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.

They shouldn’t have the same name, they are different conditions, different causes. It’s not the general public’s fault that the medical profession has confused the two separate conditions

It's nothing to do with me being 'judgey' about Type 2. Why do I care?

It's about Type 1 being nothing like Type 2 and and my DS being judged as Type 2 himself!

No, I do not want my DS judged as someone who had a poor diet and drank alcopops to get it!.

In Type 1 a fatality can happen in a matter of hours, Type 2 would take years of ignoring medical advice @romdowa. No comparison.

I get this with my blood condition
say that you’ve got cancer and a low immune system and people understand
when you have EXACTLY the same immune issue but no cancer people seem happy to try and visit me when they’re dripping with snot and hacking up a lung
my neutropenia isn’t any different!

I agree I'm type 2 and it was caused by my hormones and PCOS, not just my lifestyle.

Don't get angry at people who are not medically educated, use the opportunity to inform them. I'm sure there are some medical.conditions you are not familiar with and maybe some you are confusing too.

That's not how a public forum works.

If you have T2 you properly don't want to be judged as someone who had a poor diet and drank alcopops to get it! Because surprise it doesn't have to be the case.

Type 2 would take years of ignoring medical advice --- educate yourself. Because surprise it doesn't have to be the
case.

As i said there are more than two types.

Yabu because lots of type two diabetes is not caused by lifestyle either . I was warned by my drs I would almost certainly get T2 diabetes as a result of the medication they were putting me on. I was lucky and didn't get it but many people with my condition do. It's utterly cruel that they are then seen as somehow at fault

I completely get this. I had a heart attack at two months ago at 37 from SCAD, and it's amazing how many people hear “heart attack” and immediately start making assumptions about diet, cholesterol or lifestyle when mine was caused by a spontaneous coronary artery dissection. It gets really fucking irritating having people confidently explain the cause of your own medical condition to you when they don't even know what it is. Sometimes “I don't know much about that” is a perfectly acceptable sentence.

FFS at assuming that's how people get it!

Plus I am surprised you don't know that there are more than two types of diabetes

Maybe the sky man had type III diabetes?

That's just my opinion that I am voicing in a public forum.

Not quite true lovely. Some t2d can be on insulin then it's just as dangerous.

I can totally see why the OP is peed off! The Sky engineer has basically accused her of feeding her son crap and sugary alcoholic drinks! He's the ignorantly judgemental one here basically calling her a bad mother!
The general concensus is that T1 trumps T2 as its out of the person's control.

It sounds as though he was trying to make a bit of a lighthearted joke and you got pissed off. Poor guy.
He realised there may be some common ground and commented on it.
It's called a conversation.

But there are lots of factors outside someone's control that can cause T2 or other types of diabetes

Only a very ignorant person would assume someone got diabetes from drinking alcopops. So I wouldn't worry!

The general public are not going to necessarily understand the difference between the two types of diabetes unless they are directly affected by having the disease or caring for someone with it.
Likewise I have a close relative with Coeliac Disease…another auto immune disease and my knowledge beforehand about CD was rubbish,and I am a qualified nurse!
I just explain and educate anyone involved with prepping food etc for relative .
Definitely not worth getting annoyed about OP !

YANBU to be frustrated at people not realising how serious diabetes is and definitely not to be frustrated that people think it's lifestyle.

YABU to sugget that T1 is serious and T2 isn't.

My thoughts exactly.

T2DM is also a serious medical condition, it’s not a competition.

You say you are not being judgy but then say T2 is from years of ignoring medical advice. You are making inaccurate assumptions the same way the Sky man did for your son.

If you don't like people doing it for your son's condition then don't do it to other people and their condition.

I have T2. It hung around after I had gestational diabetes. Kept getting surprised faces at the GD clinic as I didn't fit the stereotype.

When people learn I am diabetic they assume T1 as I again I don't fit the stereotype portrayed by the media of those with T2.

Those of us with T2 aren't sitting around scoffing sweets and junk food all the time. I eat a low carb diet and still have to take 2 medications to get reasonable blood glucose levels.

It's not a case of 'lay off the pies fatty and then you'll be ok'

As a mum to a DC with Crohn's, I feel your pain. IBD is not IBS and won't be fixed by diet.
Smile and nod and breathe.

Sometimes people say ignorant things when trying to make conversation.