulin-centric, but then my concerns all revolve around insulin, one way or another, so I don’t particularly notice postings about non-insulin medications and treatments.

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I like to be sensitive to people’s feelings around the treatment of diabetes. To have to worry about discussing insulin for fear that we will ignite the fears of T2Ds worried about their prospective use of insulin is a bit too much.

People who are afraid of using insulin need to realize that insulin is our lifeline. Not using insulin is an existential threat to our very lives. It is of such a vital importance to us and we need to talk about it on a peer support diabetes forum.

I accept this criticism but I find non-apologetic discussion of insulin use totally outranks anyone’s fear of diabetes and needles. This point of view is not held with any animus or mean-spiritedness on the part of we insulin users. The forum is wide open to talking about the fear of insulin and needles – topics dedicated to this topic appear here from time to time. I’ve been surprised to read about insulin treating T1Ds who fear needles.

Members also spend a lot of time talking about many T2D medications since some people with T1D want to try them with off-label use.

This just seems like a head-scratching criticism to me!

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Terry, IMO, you made one of the best-ever posts. Well said!

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Hope I didn’t open a can of worms–I wasn’t offering it as a criticism or suggestion we do anything different so much as just a perspective on where we fit in the overall DOC ecology.

I did do a site search on “fear of insulin T2” to see if I could turn up the original comment. Didn’t run across it, but there are certainly a lot of discussions on T2 and insulin and the anxieties around same. If there’s an overarching theme it’s about lowering the anxiety level, and expressing an equal concern about medical professionals using the “threat” of insulin as leverage to get patients to change their lifestyles, and that by doing so they’re perpetuating and reinforcing this fear to the detriment of a lot of people who might benefit from insulin therapy. From that you get a lot of comments reassuring people that it’s not that bad, it’s manageable, you’ll actually feel better, etc. All of which I wholeheartedly support, but at the same time, if you were someone already feeling a lot of trepidation and strongly motivated to avoid insulin therapy, you wouldn’t necessarily want to go somewhere where you’d see a lot of people trying to argue you into accepting it. On the Interwebs there are always other choices, and barriers to entry can be very fine-grained.

This is a good point. If I don’t want to progress to insulin therapy, don’t care much for needles, and my doctor has been threatening me with insulin if I don’t lose some weight, then I could see why some people with T2D might want to avoid TuD. I understand your initial comment a little better.

Makes me wonder if we were far better off before the web (Twitter, FB, et al). We got our info from medical professionals, books, and those around us–not from a bunch of strangers who have no ethics about posting dubious (at best) “information”. It aggravates me to no end when I see blatantly wrong medical advice given on line. And it is REALLY EASY to find such info.