[ChkbookMechanic]

Originally Posted by Tobra

There is probably more than one reason why people are juvenile onset diabetics IMHO. Lane, I think it likely that you were diabetic for some time prior to being diagnosed. This is true of most diabetics, and in your 20's is pretty old to be diagnosed.

I have no doubt there is more than one reason, I'm just pulling the few main ones I've heard off the top of my head.

As far as being diabetic before being diagnosed, looking back I can now pinpoint the exact day that I started having the signs of T1, however, hindsight is 20/20 (and it taught me to listen to my mother more when she says I need to go to the doctor). 20's is definitely old to be diagnosed w/ T1D but from the doctor who diagnosed me, he said it is more common than you'd think.

Originally Posted by Tobra

I agree with you 100% that anyone with diabetes needs to learn as much about it as they possibly can. Nobody cares more about your well being than you do, and you are there every day to take care of yourself. I spend an hour with new patients that are diabetics, and every time I see them I spend time doing education. Every single diabetic patient I have ever had has told me at least once, "I did not know that about diabetes."

I learn something new about diabetes everyday. I've begun expanding what I've learned into working out and getting race driver healthy. Sadly, for as many diabetics as there are, there aren't many exercise routines or books that touch on athletics as a diabetic. So, its been a learning experience to figure out what exactly works and learning how my body responds to every situation.

I've turned learning about diabetes into a continuing education program .

Originally Posted by Tobra

It is all about glucose control. If BG is too high, your pancreas is supposed to squirt out some insulin turn that glucose into glycogen which is stored in your liver. If BG is too high, your pancreas is supposed to squirt out some glucagon, which mobilizes the glycogen in your liver and turns it back into glucose. There is more to it than that, but that is your thumbnail sketch. Diet, weight and activity level will also have an impact on what your sugar is doing.

I don't think anyone has said this yet, but if you are a T1D, having a glucagon kit on you is a smart idea. If you ever pass out from too low of BG, the glucagon kit will cause the liver to convert glycogen into glucose then into the blood stream. This should bring the diabetic person back around in 5 minutes.

Originally Posted by Tobra

Type 1 DM, your body is not making insulin. In type 2 DM, your body either is not making enough insulin, or the insulin it makes is not having the desired effect, for various reasons. That HFCS poison has been shown to play a role in inducing onset of type 2 DM.

You could spend years studying it, and still have things to learn about diabetes

I didn't know HFCS was linked to T2D... something new .

Also, if you are having wild swings in BG you might be able to get a Constant Glucose Monitoring System (CGM or CGMS for short). My insurance ok'd one automatically since I'm T1D, and I've heard of T2Ds getting them as well. I love mine since it provides a lot of valuable information. Not only has it helped me keep my BGs within the 80 to 120 range I prefer, it lets me see exactly how all foods, activities and stress effect my body. Technology has a lot to offer diabetics to help make their life easier, I just wish more would take full advantage of what is out there.

Now, I hate to get on my soap box, but talking about diabetes always causes me to get a little passionate , so you'll have to forgive me. When I go to the Endocrinologist and I'm sitting in the waiting room and I see all the people in there, I look at each of them and pick out who are the T2 and who are the T1s. And it bothers me that so many of the T2s don't appear to have done anything about their condition. I mean, this is something that could cause you to lose a limb, go blind, or even die and I see the same people coming back who don't appear to have done a thing about it. As soon as I found out I was diabetic, my eating habits changed completely: I stopped drinking sodas completely, I stopped eating french fries, I started eating way healthier than I'd ever eaten before, and I started learning what everything I could do did to my body. There is some initiative that people need to have to truly control diabetes and so many people don't take control, they let it control their lives and that is no way to go through life... letting something control you. I admit it takes a lot of will power and there are times I wish I could go out and match my friends drink-for-drink like I used to be able to -- now I'm the DD. Does it suck? Honestly, not really, I've saved my liver but its hard to look back at how you used to be and know its never going to be that way again.