i barely remember being a normal person, haha :p but what i do know is that most of them do not understand diabetes at all. even my friends, hence why i have a juvenation.. so i can talk to all of you wonderful people :) so i guess my question is, what is the worst thing someone has ever said about you and your diabetes when you told them? or what was the worst reaction you've gotten? i've gotten some pretty bad ones!
I've never really had a bad reaction, actually none at all....i feel kind of bad for the diabetic kids who get teased and stuff. That never happens to me or hasn't happened yet. how about you?
ha yeah i've gotten bad, but i know why. i live in a very very small town and not alot of people even knew diabetes existed. when i got first got diagnosed, my sugars were way high and i had to pee all the time. i got told by some teachers that i was abusing my right to go to the bathroom, even though we had a meeting with all of them before the school year started and told them all the symptoms of high blood sugar. and then other kids called me spoiled because when i was low i got to eat in class. but i just blow it off, i mean thats all yah can do besides educate them.. which i do a presentation every year! :) and i really hope you don't have to get teased! it really hurts until you learn how to deal with it!
omigosh! thats horrible! I was doing a health report and my presentation was the longest one because i found so much info on diabetes it lasted almost 2 periods (which were separated by days) and on the second day i was mostly wrapping it up and everyone just blew me off. It was really annoying. But worse, on the first day I was trying to tell my class about how insulin works and this one guy was like "what if I would take insulin right now? would I just get like super energy and super strength and stuff?" so i told him that obviously no it would probably make your bloodsugar very low and youd go into a coma very quickly blah blah blah. so as i was explaining, he kept interupting me the whole tme i was talking and didnt listen to me and thought he was the only one who is right. So then he said, "Wow. You're mad stupid. i know more about diabetes than you do!" OMIGOSH!!! I dont think i'll ever forget that. He doesn't have diabetes, hes just a large, arrogant piece of poo. That may have been the worst reaction i remember. But the funiest reaction which just recently happened was when my friend was looking at my dogtag that says diabetes on the back and stuff. She asked me what it was and i said that it was a medic alert. she read out my name encripted on the front. and i said yeah and it says diabetes on the back. she asked me why and i said because i have diabetes. here's what she said: "Oh. yeah, cool." DIABETES ISN'T COOL YOU SILLY!!
Sherylyn: you were diagnosed exactly two years before me! We're d-day twins. Or something.
I've never really gotten bad reactions. The one that pisses me off the most is the people who say "i'd rather die than give myself shots every day." I always wanted to say "yeah, well, that's the choice - i'd rather live." Easier now that i'm on a pump, though.
So far Riley hasnt gotten a bad reaction. I think partly because when she was dxed I told the staff to tell the other staff and students. I wanted everyone in the school to know more or less she was diabetic and I wanted them to understand what it is. I am constantly educating staff and students on it as much as I can. The principle is going to try and get someone from the Barbra Davis Center down here before school starts next year for one of their staffings to give them a run down on Diabetes again more of what to look for in kids who have not been dxed yet and what more they can be doing for the ones they already have. I think the more you educate people from the get go the less likely you are to get stupid questions. Riley was asked 101 questions the other day by a newly dxed girl who is in my sons class and I just grinned ear to ear. Riley is very shy but she was answering this girls questions because in 5 short months she herself is educated and wanted someone who knew what was up to talk to about this stuff when she was first dxed. So when Riley tells someone I have diabetes she doesnt leave it at that she explains why and what it means for her before anyone can say something dumb too. I am proud of her for that.
That is really great that your daughter is doing that and educating people. I really haven't given any presentations or education lessons excluding the everyday questions about the disease and my pump. I think that if you educate people while you are telling them that you have it, there is more room for questions instead of the "idiotic" responses some people get. Good for her!!
I was diagnosed when I was in fifth grade. I moved to a new school when I entered sixth grade. This bully found out I was diabetic, and he called me a "diabetic freak". My teacher, Mr. Warner, took a hold of the boy and slammed him against the wall and really laid into him. I will never forget that. Or Mr. Warner. And one of my teachers in seventh grade made fun of me in shop class when I had to have a snack in his class. He asked if I brought enough for everyone else to enjoy the picnic?? I really dislike ignorant people, especially people who know better.
Thats rediculous!! Those ignorant people really get on my nerves also. I remember one of my bad reactions....Last year towards the end of June, I was missing a lot of school due to bad stomach pains and dehydration (pre-diagnostic). While I was out of school, my Spanish teacher was making rude remarks about how "rude" it is to miss the last days of school...mind you, I was in the hospital. The other thing that really ticked me off was that I managed to get straight A's throughout the year dispite feeling sick and having major distactions. I just thought it was nervy of her to even say anything in front of the class. Also, when I returned to school, she made a rude remark in front of the whole class right in front of me. I was still emotionally hurt from being diagnosed so it took a lot of strength to sit there and not break down crying. I just calmly said, "yes, while you were teaching, I was in the hospital being diagnosed with T1 diabetes. Thank you very much." She was shocked and I could tell she felt bad, but she shouldnt have said anything in the first place.
I am glad that you stuck up for yourself and did it in a (kind of) respectful way! You were tactful and to the point. Way to go!!
i think education is key. i don't necessarily think people are trying to be dumb. sometimes, they're intentionally mean, but i really just think it's because they don't know anything about diabetes. there's a lot of confusion and misconception out there about diabetes, so i think every opportunity we can take to teach them will (hopefully) make one more person knowledgeable about diabetes.
in middle school there was one boy who always called me "diabetic girl." i found it laughable because if that was the biggest insult he could find about me, i was doing pretty well :o)
Being a teacher myself, I cannot believe that a teacher would speak to/about a student like that. That's really unprofessional. Like C said, try educating her on diabetes!!!!
I know! I was amazed my self!
I was diagnosed at age 7, shortly after we moved from a small town to Phoenix to be closer to my doctors. There was this little boy on the playground that got mad at me for something and said something about how I was just a diabetee. Looking back it's kind of funny because he was also a kid, but he did get in trouble for it:)
The most nosey people get with me is asking me, "Doesn't that hurt?" when I test my sugar. I then calmnly reply, in a cheery voice, "Um, no," to which to a T, every single person I have said this to says back, "Really?" Then I say, "Yeah, you're right--it does hurt. I was lying to you on purpose to try to trick you into letting me test your sugar and have you jump around a while yelping in pain."
That usually shuts them up.
Good for you sticking up for yourself Hannah.
From my experience with teachers a lot are bitter angry people not because they are teacher its just how they are. They take things out on students. I had more than one like that in high school that I ended up telling them a thing or two they needed to take a look in the mirror at. lol I have never been one to sit back and take much of anything from anyone. Thankfully tho I had a lot of great teachers along the way as well. So far I have been lucky with my kids teachers and have had the opportunity to pick most of their teachers myself or have had others with good knowledge of the teachers match them up with who they think will work best for them. I do fear them once they get into jr and high schools tho because everything changes there.
hahaha i do that all the time, and it really makes them mad. i also get the "wow i'd rather die then give myself shots.." and i'm always like "well i'd much rather be alive thanks" i mean getting asked questions isn't a real big deal for me, i'm always up for educating others. i do a presentation every year to every kid and teacher in my grade.. but i stilll get asked plenty of qs. i guess it just really gets to me when people think they know more about the disease then you do, and they dont even have it.
and also, i always do a JDRF Walk every year and i throw huge fundraising parties and everything.. and i'm all for everyone knowing i have diabetes, i mean i personally don't think its a big deal if they do because the more that know the better! i just hate it when i see littler kids with diabetes that are getting asked stupid questions and being picked on.. in my elementary school last year, a kid in 4th grade sat alone because all the other kids thought he was weird because he had diabetes.. so i went and sat with him :) haha. but i dont know, i guess i just take things literally and to heart.
yeah like its so wierd cause before i was diagonist with T1 i would some days not eat lunch or even lunch and breakfast i was just to busy.. i only onces actually felt a low before being diagonists.. it was wierd i had no idea what was going on but somehow knew to eat.. i eat and felt fine. kinda strange...
You know you really dont get it until it becomes apart of your life. I have the or I should say had the biggest fear of needles. I always said if I got diabetes I would die I could not imagine having to inject myself daily. The thought made me cry literally. Now even worse for me is having to do it to my daughter. I would take everyone for her if I could but I cant and I want her to live so I do it. Its not as cut and dry when you dont have it or have to care for someone who has it. I have had a couple people say that to me and I tell them I was the same way until faced with either doing it or just letting my daughter die and that they would too if they were in my my shoes.