What's been your worst like gift on your birthday / special occassion that didn't really help because you were diabetic?
Mine was on my birthday when my uncle brought me a box of dark chocolates from Singapore where he just had a holiday haha. I didn't say anything cause it's the thought that counts, I just smiled afterwards haha.
My friends are really big on the sugar-free or splenda stuff. Like for my birthday they'll sometimes bake cupcakes/cookies/etc. with splenda or half the sugar. I've also gotten sugar free candies from people. None of these were really that bad since my doctors didn't put any restrictions on what I ate, but it does sometimes get annoying when they assume things or ask if I "can have this?" Feels like that's my business, and I'll handle it if I can't have it, but that it's sort of annoying when they give those to me as gifts.
Luckily, I've never had anything worse than that!
Okay, actually, I have thought of something worse than sugar free/splenda treats :) The same year I was diagnosed, for my birthday my friends all made home-made ice cream. Of course this was a nice and innocent present, but it came at a difficult time and didn't help that I was now diabetic. Even though I could, at the time I felt as if I wouldn't be allowed to have it and it brought back a lot the memories and sadness (for lack of a better word) (it was more upsetting than ‘sad’) from my diagnosis. I still feel guilty over getting frustrated since it wasn't their fault I that this was how I perceived it, but that was probably the worst diabetic present I've received anyway :)
Hehe yeah I know what you mean :D
One of my best friends made me a cake for my 16th and it was sugarfree.
The worst present I've every gotten was a huge thing of popcorn.
I love popcorn, but it was carmale corn.
That sucked.
<3Sara
In one of my classes in high school the teacher gave out brownies to the class for getting a really challenging assignment done early. When she got to me she handed me a cup of baby carrots. Yeah, it was nice of my teacher, but still disappointing when I really just wanted to chow down on a brownie like everyone else.
Kay, at least your teacher gave you something... my teachers (particularly in elementary and middle school) would just look at me with pity, serve all the other kids, and leave me there just sitting and watching all the others eating their treats. Kind of a horrible feeling when you're young.
As for gifts, I don't tell many people I'm diabetic, but for some reason, everyone buys me sweets! For my birthday, I got a whole bunch of chocolates, but I gave them to my brothers as I usually do when given anything I know I shouldn't eat.
When I was diagnosed back in 1976, well-meaning family friends gave me and my sister (who also has type 1, what a lucky family) "special" treats ... I remember on year, my little brother got chocolate chip cookie bars with chocolate frosting, and my sister and I got pretzels. We were polite, but tossed those things. Little did those well-meaning but ignorant friends know that giving us carb-laden pretzels was no better than just letting us eat the real food like the cookie bars!
I had ice cream cake from dairy queen at my b-day, but I asked my parents if I could get it and just "cheat" for the day.
My 8th grade science teacher gave out candy a lot and asked me my favorite SF candy. He got my SF peppermint patties and gave those to me! But in homeroom when we have parties, I normally can't have anything.
I have to say that as much as I love my family..... Just picture that huge 1 pound hershey bar...... well I got the 1 pound bar of Sugar free ALMOND BARK! I dont even know what it is...all i know is that sugar free chocolate is a great laxative!
ahhahahah that is for sure! my mom and i went to a sugar free bakery just to try it and the stuff we tried was really good. and then we tried the chocolates and yeah, you can figure out what happened, i am sure ahah
this isnt a bad present but, I got a diabetes present on christmas. It was a diabetes carry case that rolls up into your bag. Like i said it wasnt horrible but, I dont want diabetes presents for xmas or birthday or anything like that. I would rather not be reminded of my diabetes on those days. but, it was the thought that counted i guess.
The gifts we get are interesting.
In the well meaning category, I love my grandma and I am not saying she is stupid at times or clueless, but sometimes we wonder what goes on in her head.
While she is better now, and sometimes gives me SF cookies and stuff in the beginning, she would offer and bring me stuff low in fat or no fat added. Same with no sodium or unsalted crackers. Not sure why she did this. But the conversation would usually be "Brian I got these for you since they are low in sodium (or whatever it was that day)". It was well intentioned but she never caught on at first. Even though we would tell her.
Probably the worst thing to giveis a large amount of Sugar Free Candy. I have to agree with what Kristy said. If you put a package of SF peanut butter cups in front of me or chocolate covered pretzels, I will try to limit myself, but I will most likely devour the whole thing, even though I know what will happen later. I don't know why, the brain and body knows but I still want to eat it. That I think is a bad gift. It is an evil gift to sometimes give people, especially when they are hungry...
In contrast to Gina's Christmas present story, here is mine!
I actually had a "diabetes gift" on my Christmas wishlist this year. Hard to believe because I, like you Gina, do not usually want to be reminded of my diabetes. However, I recently found this company called CareWear Jewellry. They make pieces of jewellry, mostly bracelets, that they sell through a website, and THEY DONATE 50% OF THE PROFITS TO ONE OF SEVERAL CHARITIES LISTED ON THEIR WEBSITE. Of course, my choice of pieces was one of the bracelets for which 50% goes to the JDRF!
If anyone is interested in checking out the website, here it is: www.bluemarigold.ca
I have no idea if they ship items outside of Canada - you'd have to look into it yourself!
By the way, I know this is supposed to be about the "Worst present ever received", but I couldn't resist! Sorry :(
Nads
Yeah...how bout for Christmas this year my hubby gave me a box of chocolate covered cherries. Not exactly my favorite thing......I couldn't get too mad. But I was like....jeee...thanks hon..........(what the heck were YOU thinking! )
Stephsalem, I think the gift from your husband had "Regift" written all over it!!! Did they do a gift exchange at his work by any chance?!?
I suggest you keep the cherries for next Christmas, wrap them up and put them under the tree for your husband!
Haha, that's a great idea.....but I already gave them away to coworkers. Gonna keep that one in mind for the future.
I happen to kinda hate the holidays now.
#1 worst birthday present. I was diagnosed with diabetes on my 11th birthday.
#2 worst Christmas present- sugar-free chocolates I turned out to be allergic to (1 chocolate= 420bg).
My wife and I have a bunch of Type 2 family members...all [sarcastic] very knowledgable [/sarcastic] with Type 1 diabetes.
Last summer an aunt brought over some no-sugar-added strawberry jam.
It was the consistancy of snot and tasted sour. We all choked back the gag reflex to make it through one piece of toast...then we quickly put it in file 13.
Cheers,
[quote user="Kay"]
In one of my classes in high school the teacher gave out brownies to the class for getting a really challenging assignment done early. When she got to me she handed me a cup of baby carrots. Yeah, it was nice of my teacher, but still disappointing when I really just wanted to chow down on a brownie like everyone else.
[/quote]
That's so tacky! Sorry that was my gut reaction. I guess it was thoughtful but at the same time kind of rude-- if one of my teachers did that to me I would be really disappointed-- and kind of upset I think! :-) I would probably ask for a brownie!