[Diabetican]

My question is what was the reason you got diabetes?

Weight?

Family history?


As for me, the docs said they didnt know why i got it.
It doesnt run in my family, ive never been over weight (always had an athletic build), and I was very active in sports at time of my diagnosis.

[Evermont]

It was certainly some combination of many possible reasons some of which are known and some unknown.

I can't imagine how that helps at all. Sorry.

[Diabetican]

Originally Posted by Evermont

It was certainly some combination of many possible reasons some of which are known and some unknown.

I can't imagine how that helps at all. Sorry.

I assume you are speaking about yourself, so there is no need to apologize! lol I guess you dont have a certain reason for your diabetes onset?

I was just wondering what every1 else's reason for the onset of their diabetes? (if they know)

[mongoose]

I've read that some docs think type 1 is caused by carrying a gene which is activated at some point by an illness (virus?). Maybe that's way off, but i think i read that in some of the literature that was given to me by a diabetes educator.

as for me, the doc was pretty surprised i had it. he told me he figured they either screwed the bloodwork up or switched a sample or something, as I had no symptoms (just went in for a checkup for my son's 1st birthday present) I was overweight, but not a ton and i have no family history of it. even at my biggest, i was still smaller (weight-wise) than both of my grandfathers.

i just refer to it as winning the wrong lottery. now if i could just win the right one....

[MacDogg]

I was 11 years old and a skinny elementary kid who liked running and playing, like any other kid.
Then pop...diabetic. My grandmother had type 1 and my mother is Hypo. I heard it skips generations and in this case it did.
So far my bother is in the clear!

[notme]

For me..... No family history of type one. No weight problem. Lots of kids (I was lucky not to get diabetes until after my fifth child), no answers. My doctor suggested things like virus, hormones in milk (I drank a lot as a kid), stress. Anyone of those things might have caused my diabetes. Maybe I was just really unlucky.....

[Neuromancer]

Weight and family history both...grandfather was a T2 insulin dependant diabetic at age 42 or so...I held it off 20 years longer...

[poodlebone]

When I was diagnosed, the endo in the hospital said that it was probably caused by a virus. There is no history of diabetes of any kind in my family. I'm the first.

[princesslinda]

My mom was a T2, her father and mother were T2, her brother was T2 and several of her aunts and uncles were T2. My dad has a few relatives with T2 as well.

Guess I picked the wrong relatives!

At diagnosis, I went through a lot of "why me's," but found quickly this was counterproductive. Doesn't matter WHY I've got it,its my life now and dealing with it, keeping #s in check and avoiding complications are all that really matters.

[Evermont]

Originally Posted by Diabetican

I assume you are speaking about yourself, so there is no need to apologize! lol I guess you dont have a certain reason for your diabetes onset?

I was just wondering what every1 else's reason for the onset of their diabetes? (if they know)

Yeah, for myself there are a number of possible contributing factors. My dad is T2, I sit at work all day, central obesity snuck up on me over 42 years, periodontal disease crept in just a year before T2 Dx, etc. Could be any or all of these things, or something else.

I've learned here on DF that T1 can be triggered by things that are sometimes obvious, and sometimes not. T2 seems to be harder to associate with any particular cause in general. There are cases where T2s are dead certain about what caused it but they may well be mistaken.

[EeyoreButterfly]

I still don't have a definitive answer on type for myself yet (pre, 1.5, 2?) since I keep getting blown off.

However, I can tell you that I am in no risk group for any of them. No history of any type of diabetes on either side of the family. I am a little overweight, but I am also 24 and extremely active. I used to be a themepark performer, doing up to five parades or shows a day just two years ago. When I took the risk test on the ADA website out of curiosity, I was placed in the absolute lowest risk group. So for me right now it is a no foggy idea.

[sable_032592]

in my case, i was lucky to be able to pinpoint when i became diabetic, or in effect, what caused it...

in early 88, i got pneumonia, but the doctors i saw said it was a cold, so no meds to treat it... by the end of 88, i had had enough and went to a civilian doctor (my father is in the air force and we were stationed in lahr, germany, i was 12)... the new doctor said i had pneumonia and gave me meds and declared that i had asthma as well... early on in 89 (february), i went to an endo because i was gaining weight, he ordered tests and said i had hypothyroidism, among those tests was a blood glucose test, which he never told me the results...

upon my return to canada in july of 89, i had to find another endo, who never told me my bs levels either, but i had my medical files from germany with me and my parents looked at them (my mother was a nurse), and they noticed that my sugar levels were higher than normal, they knew this because my father's mother is T2, though no one has diabetes in either side of my family, grandmother's T2 caused by old age and something else, i can't remember...

so we went to my endo and asked about the high sugar levels, he said it was normal for an overweight person to have higher than normal levels... but then in march of 92, i was diagnosed with T1 and from my past blood tests for by thyroid, the doctors said my diabetes was caused by the delay in treatment of my pneumonia in 88, the virus ran amuck in my body and the doctors said that it must have touched my pancreas, therefore destroying the insulin producing part of it...

they also said i was lucky, the virus could have touched my heart or brain, causing more serious problems and even death...

[jillybean]

My mom and one of her brothers are type 2 (she has 2 other brothers without diabetes).

2 of my dad's sisters are type 2 (he has 6 other siblings without diabetes--yet).

I'm also just over 300 pounds. However, I was only 25 at diagnosis and am 26 now. My cousin (daughter of one of my aunts who has type 2) has always been heavier than me, less active than me, and is 5 years older than me (so she's been heavier for longer than me), yet she is not even pre-diabetic. Some of us are just lucky, I guess

[Eviltwinkristy]

I think I have several reasons:
Both my maternal and paternal grandfathers had Type 1 diabetes...which is rather odd considering the chances. SO I did have a genetic predisposition.
At age 2, I was in a car accident (flew through the windshield)...diabetes can be caused by trauma.
At age 13, I had a ruptured appendix...diabetes can be caused by toxins which cause your immune system to attack the beta cells of the pancreas.
At age 17, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes...
At age 18, I had Mono, which is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus which can contribute to becoming Diabetic, so maybe I had the virus before and the mono came out after I was diagnosed with Type 1.
So mine is hard to pinpoint but I definitely had the genetic predisposition so I was bound to get it with everything that happened to me.

[TomB]

Would you believe Agent Orange? The VA seems to think so because I worked on the birds that sprayed it over Vietnam back in the late '60s. No one in my family had it and they all seemed to live to a ripe old age. Also, no one in the family has the other stuff I have, like highly active atherosclerosis and pituitary gland problems but the VA won't get around to connecting those problems with dioxin until after I kick the bucket.