Would you rather....

[owlyn]

If you could choose....(sorry T1.5's, it gets too complicated. Consider yourself a T1 for voting purposes.)

[grace girl]

You left out a choice: I don't want to be either one.

It seems to me that 1 is somewhat easier to manage, I don't have to deal with insulin resistance.

My dad is type 2, takes the same insulins I do, and he uses 3x as much insulin as I do for the same foods.

[parrotletzoo]

Hrm,. I didn't vote. let me tell you why.

I am type 1, was on insuiln for 26yrs. had an islet transplant and now by standard testing i wouldn't be considered diabetic anymore. That being said, I do have some impaired glucose tolerance which is controled by diet/exercise. Taking the presribed dose of insulin for my carb intake sure made eating easier, but I feel better on diet/exercise. I don't like that some days my bloodsugar goes up to 200 post prandial. but it also comes down easier then it did on insulin. i get more exercise now because i'm not using insulin to lower my b.s so I'm overall in better shape. however, I'm at heart a couch potato (or an internet potato) and I'd rather skip the execise. So its six and a half dozen of the other.

some days I miss my pump. most days I'm glad i had the transplant. Some days I wish i hadn't becuase I'd like to stuff myface with carbs and bolus bolus bolus. I really really want a frozen coke! but ****it I haven't had one since the transplant because I know if i do I'll spike high and hen go low later or just spike high and stay up there.

But I think about it this way, I traded insulin for diet/exercise and i'm better off for it in the long run. I'm not saying that people with type 2 are better off. because impaired glucose tolerance is by no way the same thing as type 2.

I'll take my impaired glucose tolerance, I like it way better then type 1. but If I had to choose type 1 or type 2, I'd stick with type 1.

so to rank them i choose
1. impaired glucose tolerance
2. type 1
3. type 2.

isthat clear as mud?? lol yep

[nneighbour]

I would rather be type 1 because I feel so guilty being a type 2.

[Diana]

I also prefer to be type 1 because I dont have to feel any guilt about it. Right or wrong, just about everything your hear about T2 relates it to obesity. Its unfair for those T2s who have many other factors going against them, but its just the way it is. So if I had to have one or the other, I would choose T1.

[Funnygrl]

I honestly get the impression that type 2 is easier to control. They seem to have further extreme excursions. Even type 2s that pump get that opportunity to have a flexible diet, and still have better control than type 1s I know.

Also, many type 2s are diagnosed after 40 years old, while almost all type 1s I know were diagnosed before that, giving the type 2s on average less time of living with diabetes.

However, type 1 doesn't have nearly the guilt associated with type 2.

[MJB]

Why feel guilty about genetics?

None of us pick our parents.

Everybody is different, I think we all know people who eat like there's no tomorrow and they are as skinny as a rail!

Chicken or the egg? :confused:

[kgm0612]

I'd rather be cured, but for now I'll stick with type 1. It's all I know!

Karen

[GhostRydr]

I'm Type 2 and so far can control things with dietary changes and excercise. To bring a bright spot to this for me, I'm making healthier choices in what I eat which in the long run will be a good thing for me overall.

I'd rather not have this at all, but I can't change genetics *yet* so I'll attack this any way I can.

[notme]

I didn't vote either because I would rather not have diabetes at all. I think both types come with their own baggage.

[Gary_W]

Again, the obvious answer is none of the above but I'll stick with the type 1. Today I've eaten toast, bagels and fruit. I'm about to eat pasta (amongst other things) and I know that the insulin will do what it says on the tin. For this reason alone I'll stick with the type 1.

As far as the guilt thing goes, the media now paints a terrible picture of diabetes and rarely bothers to distinguish between type 1 and type 2. It matters not a jot if you got this thing via years of abuse or through bad luck with genetics, I still feel that people are told that diabetics are a drain on health resources and it's all there fault.

My brother was diagnosed as type 1 when he was 3, 45 years ago now. Back then everyone was convinced that he got it through eating too many sweets. By the time my type 1 turned up aged 26 (12 years back) the ignorance had largely vanished. I feel now that it is coming back...

Gary

[xMenace]

You left out a choice: I don't want to be either one.

It seems to me that 1 is somewhat easier to manage, I don't have to deal with insulin resistance.

My dad is type 2, takes the same insulins I do, and he uses 3x as much insulin as I do for the same foods.


I don't believe insulin resistance correlates to which type you have.

[xMenace]

I still feel that people are told that diabetics are a drain on health resources and it's all there fault.


Well we are Gary. And the world would be much better off in the long run if it let all the chronically sick people die before we could reproduce and dirty the gene pool. Survival of the fittest and all that rot. I'm not about to lead the charge, but it would be interesting to peek into the future a few hundred generations. I almost think the first thing they'll do to new fetuses is inject them with a stem cell gene therapy soup to counter the accumulated weaknesses. *sigh*

[nneighbour]

When I was diagnosed, my nurse educator asked me how I felt about it. I said that I was ashamed and felt guilty. She told me there's no reason to feel that way, it's all about genetics. I know what she said is somewhat true, but I am still ashamed. Every time I look/listen to the media, they are always talking about what a burden fat people are because of the diabetes and all. I just feel like a burden.

[JessicaD]

This is a really hard and complicated question. I voted to stay type 1, but I have a feeling that if I were type 2 I would vote to stay type 2. Both have good things and bad things. I like being type 1 (comparatively) because if I really want something like a piece of cake I can eat it and just do insulin, but I'm no expert, can type 2's who have good control do that too? Just maybe exercise more or take insulin?

I'm not really educated enough to say, I guess, but I find definite comfort in the familiar, so I'll stick with the disease that I know.

In the end, I'm not sure it really matters. hmm..I just don't know.

[bryan42]

Welcome Jessica!!

[princesslinda]

I think I would choose to stay T2....after all, I did have 42 years of doing pretty much whatever I wanted before diabetes found me....and I don't have to take insulin..YET. Basically, if I can just eat right, lose weight, exercise regularly and swallow my metformin, I have no problems .....sounds easy enough I know, but it's amazing what a challenge it is for me.

Guess what I would have really liked would have been to have gotten diabetes at age 85.

[cheryl]

Well I like being type 1 better because I can eat things without so much guilt at times, and take appropriate insulin. But then again I read so many stories on people finding out they are type 2 and control it well with diet and exercise, since I stick to such a strict diet most of the time. i get jealous that you basically have a choice at the beginning for some without using insulin. I don't know diabetes just sucks in general....

Cheryl

[Funnygrl]

To the type 1s that say they like type 1 cause they can eat what they want and bolus- do you seriously not know type 2s that do this? What's stopping type 2s from doing it? They can go on MDI if they so choose. And if you say it's all about type 2s requiring a healthy diet, I'm not in the realm of belief that a high carb diet can't be healthy, and everyone should be eating a healthy diet. If a type 1 eats too many calories they will gain weight as quickly as a type 2 would.

[cheryl]

Well my grandmother was on mdi, and couldn't eat the way she wanted.....I was thinking about her mostly.....and my strict diet is staying away from partially hydrogenated oils, msg, bleached flour, things like that.....which I had heard a lot of doc's tell type 2's to do, and I do the same and ever since I did my insulin requirements has gone down, the minute I touch the bad oils and msg, I get stubborn bg's so I dunno, I never ever metioned low carbs, I eat low carb cause I am having issue's with bolusing too much insulin without dropping or I did, and I am slowly going back to higher carbs....cause I like atleast the choice of 60-80 carbs per meal, I am up to 45 give or take, just baby steps for me......

Cheryl

[tanyatype1]

When I was diagnosed, my nurse educator asked me how I felt about it. I said that I was ashamed and felt guilty. She told me there's no reason to feel that way, it's all about genetics. I know what she said is somewhat true, but I am still ashamed. Every time I look/listen to the media, they are always talking about what a burden fat people are because of the diabetes and all. I just feel like a burden.

(((hug))) I hate hearing this - it really makes me sad! Don't ever think that you're a burden!:(

[HelenM]

Well I'm one of those that the poll doesn't classify. I'm type 1.5 and I wouldn't want to swap it for type 2 or an earlier onset of type 1.
If I had got type 1 at the more usual age I would by now have had it for 50 years. I had a childhood unfettered by dietary restrictions and what always looked like huge needles. In my teens and early twenties I could forget to eat, drink too much and be a typical student without worrying about DKA or hypos .Later I didn't have to worry about BG in pregnancies nor fear leaving my children motherless. There are longstanding type 1s with no complications on this board but the risks of early mortality or severe complications for people developing type 1 in the 1950s were high.

As for type 2, before diagnosis thats what I thougt I had and I really didn't want it. The impression gained from the media and elsewhere was that it was purely a lifestyle illness brought on by poor diet and lack of exercise. As I thought I lived a reasonably healthy life I didn't want 'some doctor' telling me otherwise. In fact thats what put me off going to a doctors for at least 3 years. I'm still glad that I don't have much insulin resistance and really haven't had to change things very much.
I probably still have some pancreatic function and so have been on a long honeymoon. It seems that the older you are at onset the longer this can last.(heres hoping.)
So I think I've been very, very lucky, if I had to get any form of diabetes it was type 1.5.

[KickStart101]

I'm used to being a Type 1 so I'd stay as such.

(Although it would be nice also to not have to
take shots or more pills....)

Nope, I feel secure as is.

[Geoff]

if I could choose I would stay being type 1. Much easier to control than type 2. All I need to know is how much carbs there are in every thing I eat, and adjust my insulin to it. two hrs later 95% of the time I am back to normal bs control.

[statdeac]

Someone, please remind me what the point is again?

[VinceF]

I'd stay type 1. I don't remember not being diabetic. I would feel worst to have grown accustomed to living one way then change.