to not admit to being a diabetic ?

[LondonNovice]

I am a diabetic and have been for more than two decades.
When I was first diagnosed the general feeling seemed to be that I had a medical condition which I was unfortunate to suffer from.
Now attitudes have changed and hardened. A diabetic now seems to be viewed as someone who has brought all of their health problems on themselves by not leading a healthy lifestyle and that they could be cured if only they would follow the correct diet.
I now feel ashamed to admit to being a diabetic.

Well it depends! If type 1 then yabu because you can’t help it. If type 2 and you’ve been told you can help it but don’t then yabu also sorry!

depends what type you are really. Even if you’re type 2 it doesn’t mean you caused it. But you’re right that there’s a stigma

Why does anyone need to know your diabetic? Only discovered a friend was when someone nicked her insulin and iv known her for ages. It just hadnt come up.in conversation

My mum and grandad are type 2, it’s far more complex than just being a case of fat people are type 2. Neither have ever been over a healthy bmi range, mum was quite a hippy and mainly ate veg and lentils. Very slim growing. My neighbour is also type 2, under 5ft and built like a bird. I’m probably on the way, I had gestational diabetes. Again I’ve never been over weight, I gave birth each time still within the healthy bmi range. I eat low carb and low sugar, drink very occasionally and lightly. I am very fit, I cycle miles, do yoga nearly every day and can run 5k.

My friend and her family are all morbidly obese, never exercise and have poor food choices. Really hugely obese, to a very rare level- none of them are type 2.

It’s embarrassing because type 2= lazy/ fat/ don’t care nowadays. But there are different types. It’s not so straightforward as people say. I still try my best, but realistically the majority of people eat a worse diet in this country than me, but are less likely to become type 2. I hated the gestational diabetes clinic, lectures about being fat and blanket advice- I was sitting there at 22 weeks with a bmi of 21.5

Why would it come up in conversation?

Type 1 and 2 are viewed quite differently.

Fuck sake...one comment in and the shaming begins already. No wonder you.dont want to say. Note: there's a very real chance I will develop type 2 at some.point due to previous medical history....however I am not fat, overweight or lazy. So I get how you feel

My reply was at the shaming already in the second post

Very slim, active people can develop type 2. There is a huge genetic component. I've been reading about this because I can see that there is a strong familial history of this on both sides of my family.

Type 1 is clearly not lifestyle related. There are other, rarer, types too.

I think over-simplified health campaigns are responsible for simple-minded people arriving at simplistic understandings.

I find there is a lot of ignorance and people don’t understand the difference between type 1 and 2.

What type are you?

I am a Type 1.

I’ll likely get type 2. My dad (slim, young at diagnosis) has it; his mum (former model) had it. Her mum (tiny lady) had it. It has a genetic component and has bizarrely become stigmatised in recent years.

YANBU OP.
It’s just another form of fat shaming. If people develop oesteoporosis from anorexia or their teeth rot due to bulimia they are viewed with sympathy. But if you get type 2 because of an eating disorder making you fat then you’re just lazy and need to sort yourself and your ‘choices’ out.

You have nothing to worry about then. It’s type 2 diabetics who get all the judgement.

The reason I feel I have to tell more people that I really want to is because of the hypo risk.

The very fact that people are asking if you are type 1 or 2 shows that people think one is not your fault and one is.

My DH is T1 and he finds this too. There actually doesn’t seem to be a good understanding of the difference between T1 and T2 amongst many people.

Im currently pregnant and I have gestational diabetes which I'm injecting insulin for. It's an indication that I could potentially develop type 2 in later life (or not so later). I've always been slim and healthy.

The very fact that people are asking if you are type 1 or 2 shows that people think one is not your fault and one is.

It isn’t wrong to state that for some type 2 diabetics, the reason they have it is partly due to lifestyle. That is absolutely not the case for type 1 diabetes.

You have nothing to worry about then. It’s type 2 diabetics who get all the judgement.

Well you've just proved the OP's point right there haven't you? 🙄🙄🙄

Well you've just proved the OP's point right there haven't you?

How?

My GM became Type 2 age 45. Her son, my DF, became Type 2 age 42. I became Type 2 age 44.

I’ve had people tell me to my face that I brought it on myself and don’t deserve any free NHS treatment as I’m overweight. They can fuck right off. Lifestyle will play its part but so does genetics.

The reason I feel I have to tell more people that I really want to is because of the hypo risk.

You could just say you suffer hypoglycaemic episodes without going into why. You can have them independent of diabetes. But provide a list of warning signs, people don't always realise when they first see one.

The very fact that people are asking if you are type 1 or 2 shows that people think one is not your fault and one is.

Very true.

I think that T2D, a bit like metabolism in general, is one of those things where there isn't a genetic level playing-field to begin with and to criticise somebody for it and accuse them of being at fault is very foolish indeed (not to mention wholly unnecessary).

As has already been said, even people who are very slim and follow an extremely healthy diet can get T2D if they have a genetic propensity to it.

However, inasmuch as it is (or maybe isn't) linked to poor diet and/or lack of exercise, you have no way of knowing how 'easy' it would be for them to get it, or whether it would be nigh on impossible, even if they banqueted on takeaways three times a day.

Imagine if somebody told you that they couldn't afford to buy a loaf of bread, you might be sceptical of the truth of that or otherwise maybe think them terrible with money to not be able to find 55p for a cheap loaf. Now, if they told you that, soon after they were born, the midwife tucked a randomly-assigned raffle ticket into their babygro, which determined the set price at which they were allowed to buy bread for the rest of their lives, and it so happened that they got the one which dictated they would have to pay £250 per loaf if they wanted any.

All the time the topic came up, you'd be thinking "But it's 55p - or less for the value stuff - how can somebody not afford 55p for a loaf?". meanwhile, they'd be thinking "How can she possibly afford to eat so much bread when just four loaves will cost you a grand?"

Neither of you would be wrong in your thinking for yourselves, but if somebody else has been dealt an apparently random 'hand' that is at the other end of the spectrum to yours, you can't possibly understand their POV nor be in a position to judge them for how they play their hand.

@PurpleDaisies ‘lifestyle’ is a pretty ambiguous term though, some people can no more help their ‘lifestyle’ then they can help their genetics.

I have type 2 and I am ashamed of it, the media have portrayed it as a poor lifestyle, self inflicted disease and although this initially angered me the escalating amount of people contracting type 2 is mainly (on always) due to this, I read on here the food choices people are giving their children and cringe, parents really struggle to say no to their children theses days despite the widely documented health risks. I have always eaten a healthy diet with very few processed foods and lots of veg but would treat myself to chocolate on a weekly basis, I now treat myself to a 150g bar a month and very little fruit only berries and no white starches. I’m now considered boarderline.