Do you assume diabetics with horrible complications are to blame?

[BlueberryIsMyFavourite]

I'm just curious about this. And as this is an anonymous forum I thought people would answer truthfully, whereas in person I think people at least sometimes want to be more gentle.

I have type 1 diabetes for a long time now, 28 years, since childhood. I have always been incredibly sensitive to insulin and for a long time in old fashioned terms would have been called "brittle" but doctors don't tend to use that term anymore.

I have very good diabetes management now thanks to new technology. However, plenty of damage was done early on.

There just seems to be a general sense that people think diabetes is quite simple to control, and if you are struggling it's because you aren't doing something right.

Whereas, there are so, so many factors that can cause blood sugar to rise or drop apart from food - as an example, brushing my teeth can cause me to start dropping quickly, which then needs some glucose or juice to treat and stabilise it, and try brushing teeth again later. Because of course, diabetes also can destroy oral health, so good oral hygiene is very important. This is obviously a small, mundane example.

It is relentless and there are no days off.

Do you just assume diabetics with complications are essentially irresponsible?

This. Type 2 definitely less sympathetic. But having type 1 I imagine can be life changing.

I'm diabetic insulin controlled. I'm 34 snf have been diabetic since I was 14. I was a terrible teen. Completely in denial about my condition, ignored it and never took my insulin. Fast forward 20 years I'm much better controlled like you due to better technology and growing up but some damage is done. I have some loss of kidney function and retinopathy in my eyes.

I think time and growing up had made me realise my health is important but I still struggle.

Managing diabetes is very hard. Exercise. Food, illnesses all effect it.

Outwardly I look normal but obviously inside I am poorly and sometimes people don't understand.

Going back to your original post. No, sometimes there is background reasons as to why individuals have complications.

I'm trying to get pregnant at the moment and before I'm even allowed to try my sugar levels have to be perfect for several months.

Diabetes is difficult!

Type 2 isn't always self inflicted... you do realise this?

No. I eat loads of sugar and am not diabetic so wouldn’t assume those who are, are somehow culpable.

No. I know that complications can be caused by people not managing their diabetes properly, but it wouldn't occur to me to assume that personal negligence was necessarily the only possible cause of complications. And I wouldn't underestimate the difficulty of the lifelong management of a health condition of which I have no personal experience.

No, because I have a childhood friend who is blind and has a variety of awful health problems due to uncontrollable Type 1 diabetes and also because most of my family have Type 2 it simply because of their ethnicity...slim, sporty, healthy individuals who end up losing limbs or their lives through no fault of their own. I think a lot of people who have no direct experience of Diabetes only thing of morbidly obese, inactive people with Type 2 "bringing it on themselves", which is awful and damaging.

I was a gestational diabetic and was put on insulin. The diabetes never left after I gave birth. Im still diabetic and I'm still on insulin.

So far my kidneys are fine thank god. That's my biggest worry. That and heart failure.

No I wouldn’t. I don’t know enough about it and know that many conditions aren’t easily controlled. I’ve had high blood pressure since my early 20s. It doesn’t matter that I have always been thorough about taking all my medication, keeping my BMI normal, not smoking/drinking etc. it’s still hard to control and randomly goes through phases where despite high doses of 4 medications, where it’s still too high. People assume you can control things like diabetes, cholesterol, bp with the right lifestyle measures and taking medication, but in many cases, it’s more complicated

Diabetes also isn’t just type 1 and 2, there are multiple types including ones that are monogenic in nature i.e. caused by a change in a single gene. Which means they have no control over it happening.

There are probably thousands of people walking around labelled incorrectly as type 2 that actually have a monogenic form and are on entirely the wrong treatment.

Even outside of monogenic diabetes, the genetics of diabetes in complex and often overlooked including by professionals.

I know someone wrongly labelled as type 2 for years before being diagnosed with a monogenic form after pushing for genetic testing. They were treated for years as though their diabetes was their fault and could be fixed by eating nothing by lettuce, despite not being overweight but as soon as their diagnosis changed so did the way they were treated by professionals.

So it’s not just the uninformed that can treat people with diabetes as though they are at fault.

Type 1 no, it’s an autoimmune disease. Type 2, if they are overweight and eating rubbish then if I am being honest I do judge a bit. I am probably being unfair because there are multiple factors that lead to poor eating choices and obesity but yes I do think the sufferer has kind of done it to themselves.

A former colleague has type 1 diabetes and she did/does her very best to control her condition but she was told so many conflicting things from ‘specialist’ nurses and doctors that she got confused with what she was meant to be doing.

She said it was very dependent on who she saw as so many times she was told ‘do x thing’ so she did then next time ‘x thing’ was no longer recommended now its ‘y thing’ but then next time it was ‘ noo y thing hasn’t been recommended for years’
meanwhile she’s stuck in the middle. With a horrid health condition

so no blame to the individual person

Do those less sympathetic towards Type 2 know that South East Asians have a hugely increased risk of diabetes if they are over 25 or if their BMI goes above 23? It's not all about being obese, stuffing your face and sitting on your backside. My family's experience has been awful and not lifestyle related at all. I have immediate family members in clinical trials...one is a man who weighs 8.5 stone and has been utterly ravaged by uncontrollable Type 2 Diabetes. I'm terrified for my own future.

Apologies @Shlump, I’ve read your post again and I did misunderstand it. All I can say in my defence is that I’ve had this argument many a time so i automatically gave it to you as well, which you didn’t deserve.

Absolutely not. I have a friend who was diagnosed in her early 20s and is now mid 40s and still struggles to control it. She has numerous other health conditions all linked to the Diabetes. It's awful for her.
I also know a few people who have young children who have quite recently been diagnosed with it. It came as a huge shock to all of them as there was no history in any of the families.
Admittedly, I would find it more difficult to have the same level of empathy towards Type 2 as I believe that is avoidable for many to a certain degree. That's certainly seems to be the case for 2 of my family members.

Not at all. I’m a nurse and see a lot of diabetes complications secondary to poor management (both T1 and T2). Often these people have been through a lot and struggle with their condition for a variety of reasons. Then they end up in downwards spiral were their diabetes makes them unwell, then being unwell makes their diabetes hard to manage.

Also as you said it’s relentless with no days off. I just can’t imagine it. It also really gets me how a cut on the foot could lead to an amputation. Or when you’re ill your sugars go mad, often making you iller. It’s shite and I’m glad now we have technology to make diabetes easier to manage and less of a burden.

The stigma against T2DM really pisses me off too. It doesn’t help anyone. A lot of people with T2DM have genes that predisposes them to the condition, are from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds and an addiction to ultra processed foods.

I'd like to say I wouldn't judge but truthfully having watched my FIL develop type 2 and then proceed to ignore everything he was told I judged him. He wouldn't measure his blood sugar and continued to eat and drink what ever he liked. He developed Charcot's in both feet that then led to multiple ulcers. My MIL had to become his carer. He fell frequently, he then became incontinent. The impact on the wider family was awful but still he ignored any advice and was cross when the NHS couldn't fix him. He died of sepsis caused by a foot ulcer.

God no.

I had gestational diabetes and it was such an enormous pain in the arse to manage. The weirdest things caused spikes and lows, and I was acutely aware that ir could harm the baby long term.

I think people who live with diabetes have been dealt a pretty shit card and definitely don’t blame them for any complications. Especially type 1.

42 things can influence blood glucose. Such a hard condition to manage, Type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 is complex. The lifestyle choices people make are influenced by so many complex layers from individual bio chemistry right through to Government policy. Its not as simple as just ‘willpower’.

Truthfully I always assumed it was just a diet issue until I got gd and I had no control over my blood sugar levels overnight. I realised how little I knew about diabetes.

As the parent of a young adult T1D, absolutely not - I know how hard my DS works to look after his BGs and, by doing so, his long term health.

No not at all

Totally agree

DH has a hereditary form of diabetes, diagnosed over 30 years. He is super well controlled but the regime suits him, I’d also say he’s competitive about it.
The one thing he always says when he goes to the clinic is he is the only one in the waiting room who isn’t overweight.

Well said - and I’m sorry for your troubles. I had no idea until I had GD and looked into diabetes that it could lead to damage to one’s eyes, for example.

When Theresa May became PM, she talked in an interview about having diabetes. There was a sort of collective ‘so what’ response. I admit I was a bit non plussed, like she was looking for something to make her seem human - diabetes isn’t a big deal, right? I didn’t realise it can cause complications with fertility, pregnancy and childbirth, as well as leading to organ failure and amputations. TM has Type 1.

I wish I’d been better educated about it when I was young. We never covered this.

Some things that sometimes make blood sugar go up, and sometimes go down include:
exercise
having a shower
the weather
illness (even if you don’t have symptoms yet)
the menstrual cycle
stress
the time of day
Plenty of these things you either don’t have control over, or you have control over doing them but how it hits you is random. Carb counting with food is honestly the easy bit for T1D.
Then you go see the nurse and ask for help with one of the above things that’s giving you jip and they just look at your meter and see either the highs or lows you are trying to get advice on, and decide you are non compliant and just tell you to do better. Dealing with healthcare professionals is very very stressful, and makes you feel like shit regardless of how hard you are trying and honestly if you were a teen on the edge being told your are doing it wrong and you are going to lose your legs anyway might be enough to make you give up completely. My 25 year experience seems to be that threat and scare tactics are the only MO they use, so if even so called experts are judgemental of diabetics then it’s hardly suprising the public can be as well.