Type 1 Diabetes is NOT the same of Type 2!! It is a SERIOUS medical condition and is NOT caused by lifestyle!

[TIDMum]

Just had the Sky guy here to upgrade internet speed and he asked about DS's glucose monitor alarm going off so I said he's a Type 1 diabetic. He was asking if it was a care alarm then said 'oh so not that serious, just for the blood sugar reading'.

He then said that his wife was Type 1 and we had a little discussion about her GM and what type of insulin pump she's on (which she doesn't actually have!) and he then said 'I blame diet and alcopops really'.

It then became clear his wife was Type 2.

I said 'oh right, I blame COVID actually because you know it's an autoimmune disorder?' He said 'oh right' then was quiet while he finished his work.

DS (age 16) heard this as he was walking past.

DS said he's an idiot but this really annoys me.

I can't count how many times over the last 4 years since his diagnosis, people have started talking to me about their sister, aunt or neighbour having 'Type 1' when it's actually Type 2 they're talking about. He had the teasing at school about too much sugar as well.

I really think if you don't know what Type 1 diabetes, shut up and don't talk about it tbh.

AIBU to get pissed off about this? I can't think of any other serious medical conditions that are mistaken like this.

Breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of developing autoimmune conditions like Type 1 diabetes later in life. (World Health Organisation)

Breastfeeding lowers a mother’s chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. (American diabetes association)

That's just a fact. It doesn't take very much research to learn that.

person makes small talk with you, yes of course, ring his place of employment to complain

I’m type one diabetic and it’s incredibly frustrating. Whilst serious if uncontrolled, type two is far less acutely threatening than type one - there’s less constant alarms, monitoring, sleepless nights, mental
load and job disruption. Neither type is more moralistically “pure” but it’s more that type one takes far more day to day management.

I get this with my melanoma.
Everybody says
Oh my mum/dad/sister's budgie had skin cancer and are fine.
No, turns out they had a basal cell carcinoma.
This does not spread through your body and kill you.
Deep breath and explanation.

PCOS (now PMOS) isn’t an autoimmune disease. It’s an endocrine/metabolic disorder.

This annoys me so much, they are complete different diseases.
You don’t have the luxury of being able to reverse Type 1 diabetes or just managing it by diet.
Until someone has dealt with a child in DKA, having nights with literally no sleep just trying to keep your child alive and having to make multiple live saving decisions a day I don’t think you can appreciate how annoying it is when someone says oh I’ve got diabetes and try and compare their type 2 to type 1

In some circles they are calling Alzheimers “Type 3 Diabetes” now as these metabolic health conditions are all so inter-related.

YANBU, people who don’t know what they are talking about should keep quiet.

I have both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics in my extended family and have also educated myself extensively since my own metabolic/cardiac health issues diagnosis.

I'm aware it's now PMOS but PCOS is more commonly used.

It is an endocrine disorder with autoimmune association and people with PCOS are at higher risk of other autoimmune conditions.

It's amazing how many people with a family member with type 1 still seem to think there are only 2 types

But it’s still not an autoimmune disease. I have endometriosis which is an “autoimmune adjacent” disorder t but I also have a sibling with a true autoimmune disease on lifelong biologics, and they’re in no way comparable.

So you can use ChatGPT!
You're being disingenuous by quoting individual studies without putting their findings and limitations into context. Diet, along with any number of other environmental factors, may be associated with the development of type 1 diabetes, however association does not causation. The cause is simply not known. Trying to shame T1 parents by making erronious statements is not helpful.

Diet does not play a role in developing type one. What a load of shit.

I’m also the mother of a 16 year old with T1. I try to remind myself that I was once lucky enough to be ignorant about the whole diabetes thing, and that helps me not to be too cross at people who get it wrong.

And he was talking about his own wife. And type 2. So nothing to do with OPs son who he's never met.
Why would he think a random stranger he's never seen and doesn't know the name of binged on alcopops? He's installing sky not a fucking dietician.

There is also apparently type 1.5, and it's not as clear cut as you say. Many people with bad lifestyles don't have diabetes, and equally some people with type 2 have lead healthy lifestyles, but get it as they age.
It is true that doctors used to say type 2 was rare in kids, and blame parents who feed them badly/let them have screens instead of exercise, but there's many older people who get it despite doing the right things.
And yes, we do blame people for illness. Look how many women get blamed for obesity, and their illnesses, like lipedema, aren't understood.

Diet influence the autoimmune process that triggers the disease in genetically susceptible children.

YANBU

In a separate vein I have gout and get told it’s because of too much red wine etc. I don’t drink. I think people think it’s just a sore toe and not the excruciating agony that it is. If only they could experience it for 5 minutes they’d soon realise it’s no joke. I just say I have a form of inflammatory arthritis now

I wasn’t trying to shame anyone. I am interested in why Type 1 diabetes is increasing globally.

I have OCD and ME, both extremely misunderstood and minimised.

Type 2 isn’t ‘just’ caused by lifestyle - you make it sound like you’re blaming those with it, which is shit to be honest.

Is it Type 1 or Type 2 Sky you're having installed? Either way I'm judging you for your poor lifestyle choices.

I HAVE made a complaint to SKY. Obviously I had not had a response immediately!

They have 10 working days to respond.

I made the point that if their engineers wish to make conversation with customers by stating their relatives have the same life threatening medical condition as their clients children, they could perhaps know what the medical condition their relative has is and refrain from making derogatory and untrue comments about that medical condition.

He could have alternatively just nothing at all when I told him what the alarm was for. DS was going low.

I think it's quite serious actually, to go into customer's homes as part of your job and make what he must have known was a unpleasant comment which he had related to my own son's medical condition.

If we ate going to play Diabetes Top Trumps my son has no pancreas at all...

FFS

Perhaps you could follow that advice yourself and not make hurtful comments to people with type 2