I've been thinking

[cheryl]

Ok, my grandmother passed away last month, She was diagnoised type 2 in the 80's I don't really remember too much about i except she was drinking seltza water lol....but seriously, she really died of congestive heart faliure, she had numerous things wrong with her, I never thought it was the diabetes that brought the blood pressure problems the leg issue's the heart attack, or i guess maybe, after her heart surgery in 2002, she was very anal about having good sugars and all....but she never said it was the diabetes that did this to her, or maybe she didn't want to admit that too me, I guess that is why she was pissed when i was pregnant the fourth time, thinking the worst.

Ok, so I know up until 2002 she didn't keep it in check even though she started taking insulin in the later part of the 90's she used to give me boxes of needles and then sent me humalog before.....So is it safe to assume she might of not had a bunch of issue's with her heart if she had always kept it in check, ok here is the reason why I am asking

My Dad is 51, last November Dad didn't look Kosher to me, he lost lots of weight and then his eyes, no one ever talks about the way someone's eyes look when your bg is high, but mine look like dark black dots and droopy, well Dad's looked droopey to me. So i get him to let me test his sugar 369 so guess what now Dad's a type two, now also on bp medication, glucopage, advandamet, and some cholesterol med.....he will only check his bg in the morning, his a1c was like in the 8's when diagnoised but now it is in the low 6's well that was Feb, he was teasing me that his was better, grumble grumble, but still I occasionally will be a smart a@@##$ and tell him what is your bg right now and it most of the time is in the 140's but in the morning low 100's weird,

So should i give him the lecture about my grandma which was his mother, because it is really starting to hit me Dad can be going down this road if he doesn't shape up....

Cheryl

[caswellhb]

Hi Cheryl,
has your dad had c-peptide and GAD tests done? The weight loss seems strange doesn't it? Is he really T2 or have they just labelled him that because of his age?
Just a thought.

Heather.

[princesslinda]

Cheryl: I'm sure your dad is aware of what may happen to him if he doesn't take care of himself. My mom was T2, her father and mother were T2. My grandad had to have his leg amputated and my grandmother died of kidney failure. Mom got T2 just after my sister was born (or rather, that was when she was first diagnosed). She ignored it other than taking her daily diabinese. She at what she wanted all the time, candy, bread, potatoes...you name it. She didn't actually go on insulin until she started having non-healing ulcers on her foot...even then, she took a shot in the morning and one in the evening and just upped her evening shot if she decided to eat too much. She had her leg amputated AND died of kidney failure.

My point is this: Knowing what she knew about diabetes and seeing what she saw in her immediate family was not enough to make her take proper care of herself. She died younger than both her father and mother did.

Your dad will have to be motivated on his own....no one likes to be nagged about their health (even if the nagging is well-intended).

With your being T1, you have no choice but to take your insulin in order to survive....With T2, many can actually pretend they don't have diabetes and live however they want.....forgetting that at some point it will all catch up with them. That denial brings lots and lots of complications.

Hope your dad will come to terms with his disease and what he needs to do to control it. I know from experience how hard it is to worry about a parent not taking their disease seriously.

[cheryl]

Hi Cheryl,
has your dad had c-peptide and GAD tests done? The weight loss seems strange doesn't it? Is he really T2 or have they just labelled him that because of his age?
Just a thought.

Heather.

Do you not loose weight before diagnosis if your a type 2, I thought anyone did, and also, umm his oral med's did bring his a1c down, but I will ask him? Or my mother my Dad is clueless on those tests lol

Cheryl

[princesslinda]

Actually I had gained weight just before my diagnosis...seemed I was always tired and hungry...doc said lots of T2 gain weight before diagnosis because the insulin resistence makes you feel hungrier.

[cheryl]

Well my grandmothe died and no one said it was because of having diabetes, but from what i read, wow it makes a lot of sense to me.....

I think when he saw me drop low last month in the car on the way home from PA, my mom said he started to not "snack", and what not, I have no clue if he'd ever do the low carb thing I don't really know what he'd do, but I know he overcame drugs and alcohol, and he is thanking his lucky stars that he only has these issue's from years of abuse, It is hard for me to be really stern with him because i just recently became strict with myself so it is hard to really nag, but then again i was young he is 51 he doesnt have 15 years to abuse like i did without an afffect to his body,

I just personally cannot bare another person getting ill.....it is too much especially when they all have what i got maybe not the same type but still it hits too close to home for me....i guess i am still sitting here missing my grandmother and i never got to say goodbye and now, I don't have like this big daddy daughter bond with Dad cause of years of abuse he did to himself, and it is bothering me now.....really really bothering me.....I guess god knows how to connect people, I just need to reach out somehow.....

Cheryl

[slipperyelm]

Wow, Cheryl, I bet you are right about diabetes being the true cause of your grandmother's death.

And no, I don't think most Type 2's lose weight before diagnosis. More likely they have been gaining weight steadily, though not as much as you would expect them to gain relative to the calories they are eating. That is because they are often peeing out a lot of calories as glucose in the urine all day and night.

So, yes, I think it would be a good idea for your Dad to get some lab tests to see if he is producing decreased amounts of insulin.

And for you, I hope you will keep in mind that Type 1s can also become insulin resistant, sometimes, especially in later life. If you have parents and grandparents with Type 2, that gives you a higher risk.

[sweetcheeks]

Do you not loose weight before diagnosis if your a type 2, I thought anyone did, and also, umm his oral med's did bring his a1c down, but I will ask him? Or my mother my Dad is clueless on those tests lol

Cheryl


im type 2 and lost at least 15 lbs before I figured out it was diabetes... so weight loss is not just for type 1's

all the symptons of diabetes are generally the same regardless of what type you are, it does not discriminate.

if he got his sugars down to a1c of 6, i dont think he's type 1, because wouldnt he continually go up not down if it didnt have any insulin production?

[manic27203]

i never lost weight although i am now . i take 5 metformins every morning

[owlyn]

I understand your worry, but if his A1C is in the 6s, he's doing pretty good. Would the 5s be beter? Sure. I'd be thrilled to get below 7 for myself. My A1C has been in the 7s for 15+ years, and so far, no complications.

But- I agree with you. It's really easy for a T2 to take a fasting BG and walk around pretending to themselves that their BG is 100. There was a guy at work who was 350 pounds, a newly diagnosed T2. He took his BG every morning, and it was fine. He was having all kinds of complications, but I could never convince him to test during the day, or at least stop eating that 16 ounce bag of popcorn and a Snickers bar after lunch. He never knew (or wouldn't tell) what his A1C was. He was in denial, and just plain stubborn. He eventually lost a toe (partially caused by a lousy doctor), and then some more, and went out on disability. Eating that popcorn and candy the whole time.

OTOH, for T2s, it's often hard to do anything immediately with the information that their BG is 180. So he's averaging around 140. That's not horrible. Better to walk around a bit on the high side than to get frequent bouts of hypoglycemia. Remember the old saying, "High blood sugar will kill you later, low blood sugar will kill you now. Also, when the BG drops below roughly 65, brain cells start to die . So, again, better to be sligtly on the high side of normal if you can't maintain normal. Some T2s can manage it perfectly, others can't. Everyone is different.

[cheryl]

I completely understand, I am satisfied with his a1c being in the 6's really I am, his is a few .'s better then mine, but what scares me is that, since he already did the abuse to his body for 20 yrs with drugs and alcohol, I don't know if his body will be strong enough to handle a little elevated sugars at times if it is even consistant that is what I am concerned with, because don't get me wrong, I am not like a lot of people who get anal cause there sugar hits 140 trust me I don't loose it or think i am gonna die later from 5 million complications, my main concern is that now he is on all this other flippin medication, and it scares me to death, just really concerned that is all.....I just don't want him to go the same route as my grandmother, which was his mother........our side has a strong will to live, we are fighters, but I know you can only abuse that sort of blessing for so long..but thanks you made me feel better about it.....

cheryl

[ladytaz]

Do you not loose weight before diagnosis if your a type 2, I thought anyone did, and also, umm his oral med's did bring his a1c down, but I will ask him? Or my mother my Dad is clueless on those tests lol

Cheryl

I lost weight before I was dx'd w/Type2. Quite a bit of weight too! I've never had any specific tests tho. Altho my numbers did improve with oral meds, but then after about a year they began to slowly go bad again, and being on the max for the orals, is why I was switched to insulin.

[cheryl]

I lost weight before I was dx'd w/Type2. Quite a bit of weight too! I've never had any specific tests tho. Altho my numbers did improve with oral meds, but then after about a year they began to slowly go bad again, and being on the max for the orals, is why I was switched to insulin.

yea he is on two different kinds already twice a day.........oh well i will keep an eye on him.....lol....

[jerryn]

80s isn't bad. I'd consider myself to have lived a long life if I lived that long. Yeah.. I know that sugar high look, with me my
eyes were bloodshot. I wish I was in the 6's. My A1c is 7.8 right now. I/m doing the low carb thing and still my mornings are high like 177. So I did something that my wife gave me heck about. I decided to take 2 500mg of metformin when I go to bed and take 1 in the morning. The perscription is 1 twice/day.
I decided to make an appointment with my moms endocrinologist, I think this disease is over my general practioner's head.