“But you don’t look like a diabetic” (and what exactly would a diabetic look LIKE??); “Can you eat that?” (well can YOU, or more to the point SHOULD you?); “Oh you must have the bad diabetes” (Is there a GOOD kind???); “oh you are being very naughty having that cake/biscuit/chocolate/treat” (what would YOU know?); “If you just ate better and lost weight your diabetes would go away” ( I WISH)……
These are all genuine comments us people with diabetes get from those without diabetes, time and time again. You would think with all the media attention on diabetes, how we are the fattest nation in the world, how diabetes is set to be the biggest health problem ever faced, that our hospitals will be stuffed with obese people, with diabetes, ruined kidneys, heart failure and their legs cut off (no joke I can see it now) – that people would know better. But herin lies the problem, the media is often misinformed, uniformed and just downright dumb when it comes to diabetes and no wonder. We used to have it sorted, there was Insulin Dependent Diabetes or IDDM and Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes or NIDDM. So you either were on insulin (the REALLY BAD diabetes) or you weren’t (the diabetes that was all your own fault and happened to old people).
We now know that diabetes is much more complex, we have type 1 and type 2, but we also have gestational (arguably just the start of type 2 diabetes in some women and the natural insulin resistance of pregnancy in others); type 1.5 or LADA which is an autoimmune form of type 1 diabetes in adults and a range of other less common forms and reasons for the pancreas going on the blink.
We also know that age is no barrier in deciding which type you have – kids are sadly getting type 2 and adults can get type 1. Further all forms of diabetes are on the increase, suggesting that environment has a part to play in all forms – not just type 2.
People working in diabetes get confused and people living with diabetes are confused, so no wonder the media and general person in the street do not understand diabetes in all its forms. That said, education is vital and something we as people living with diabetes, can offer to the world.
Guilt is not helpful so don;t accept it when offered – you know what is ok to do in your own life and you can choose to manage how you wish. So next time someone asks “Can you eat that”, instead of getting angry or defensive, say “well yes actually people with diabetes can eat anything you know” and give them some information – tell them “you never know” they may end up as one of those diabetic statistics themselves one day – as after all diabetes (surprise surprise) is not choosy in who it decides to visit….
stories from the diabetes counselling web
Diabetes Online 