Let me introduce myself and share with you the effects of diabetes on my family.

My name is Peggy and I am not a doctor, nurse or trained in any field of medicine. I am a grandmother who has suffered from diabetes for more years than I wish to count.

I struggle with my diabetes every day. I find it very difficult to manage and to keep my blood glucose levels within the suggested guidelines. I have found the more I learn about this disease the better I am able to not only help myself but others as well.

Early on I found that it is impossible for my health providers to give me all the answers I needed. That was when I started to do research on diabetes and I decided to do a website in order to share this information. With diabetes, ignorance is not bliss.

I want to stress, the information on this site is not to diagnose any condition or to promote any form of treatment. It is meant only to help you or others in your family to know more about diabetes.

Please read my Disclaimer.

The effects of diabetes on my family dates back to the early 1930s when my grandmother died from Brights Disease (a acute kidney condition linked to Type 2 Diabetes) in her early 30s, leaving four young children orphans.

My mother died from a massive heart attack two days after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. She had the symptoms for a long time but since we didn't know much about this disease we didn't realize how sick she was. When she was finally diagnosed it was too late, the damage to her heart was already done.

My two sisters have Type 2 diabetes and are suffering from severe diabetic complications. One of my sisters is almost blind, the other suffers from circulation problems. Needless to say, both conditions place a lot of stress on their families.

I developed gestational diabetes during two of my pregnancies and again I was ignorant about the dangers involved with that type of diabetes. Developing gestational diabetes coupled with all the other of my many factors of diabetes placed me in a high risk group. A fact I was not aware of.

My youngest daughter developed Type 1 diabetes when she was twelve. She had a seizure when she was 15. At that time, I was not aware there was such a thing as 'diabetic seizure'. She is now married and has a beautiful little girl. Since a diabetic pregnancy is considered a 'risk pregnancy' there was a lot of anxiety in our family until the baby was safely delivered.

My son suffers from hypoglycemia. (Although hypoglycemia is not a type of diabetes, it is a blood sugar problem.) His wife's father died from complications due to 'bronze' diabetes. Their children are at risk from both sides of the family.

I keep a close eye on all my grandchildren since they are all in the high risk group for developing diabetes.

In some causes the effects of diabetes on my family has been tragic mainly because we did not understand diabetes. Whatever the type of diabetes we suffer from, whether type 1 or type 2 diabetes, I have found being informed is one of the keys to managing this disease.