I went to a support group meeting a few days ago and there was a lady with type 2 diabetes there as well. She couldn't understand why the other type 1 lady and I weren't obese, why we would have a pump, and why we can't just drink some water and walk around if our blood sugar is high. She said the scariest part of diabetes was having to prick her finger once a day. I wish it was all that simple!
When they say to eat a whole bunch of sugar & exercise. They think it's curable, & they say having Diabetes is a disability.
Some of these made me think of a funny comment a friend recently made. We play D&D every week and we all bring snacks. One week, I brought some sugar-free chocolate covered granola crackers that everyone LOVED. The next week, she told me she had bought some, "But they weren't the sugar free kind, so I used that as an excuse to leave them at home and have all to myself!"
I told her that wasn't fair, that only I could use my diabetes as an excuse to keep food all to myself. "No, you can't have one of my crackers! I already took insulin for exactly 10 of them!" Heehee...
Oh! But actual an "annoying" thing I hear in response to being told I've just recently been diagnosed as T1 diabetic: "You mean type 2." I get this, because I assumed it would be type two when my GP said my blood sugar was high and needed to run tests to confirm and figure out what kind of diabetes I had. But at the same time, I feel a teensy bit defensive about it because, while I'm older than most people who get T1, I also pretty young for T2 and live a much healthier lifestyle than what usually triggers T2.
Plus, uh, I think I know what kind of chronic disease I've been diagnosed with, thank you very much for attempting to correct me!
[quote user="David Shapiro"]
My Chinese teacher in my university said that China did not have diabetics. I said that did not seem possible. She assured me they did not. I mentioned she may not have heard of such things because sickness is not genereally mentioned/talked about in Asia and our media is much more open to reporting on just about anything. Ironically, the following year she came to me and told me her mother was just diagnosed as diabetic.
[/quote]That's pretty funny, especially since there have been recent reports about a "diabetic crisis" in China. (I think it's type 2 that they're getting at an increased rate lately.)
[quote user="Kathy"]
I once had someone tell me I was lucky my daughter had type 1. I could not beleve it!
[/quote]I wonder if they were saying this because kids are starting to get type 2 more often. I'm 30 and recently diagnosed, and I was defistated enough when I was told I was diabetic, but even more so when I found out it was T1. But the CDE (also a T1 diabetic) who did my initial training told me, "As far as I'm concerned, you're lucky it's type 1. Type 2 diabetics can go undiagnosed for years, and the high blood sugar just keeps damaging their bodies. But with a type 1, you know almost right away and can start treating before there's too much damage."
"Lucky" is not the word I would use, but it did give me some perspective. I'd gone from, "Crap, I'm probably diabetic. But I will do everything right: eat well, exercise every day, etc. Maybe then, I can reverse it," to "Holy crap, I'm diabetic and will have to be on insulin for the rest of my life no matter how "good" I am!!!" So there I was feeling utterly defeated and like I'd lost the last little bit of power and control I thought I had because I had the kind of diabetes you cannot cure or reverse, and the CDE gave me a different point of view: that if I'd been T2, I might not have found out until complications were inevitable. But now, I have the ability to probably prevent those complications.
Of course, a better situation would have been an early diagnosis of T2... And the best situation would have been no diabetes at all!
[quote user="Elizabeth"]
Oh! But actual an "annoying" thing I hear in response to being told I've just recently been diagnosed as T1 diabetic: "You mean type 2." I get this, because I assumed it would be type two when my GP said my blood sugar was high and needed to run tests to confirm and figure out what kind of diabetes I had. But at the same time, I feel a teensy bit defensive about it because, while I'm older than most people who get T1, I also pretty young for T2 and live a much healthier lifestyle than what usually triggers T2.
Plus, uh, I think I know what kind of chronic disease I've been diagnosed with, thank you very much for attempting to correct me!
[/quote]That reminds me of the night my daughter was diagnosed. I called my sister-in-law because 1) I figured she'd know more than me because she's diabetic (type 2), and 2) She lives with us and knew she'd be worried when we didn't come home that night. So I told her the doctors were telling me that Sarah was type 1 diabetic, and her response was "no, type 2 right?" - Seriously? 1 - I was definitely paying attention at this point and would not have confused her diagnoses. And 2 - She was about 65 pounds soaking wet, doesn't drink soda, doesn't eat/like candy, and eats more vegetables than any kid I've ever known. I decided at that point that she probably didn't know nearly as much about diabetes as she/I thought she did...
On the up side. Sarah is a great poster child for type 1 - as everyone who knows her knows how obsessive she's always been about healthy food and how active she is. So explaining Sarah's diabetes has been a great way to educate folks on type 1 because most people seem to instinctively know that she can't have the typical diabetes that's always discussed in the media. It just doesn't compute!
I can't stand the "But you're so thin"s, the "you shouldn't eat that"s and the "type one is the good one"s. Sometimes it's hard to be the only one in the room that understands your situation.
" You don't look like a diabetic " What does that even mean? What does a diabetic look like?
well most of the time ppl are just rude to me Because i have diabetes.
My biggest annoyance is when people tell me when i need to take my shot or when they say "Can you even eat that," that makes me feel down.What about you!!!
This girl at this music festival I went to saw my pump and said "Your diabetes must be really serious." Or something to that extent. I just thought that was weird. I don't think she understood that pumps and injections are both used to treat type 1, the same disease.
[quote user="Katie"]
I don't think she understood that pumps and injections are both used to treat type 1, the same disease.
[/quote]Pumps and injections are used to treat type 2, as well.
Well..I have had A LOT of annoying questions..but the grand daddy of all of them would probably be when people ask me " You have type 1 right....is it really bad or just the mild version of it..?" Umm..well i didn't think we are making food here..there is no "Mild kind"..you either have it..or ya don't...the entire disease is serious and should not be taken lightly whether we are talking about type 1 or type 2.....
it annoys me when my blood sugar is low and i get out say like peanutbutter crackers (a pack of 6) and people will be like "can i have some?!" and im like uhhh heck no i need them you dont
When they say oh that stinks I'm sorry! It's not that bad a few adjustments but nothing else.
And when they say oh don't you get that from eating sweets??!!!
DAMN NEAR ANYTHING !! I can count with one hand the number of people that had good advice, or were worth listening to.
After years of comments you start to realize that every one can be a teachable moment,
HOWEVER
when people come up to the Animas/One Touch Ping booth at the ADA Expo (where I volunteer) and you explain what the pump does and they exclaim, "Oh my god! I would die if I had to go on insulin!" I do stab them (just a little) in my mind.
Here is a great resource: A "Diabetes Etiquette: For People Who Don't Have Diabetes" card you can hand out:
http://behavioraldiabetesinstitute.org/resources-diabetes-information-publications-etiquettecard.html
[quote user="Lia Hollander"]
when people come up to the Animas/One Touch Ping booth at the ADA Expo (where I volunteer) and you explain what the pump does and they exclaim, "Oh my god! I would die if I had to go on insulin!" I do stab them (just a little) in my mind.
[/quote]My inclination in that situation would be to come back with "Well, yes you would, since it sounds like you'd refuse to take the insulin."
But maybe I'm harsh?
Over a year ago my husband was in the emergency room with appendicitis and when he mentioned to nurses that I was type 1, they commented that I was an "unusual" diabetic because I was so healthy. The kicker is that I'm not super healthy... still haven't lost my baby weight (my "baby" is almost 5 now) and I look like a typical frumpy office worker. It weirded me out that healthcare professional were so surprised by an average person with type 1.
If you haven't seen it you'll like this YouTube video on the diabetic police.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrm7z0owxoc