yeah i am taking food and nutrition and we were doing a unit on diabetes and my teacher told the class "don't hesitate to ask sehar, she's an expert at this stuff." then people came up to me for like a month straight asking me bizzare questions, a girl would say ewww and scream after she saw my checking my blood sugar at luch or stayed around long enough to hear the questioon. the m ost annoying is when my b.g. is low they say take ur needle, and when it's high the try to feed me>>>
well i don't mind answering stupid questions cos it's like we're educating the uneducated about our disease, which may also in time cause prevention. wasn't education and spreading the word the theme for World Diabetes Day this year?
Idk guys, it can get annoying.. but it's like our JOB to do it. and coming from a diabetic to someone uneducated about diabetes, it might stick better and they may pass the information on. You never know :)
but they're probably usually just curious haha
Uggh I hate trying to explain it ! specialy when you finish and someonte eles is like so what is it ? I can say that I have been kicked out of class for testing myself or giveing insullin with my pump because it looked like I was texting .But I hate trying to explain why I have a "tube" hanging outta me
Haha! Some of these stories are very interesting! I remember when I first got my pump in the fourth grade and all the kids would ask was “Is that a cell phone? You can’t have cell phones at school!” Or “Can you play games on it??” Ha! Oh, to the girl that hides her pump from the teachers, Just pull it out and be obvious, because of course they’re gonna see you ducking your head and your hands under the desk or what not. Just a tip for ya. I would sometimes even have other students push the button on my pricker so they could prick me when I needed to check my blood before lunch. But I still get that “What is it?” Question a lot about my pump. I find it’s a good opportunity to educate someone else. 
I know. This jerk of a guy one year caught a peice of a private conversation with one of my friends where I had mentioned my needles. He then decided to tell the entire school I was a druggie. I still hate him for it.
ahhh the druggie rumor...near and dear to my heart. people really love it when you say "I was high." I never even think twice about saying it, because it has such a different meaning to me. But people love to talk...
ive had diabetes for 13 years. i got it when i was 3. i was explaining in kindergarden to everyone as well as i could what it was. and still to this day im in 11th grade now mind you, but i still am explaining to people i have gone to school with seince kindergareden everything over and over everyday. and i just moved out of my home town in new yor, to north carolina, and tha day i started my new school is when they decided to tell me that there was no nurse! lmfao..i mean i can handle it on my own, but at this school youre not allowed to carry needles and "medications" with you as every other one. but i mean where am i supposed ta keep my supplies in case of an emergency? so me and my mom had to explain to them that i had to keep spare site changes, insulin, and injections where i can get to them at all times. so now they keep my supplies in the iss room. and as ive seen a few people mention :: the whole thing where people mention diabetes and over weight in the same sentence as in a negative way, i hate that too. :: also the whole thing about teachers flipping out..ive almost had to sue my elementary, and middle school a few times, almost at least once every year. we had to bring our lawyer to the school, because they were discriminating against me because of my diabetes, and diabetes is in the discrimination act, it is a chronic illness. :: not only did i have to explain to everyone i met and knew about diabetes, but i had to teach some emt's about it, i mean its good and all that they are getting the information they need from someone that knows about it first hand, but they are EMT's shouldnt they know at least the basics???
always,
jessarae
Unlike most of you I thankfully dont need to take insulin at school but I do still check. I get the usual "What is that?" and "Does that hurt?" question so I answer those as they come.
One thing that has helped me is in the beginning of a new class with a new teacher I usually talk to them after class to say that I have diabetes and that I have my machine in my bag and juice. I also tell them that I may need to go to the nurses office for insulin if I get the occasional high readings and most understand and for the rest of the year they dont bother me about it. I have gotten used to testing during class in front of everyone and now everyones used to it.
story. of. my. life. and i haven't even told half of my friends that I have diabetes. I have a friend that whenever he see's someone overweight, is like "oh! they must have diabetes." If I had the guts to tell him i'd tell him diabetes doesn't only have to do with weight but i don't. Anyways, i need some advice :) I'm new to this site so i don't know exactly how to do this...
Okay, so I have a really close friend who I just met this year. I've been diabetic for 3 years and I haven't been open about telling very many people (Hence the comment up above) It's not that I'm ashamed about having diabetes i'm just worried about telling people. I understand that most people are really excepting of it all but I really don't have self confidence that it's gonna come out right when I tell them. also, I worry that then, after they know, there'll be all this questioning like "why are you eating sugar then?" haha and all those other questions. I just feel like that's super awkward and I don't want to have to answer questions like that. Anyways, back to my friend. So, I haven't told her yet, and I'm attending a summer program at Brown University with her this summer and I have to tell her before then. My mom thinks its no big deal and is pressing me to tell her before she calls up my friend herself to tell her. I know someone on this site has to understand this so I hope I get a response. I can't imagine telling my friend when i've already known her for like a year already, yet the last thing I want is my mom to break the news to her.
Thanks for your help :)
Flora
omg! help! lol my friends all think it was from being to skinny they don't get it when i explain 2 them....
ohmygosh, i know, people are always like whats diabetes? isnt that where your blood pressure gets to high? no, BLOODSUGAR!!! hahahaha
[quote user="Flora1116"]
story. of. my. life. and i haven't even told half of my friends that I have diabetes. I have a friend that whenever he see's someone overweight, is like "oh! they must have diabetes." If I had the guts to tell him i'd tell him diabetes doesn't only have to do with weight but i don't. Anyways, i need some advice :) I'm new to this site so i don't know exactly how to do this...
Okay, so I have a really close friend who I just met this year. I've been diabetic for 3 years and I haven't been open about telling very many people (Hence the comment up above) It's not that I'm ashamed about having diabetes i'm just worried about telling people. I understand that most people are really excepting of it all but I really don't have self confidence that it's gonna come out right when I tell them. also, I worry that then, after they know, there'll be all this questioning like "why are you eating sugar then?" haha and all those other questions. I just feel like that's super awkward and I don't want to have to answer questions like that. Anyways, back to my friend. So, I haven't told her yet, and I'm attending a summer program at Brown University with her this summer and I have to tell her before then. My mom thinks its no big deal and is pressing me to tell her before she calls up my friend herself to tell her. I know someone on this site has to understand this so I hope I get a response. I can't imagine telling my friend when i've already known her for like a year already, yet the last thing I want is my mom to break the news to her.
Thanks for your help :)
Flora
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Hey Flora! I've been diabetic for seven years, since I was nine, and went to the same really small school the whole time except for this last year, when I started going to a new, big public school where I didnt know ANYONE! I'm not a very shy person but I'm not very outgoing either, so it was fairly easy making new friends, but like you said, its hard to tell people about having diabetes. But of course, I had to share this with them, and i was so surprised to find that at least half of my friends already knew about diabetes (because its not that rare) and some even knew another kid in some of our classes who has type 1 too. The harder part WAS clearing up all the misconceptions they had about diabetes and explaining to them what it really is and what I do. Now, its the end of the school year and they all know about my diabetes and dont even care or think twice about it, besides when I get low and have a friend come with me to the nurses office. So dont worry about telling your friends! They will understand and wont mind at all, and if they do make a big negative deal out of it, then they probably arent the best friend to have anyway. But it sounds to me like this friend your going to Brown with for the summer program is pretty good friends with you and would actually WANT to know you have diabetes and what to do to help! You really should just tell her, and it would help her not to make such a big deal out of it if YOU yourself dont. ; ) Believe me, the sooner you kinda start accepting that you have diabetes and letting people know, the easier (MUCH EASIER) it will be to deal with it! I know it can be difficult but dont worry! It will be fine! : ) Have a great time this summer!! :P ~ Becca
Flora,
I understand how hard it can be to tell people about having diabetes, due to the lack of understanding amongst people our age. Some of my friends have a hard time grasping the concept of diabetes, and still don't understand that I can eat sugar and eat birthday cake and whatnot. In situations like that, I usually just like to calmly remind my friends that I have had this for a while and know what I can and cannot do, and that I would never do anything to jepordize my own health- so they don't need to look after me. Though I think many would agree that it is safer for your friends to know just in case anything should happen to you while you're with them. Most likely they will be concerned for a few days and ask you questions and tell you about their 800 lb. type 2 grandmothers, but that's just a part of being a diabetic. I actually tell everyone I meet that I'm diabetic, mostly to promote awareness and help teach others about it. Anyone who doesn't accept it as a part of who you are isn't worth your time in the first place.
yess ! all the time ! its like either someone is telling me i cant eat or drink something or always making a scene . if i have sprite zero of a piece of candy all my friends will rush to me like its poison or something ! i get so sick of explaining it to everyone .
Omygosh, I hate when people ask if I can eat candy or sugar and I'm like...I can eat anything! And when teachers get mad about my pump I'm like, try ripping it out of me! Lol...just kidding, I just try not to make a big deal out of it because if I do, others will too.
I stopped explaining it to people who knew long ago. They wouldn't pay attention. Anyways, most kids at my school already know cuz we have sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many kids with diabetes. We have 6 kids this year and they always set up ways so we can explain it to the idiots who don't understand it.
I absolutely HATE that! Oh and when instead of saying blood SUGAR they say blood PRESSURE?! Please tell me that hasnt only happened to me?
I know!!!! What is up with that?!?!?!?!?! It happens to us ALL the time!!!
O M G ! YESSS ! It has gotten so bad even i say it sometimes ! its the worst !!