am i at risk with diabetes i have an hypo thyroid

[dimpledea]

i have had an under active thyroid for three years now and was told i was at risk for diabetes because my father had diabetes and im worried can anyone enlighten me please my gp said no

[RedApple Administrator]

I'm not aware that having an under active thyroid makes you especially at risk for diabetes. I assume you are talking about Type 2 diabetes? I would think that being overweight due to inappropriate diet is more of a risk factor.

Maybe you would find it helpful to take the diabetes risk test here:

diabetes.org.uk/Riskscore/

[Noreen]

Hi dimpledea,

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two and a half years ago and it does tend to run in families. One of the first things I learnt from other diabetics was that you do not get diabetes because you are overweight or due to your diet. Searching for info on the web has thrown up several different lines of research, all of which come back to problems with how the body is functioning.

One of the causes of diabetes is insulin resistance which can cause weight gain, therefore the link between weight and diabetes is quite possibly the other way round. I have also found info which indicates a link between insulin resistance and thyroid disease and you may find these sites useful

thyroid-info.com/articl...

thyroid.about.com/cs/dietwe...

I have also recently discovered that I am hypothyroid.

I don't know why the NHS gives the info that it does on diabetes; there have been a lot of complaints from diabetics, not least because of the way in which the condition is portrayed as one of 'lifestyle'.

I hope this helps.

Noreen

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Noreen]

Very interesting Noreen. Some time ago my sister was told she was at risk of diabetes and advised to change her diet. She did make some changes and her doctor says she's ok now (although still overweight). She's also being regularly tested for hypothyroidism and is tending towards 'borderline'. Maybe there is a connection that the medics have yet to acknowledge!

[Noreen in reply to Noreen]

Yes, I remember someone on a diabetic forum commenting on the number of diabetics who also have a problem with their thyroid. Unfortunately the situation with insulin resistance and diabetes is very similar to the one I have found with hypothyroidism. There isn't enough lateral thinking.

I only found out about the link between insulin resistance and weight gain by accident, none of the information I was given after diagnosis even mentioned it.

Noreen