…is that it being a “lifestyle” disease, it invites people to make comments that are quite intrusive and judgemental.
The well-meaning usually ask a few questions when they find out you are diabetic, but some take it farther and have to relate horror stories about their family/friends.
Some begin to ask questions about your diet. Other point out to a whole gathering that the sugary-sweet concoction they’ve cooked is SOOO GOOD, isn’t is a shame that “diabetic” can’t eat this?
Others go on about how much they hate needles; while others avoid you in case you pull one out and inject in front of them- so they think.
The ones that get to me the most are the ones that “know” just how you got the disease, why your moral inferiority caused it, and you’ll have to live (or die) iwth the consequences.
The point I have is simple: The causes of diabetes are not very clear, and each case is different. It may be important to you to classify everthing and everyone in your own mind, but that doesn’t apply to real life. If you want to ask questions and make conversation about diabetes, leave the judgment out of it and listen to what the diabetic is telling you. Some of us are fighting for our lives, and we don’t need the extra acrimony.
There’s nothing worse than random strangers making moral judgments on the basis of their own faulty knowledge. This is why we need to start shooting morons on sight. Clearly education is a failed approach - at this point, we need them out of the gene pool. Think how peaceful the it’ll be for the 10% or so who remain.
If you try to educate them, they typically come out with some twisted argument of dubious logic with such a triumphant flourish that I am reminded of Humpty Dumpty saying, “That’s glory for you!”
Much the same can be observed in those who believe that added salt is universally bad. I bring this up partly because some people do seem diabetes as caused by too much sugar in your system just like they see high blood pressure is caused by too much salt in your system. I have heard many equate the two. It matters not to these people that the original study demonstrated that only about a third of people with hypertension seem to have blood pressure that reacts to varying their salt intake. It matters not to these people that an individual’s blood pressure is currently normal or even quite low. Some are even aware that a more recent study demonstrated that in a group of people with normal blood pressure if they reduced salt, most saw their blood pressure lower. While I can agree with the premise that people with blood pressure higher than ideal may sometimes benefit from a reduction in salt intake, that is far from a universal endorsement. What about people with ideal or low blood pressure? What about people whose blood pressure is dangerously low? Should they lower their salt intake? These morons seem to think so.
It is so bad that some will swap out their salt for lite salt and then lie when you ask them about it, even if you tell them that you or someone you are with can’t have much potassium, that lite salt is loaded with potassium, and too much potassium could kill you or someone you are with. NOOOO! THEY FUCKING LIE and say it is POPCORN SALT!!!
The Mad Hermit, I once knew a diabetic woman who always felt the need to tell people (many times) that she inherited diabetes, and she was unlike “those other people who don’t take care of themselves.” I asked her one day if she knew strangers’ medical histories well enough to ascertain that indeed, other Type II diabetics were universally careless with their health and ergo were awarded the disease.
I didn’t hear her use that phraseology after I asked that question.
Some guy I know actually does believe this and when he said it I thought it was just about the funniest thing I’d ever heard. I mean, WTF? Even people who know nothing about human biology should be able to see how ridiculous this statement is. It’s along the lines of thinking babies grow in the stomach or standing next to the microwave will give you radiation poisoning.
Funny this should come up today. There is an article about a new theory about the origin of diabetes in today’s New York Times. Registration may be required.
Here is a little bit of the article:
Fascinating. Other parts of the article quote other scientists who are skeptical about this theory, of course.
Give them a heavy stare, then wiggle your fingers at them. When they ask what you’re doing, just tell them you’ve given them the Diabetes Curse[sup]TM[/sup].
“Now you’ll get it too!”
At the very least, it ought to give them a few nervous nights of sleep…
The one I hate that I get the most is “oh you can’t be a diabetic, your so thin!”
So freaking what??? You have to be fat to be diabetic?? Really??
Oh goody, that must mean my doctor and the all the tests I went through were wrong! I’ll throw out my glucometer and eat all the cheesecake I want now because YOU have deemed me too skinny to be diabetic! Thank you!!
I always enjoyed people asking me what my diabetic boyfriend could or could not eat. Usually in a loud whisper, which really is not a whisper at all. In fact, loud whispers seem to carry further than actually talking in a low voice. My mother was the queen of this particular annoyance. I would turn to D, who was often in the room when my mom would carry out her ‘whisper’, and say “D, Mom wants to know if you can eat that”. He would reply through me and I would then relate his answer to her. You would think she would’ve clued in to the silliness of that, but no. Even when I told her “Ma, ask him yourself” she stated she didn’t want to offend him.
Diabetes runs in my family - big time. My mom, one of my aunts, and one (so far) of my cousins are all Type 1 diabetics. My grandmother was the only one of six siblings that wasn’t diabetic. My mom has told me horror stories about how eating too much sugar will make me diabetic for as long as I can remember. Now, while Type 2 diabetes might be influenced by my diet, Type 1 is what runs in the family, and that isn’t caused by a bad diet. It is annoying. Especially since I am actually hypoglycemic. I’m not a doctor, but my cousin (the one who’s diabetic!) is, and he told me it’s unlikely I’ll ever become diabetic because I have the opposite problem. But my mom continues to warn me that I’ll become diabetic. She just harrassed me about getting my blood sugar tested a few days ago. Mom! I. am. not. diabetic!
I knew this girl from kindergarten through high school whose grandmother, mother, and brother are diabetics. We were actually rather good friends, but there was one thing about her that drove me absolutely crazy. She was certain she was going to become a diabetic. She treated it like it was an exclusive club – The Diabetic Golf and Country Club, where the Jell-o is always sugar-free. She’d say things like, “Oh, diabetics can’t do this and this, and that means one day I won’t be able to either!” in the perkiest doom-filled tone I have ever heard. It seemed to say, “See, Purl, we’re almost exactly alike! It’s wonderful! It’s marvelous! We can join a cult and be diabetic best friends forever!!!” It slowed down as we got older and people started being noticed for things other than chronic diseases; you know, things like acne, boobs, and hickeys.
I personally hate it when people talk about things being so saccharine it sends them into a diabetic coma. I really don’t have a reason for it. It just fills me with the grrr. It just makes me want to ask them, “Really? Hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic, punk?”
I also hate that medical alert tags are fugly. I have a silver id bracelet engraved with my information, but I’m always afraid nobody will check it if worst comes to worst. I always envision them saying, “Dee-a-beet-ees? Insoolin Deependant? She must be Greek! Ma’am, do you speak English?” while I’m stretched out on the floor, seizing. I don’t want to get a tattoo. So I’m stuck with a stupid, clunky, thug-chained medical alert bracelet. I’m not asking for much, damn it! Just something that will blend with most clothing and still draw the attention of EMTs and the like to the fact that I’m a diabetic. I realize nobody can be as stupid as I imagine, but still. Can somebody lay my fears to rest?
It never ceases to amaze me that people will try to slip you a “food mickey” thinking they know more about your health than a doctor does. Why can’t these boneheads be charged with attempted murder?
EVERY FUCKING THING from the diet, to the lifestyle changes, to the glucometer, to the injections to the know-it-all comments, to the ignorance of others.
So freaking what??? You have to be fat to be diabetic?? Really??