Worst kind of diabetes

I so agree with you Scott. Either type is a royal pain in the butt. I can only keep the hope that someday there will be a cure for all types of diabetes.

If she had diabetes since she was four years old, I would be more than willing to bet she had Juvenile Diabetes, now known as Type 1.

Since I started my diabetes career (?) at age 5 I can say that it really doesn’t make a difference as such.Thing is that since I started so young I know NOTHING else, so I can’t compare today with “before diabetes”. All too often those who are diagnosed later in life, generally with Type 2, can’t seem to adjust to it because it’s so different from before.
Which brings to mind a small story. When we moved back to my family’s hometown the year after I was diagnosed Mom had an awful time finding a doctor who had ANY idea what treatment to even try. She found a highly trained endocrinologist had jut opened his office in town, so she called for an appointment for me. He refused, saying outright that he would only take Type 2’s. Mind you this was in 1957.
Mom kept on calling, showing up at his office with me in tow,and repeating it endlessly. He finally gave up (from exhaustion?) and took me on as a patient. Had 6 years of struggle with every combination of insulins, diet and routine that he could think of before he finally developed a unique treatment in 1962 and I finally straightened up. I became a model patient, and 6 other Type 1s that couldn’t gain control joined me as his model patients.
Many years later, after moving away and back again for the third time in 33 years I found his son was running the practice and he had gone into semi-retirement, just taking patients 1 day a week at a clinic. The reason he gave up was that he got so tired of Type 2s that never tried to follow the regimens he gave them because they remembered when life was “better”.
Guess I showed him! He learned eventually what’s good vs bad in diabetes.
Incidentally I also finally found out why he didn’t want to take on any Type 1s when we got there. He already had 1 at home, his daughter. He really couldn’t imagine helping another Type 1 take control after seeing what his daughter went through day by day. Eventually both she and her brother became endos. Unfortunately she died in the mid 90s.

I agree with Dave the worst kind is the undiagnosed kind.

In second place would be a child with diabetes.

In third place would be, a diabetic in denial. Diabetics need to consider what kind of burden they may end up being on their family and friends if they do no take care of themselves. I recently lost a friend because she was in denial.

I’ll start by saying I am a type II; have had the “D” for 10 years.

Okay, but I work with kids who have had this disease almost since birth, all type I. I have adult friends who are being diagnosed now with type I and II.

Is there a worse case? I don’t know, I think they are all pretty bad. And as I have said before, since when is there a good kind of diabetes? It all is bad as far as I am concerned. I think what is bad, is that people who know they have it don’t do anything about it, and people who don’t have it don’t want to know if they are at risk.

We have to stop the pickering about whose got it worse, and start fighting for a cure for it all. After all, if they find something that works for II’s then maybe with some tweaking it would work for I’s and vice versa. Your type is your badge of honor, how you handle it is your business, but we all have diabetes.

Hats off to your mother! What a lady! To think that she not only helped you, but countless other patients & where any of them would be now without her perseverance. Grateful you showed him.

Cathy,

Agree with Dave’s statement. Everyone’s responses are in accord that essentially there is no “worse” type. No bickering at all.

I would, but my blood glucose is lowish and I need to pop a glucose tab :slight_smile:

I take Cathy’s comment to be about bickering (“pickering” is what I do to sort my favorite flavor of glucose tablets [coconut] from the strawberry ones in my giganto bottle of hypo relief) in general, not referring specifically to any of the discussion in this polite thread :slight_smile:

The worst kind is the kind your kid has. the second worst is the kind you have.

rick phillips

Kind of off topic but…they make coconut flavored ones? Where did you get those? :slight_smile:

Only place I’ve found them is in the large-size assorted fruit Dex4 sold at K-Mart. Also contains pink (strawberry? cherry?) and orange. IMO, they should increase ratio of coconut!

It is all very bad.

Is there any good kind???

Your answer is the right one .

Yeah =o( .

(Mom to Elizabeth, dx’d just after Memorial Day '09. Doing well though. She’s a trooper and as spunky as they come!)

None of my children have D so far.
But, it would feel as their D would be worser than mine !!!

The worst kind happens to them who suffers the most of it.
Some people keep on smiling with severe complications, while others suffers every day and having no reason to complain.

Not everybody can carry the same load…
The less the inner strength, the worser it looks…
The experience is different for everybody…

I’ll admit that I skipped most of the pages in this discussion, but from what I’ve read I find it odd nobody has mentioned what I know as Brittle Diabetes. My step mother had an aunt who had it and could eat an entire cake in one sitting (she was a massive woman btw) with no insulin in her system and still have BG numbers in the 40s and 50s all day. Other days her numbers were in the 400-500s and no amount of insulin seemed sufficient to lower it. Those are just extreme examples of her daily life (both true), but my point is she had no control because she couldn’t control it. Her doctors called it Brittle Diabetes. She died a few days after her birthday from complications about 15 years ago.

I’d call that the worst kind of diabetes.

never heard of that kind but interesting

I only find DEXTRO “regular” ones and lemon, here in Belgium. Would like to try the coconut for a change… send me one :wink:
Gonna contact DEXTRO to make more flavours… with all those people having D… big $$$… or start myself something… :wink: