According to ehow.com, (and several other sites) say it's when the brain stops or reduces the acceptance of insulin within the brain's cell receptors, aka brain diabetes.
According to wikipedia, it's gestational diabetes, or type 1 that is insulin-resistant, or type 2 that needs injected insulin.....
Over at naturalnews.com, they say it's a blood sugar spike when you are exposed to electrical pollution!
Type 4 diabetes is fibromyalgia? A guy even wrote a book by that title.
Type 4 diabetes
There is some talk online about type 5 which is obesity caused.
At dlife - they want you to believe that you are a type 3 diabetic if you are a spouse of a diabetic.
There's another website that claims spouses and loved ones are type 5 diabetics.
I sort of see the humor in all of this, but in reality, you either get it as a child, or as an adult. Everything else is probably a subset of those 2. But then.....when does a child become an adult?
My hubby acquired his diabetes at age 22. He has always been diagnosed as type 2. His pancreas does not produce any insulin.
But I just wanted to write about spouses and loved ones of diabetics. There are those who love the concept of being classified as type 3 (or type 5) diabetic. I get that. But on the other hand, I don't get that. I do not have diabetes. I do not have a disease. I do not require medicine, insulin, my blood sugars don't go high or low. It's really very simple - I'm not a diabetic.
Is this a means for diabetics and the diabetic community to force spouses and loved ones to be more involved? To smpathize with their plight? "I'm type one and you have it too, you are type 3?"
Is this a way for them to get us more involved? "I can't eat candy because I'm a type 2, and you shouldn't either because you are a type 3?"
I have to wonder!
I read a post on dlife about diabetes and your partner
I found an interesting article claiming that depression is high amoung spouses of diabetics. I liked the description that we are not a couple, we are a threesome - him, me and diabetes.
But no matter how you say it.....I really don't like it when anyone suggests that I "have" to participate in this disease. It is his, not mine. If I'm here when he goes low, I'm more than happy to get a glucose tablet for him. But I'm not about to sit home waiting to see if that's going to happen, so he has to learn how to find them, how to keep them in his pocket, how to test, how to recognize when he's going low. It's 100% his job. I'm just a lucky benefit...when I'm here!
It's not my job
And it's that healthy attitude that keeps me here. It is something that I have had to learn. It is something that most diabetics argue with. It's not a family disease. I'm not a type 3 diabetic. I simply happen to be married to someone who has this disease. It's his. So maybe we should start asking the diabetic, "what's more important, your health or my sanity?" I think I'd get a different answer depending on where his sugar is! LOL!
DW
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4 comments:
YAY! what a great response!
first of all, I hate labels in general
but especially those that put us into a box that is stupid
you are so correct, we don't have the disease and we are not required to address the medications.
when we do -- we do so out of love, not out of necessity. the diabetic does that. its his disease, he has to deal with it.
Wow. Sorry, but I have to question your husband's Type 2 diagnosis. Unless maybe when he was first diagnosed, his body still made some insulin? My husband was 23 when diagnosed, and was diagnosed from the start as a Type 1, as he made no insulin at all, and got very sick. What we were told is if your pancreas just stops making any insulin, you are automatically a Type 1, even if you are in your early 20's. On the other hand, Type 2s do make some insulin, but it either is not enough, or else they have insulin resistance, and don't use it efficiently. And yes, Type 2s can get worse and quite often have to eventually inject insulin. This is what we have always understood to be true. Am I missing something here? If I am, please tell me!
As for the spouse being a "Type 3 diabetic," I was a bit put off by that, too! As far as I know, there is only Type 1 and Type 2. Sounds like the other terms are being tossed around pretty loosely.
AMEN...you are preaching to the choir! That is exactly what made me make him order and fill his pill containers...sure I will ask him if he took his meds...keep insulin in my purse and extra needles when we got out to eat but he has to own it and he finally did but i did get the guilty looks (from one of my sons and some women) like i was abandoning a child or something...I was motivated because i knew on all levels that if i had the disease i would be ordering and filling and managing MY diabetes myself....period. So if i can do for myself, he can too.
Helpmate, not indentured servant.
YEAH, SISTER! HUGS
I love how you stand up for yourself -the spouse. Yesterday I read your "Type 3 Diabetes" post. It got me thinking. I came back today re-read it and followed a few of the links.
I laughed so hard I almost shot coffee out my nose when I was reading in -interesting article- "These are normal couples struggling with abnormal situations," Fisher says. "It is not that they are crazy or sick: It is a new situation. It is a husband, a wife, and diabetes -- a threesome -- and diabetes is often the elephant in the living room that never gets mentioned."
(Either I don't have an original thought in my head or thoughts about being married to a diabetic are universal.)
Being new to this I feel like I have so much to learn to help the man I adore. Then I wonder if I'm just so afraid of the monster I want to do what ever I can to keep it away. Then I wonder if I'll stay sane.
Then I come back to the grounding voice of experience. Thank you DW. I'm with you.
When I married DH I took his last name. However, I get perturbed when I am addressed or introduced as Mrs.(his first name)(his last name). I want to inform these people that, "I have a name and I've gone by it my whole life, if you have forgotten my name I will happily remind you." But,I don't. ...Sometimes I am able to use my filter and not blurt.
So again DW, I'm with you. I do not want to be diagnosed or addressed as a Type 3 Diabetic, it's his disease and he can keep its title all to himself.
Love, S
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