Well said Trevor I concur!
But since we are put in this position to look after diabetes, would you rather just throw your hands up and deal with this for life or stand up and get that chance to really live, without diabetes?
If no one takes responsibility to tell people about this, then in my opinion a cure is impossible.
You bet we've got to manage our health; but isn't part of keeping ourselves healthy working towards a cure? And doesn't it all just come back to educating others?
Hey Emma,
If we're going to get frustrated that other people don't know anything about diabetes and we want them to care and to not ask silly questions, then we are the experts and we are the best ones to teach other people about diabetes.
If someone with Leukemia wants me to care about leukemia and donate money to finding a cure, they shouldn't expect me to automatically know about the disease and be more concerned about that disease than breast cancer, they should take the time to help educate me because they are the experts on that disease.
If you don't care about what other people know or if they are aware of the disease, then you don't need to teach them, but you can't expect them to know everything about diabetes or hold it against them if they ask dumb questions, right?
Ginger
I completely agree with you. Granted after a while of hearing the same questions, I want to just print a introduction to type 1 101 card. But, I am thankful that someone cares enough to ask, and therefor the teacher in me takes over and informs them probably more then they ever wanted to know. LOL
~Violet
My neighbor asked me when my son would "grow out of it" :P
Ah, Julie,I hadn't heard that one yet! Wouldn't that be nice? If diabetes was like puberty or something, a couple years and you're done :)
Ginger
[quote user="Violet"]
Granted after a while of hearing the same questions, I want to just print a introduction to type 1 101 card.
~Violet
[/quote]You might be onto something with this idea, Violet!
*lol* Ginger :D
I've got to say that this is one of the big discussions that really caught my eye. Everyone has some pretty good reasoning on their opinion of this and hey it's their opinion right? No one's opinion is ever wrong or incorrect.
I personally think that it isn't their fault that they don't know about diabetes and ask stupid (well i guess not stupid what word is it?) questions or assume different things. Sure I would much rather they ask the questions then assume but hey, some of us get embarassed by asking questions. I have to admit that before I was diagnosed I had no idea what type one diabetes was. Both of my grandpa's have type two and sure I knew a little about that but I never thought "hey what's type one?" I myself even made assumptions about it when I was diagnosed and I wish I hadn't because they scared me. My parents and other adults weren't much help with the whole "i knew someone whose foot was cut off because they were diabetic." Of course they failed to tell me that those people didn't take care of themselves and lost circulation and stuff like that.
I too sometimes wish I had a "manual" on t1 and one of the page in it would have to be the difference between t1 and t2. I don't know how many more "but you aren't fat," or "you can get rid of that right?" "I am sorry this has sugar and you can't eat it has sugar." or my favorite "you should sit out of practice or this game because you look pale" comments I can take. 1. I know they are trying to look for answers but their lack of intelligence on this can get annoying. 2. I don't mind a question coming from someone but when they ask the exact same question again like 2 days later or something it's annoying. If their not gonna listen then don't ask or look it up! 2. no I cannot get rid of it. when i was 10 and diagnosed the first time I was asked that (like 2 days after i got out of the hospital) i was given false hope. Now it's like ok no I cannot but thanks for reminding me about that! 3. I will eat as much sugar as i want because I know when to stop. i know my limits on how much my body should take and I would tell you if i can't eat something. and 4. no i will not sit out! I will sit out when I fell nervous about me playing because of my blood sugar, not you. (sorry I know this is getting a bit lengthy).
I agree that the media is a HUGE problem in this and needs to be more informed on it. I'm not going to go ahead and agree that it is our so-called "job" to explain, but a calm explanation to people when they have good questions would be nice. It's sort of fun for me to explain it to people who just met me and are asking questions, and who now at least that there is a difference between t1 and t2. a little girl i babysit for once asked "kristin is diabetes contagious?" and I just laughed and said no. Now she was in 1st grade when she asked this and it was okay for her to ask, but if a grown person asks me that I will be very close to slapping them (ok i am not a violent person or anything.)
No, we have no right to call the people with the intelligent questions ignorant, but the people with questions like "are you going to die because of this," or the "i don't want to catch it." comments can be called that in my opinion. I will admit i don't know very much about cancer but i know enough that i can't catch it and yes i can very well die from it. So no, it is not fair to expect people to know everything about diabetes just because we were unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with it, but is it too much to expect the people that we have known for a while to at least know something ligitament about it? Even people we have just met, no i don't want them to be an expert on it, i just want them to know that there is a difference between t1 and t2 and that I won't die from it unless i don't take care of myself.
Well.....I wouldn't call them ignorant, but "uneducated in Diabetes", I myself get asked those questions with every person I meet!
If I didn't have Diabetes I most likely wouldn't know either!
What makes me mad though is when I might be acting a little different or say something stupid and they'll say "oh, I guess her sugar is getting low"! They make alot of comments like that on sitcoms and it makes me upset. What if someone made a joke about Cancer?
Hugs,
Marcie
Marice, I know exactly what you mean! They even judge me by the way I look, like if I am pale or something they tell me to go check my blood sugar. And if I am tired or whatever and not paying attention they automatically assume it is my blood sugar. The sitcoms make me pretty upset too. You would think that they should be required to do some type of research on it before they say something about it on TV. Can you imagine the reactions people would have if we did make a joke about cancer?
I personally don't mind people asking me questions about my diabetes. Before I was diagnosed I didn't know much about it. A girl I dance with has had it since she was 5, so I knew what it was, I just didn't know much about it. Like some other posters have said, it's people making assumptions that ticks me off.
"Oh, you can't have that food, it has too much sugar." (my mom. annoys me to no end) or "Have you tried losing weight?" (a mother at a party. I don't like her very much, she has a bad attitude).
I really don't mind the questions, even if it's something like "Doesn't that hurt?" which I'm sure we've all gotten multiple times. If more people know the symptoms and what happens in the body of a diabetic, I figure thats a good thing. My youth leader, who is a doctor, now carries around smarties candy when she goes on boy scout camping trips, for low blood sugar. She got the idea from me, after I had gotten it from someone else.
Who knows. Maybe explaining the symptoms to someone could enable them to help a diabetic who has low or high blood sugar.
Yeah it's always the assumptions that get me. But when the same people constantly ask "does that hurt?" over and over after I tell them no it gets really annoying. so now I just say to those who ask it more than once "hmm i don't know, you take four shots a day and tell me how it feels okay?"
i have had it for four years and my dad still thinks I count calories. Its kind of weird and i tell him everytime that it is carbs so I think it is just an honest mistake. Wait she actaully said "have you tried loosing weight?" I would have probably went off on her right there or walked away without an answer. Or you could have made her feel bad and said "wait, do you think i am fat?"
Yeah we probably all have taught a lot of people new things and important things like how to treat a low or a high. My friends always yell at me if I am low and then i get up and start moving around because they don't want me to pass out, I can't imagine any of them knowing what to do if I hadn't taught them, that's the reward of it i guess.
I am curious if you are still trying to sell your cgm. I just got one a month ago and stupidly threw out the transmitter piece. If you do still have it please email me at traceystar16@hotmail.com.