Does this happen to all Type 1's...?

-Artemis-

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Last night I had *yet another* frustrating conversation about being diabetic....

Friend (who knows I'm type 1 from previous conversations): when do you get your insulin pump?

Me: 10 days time, should be great!

Friend: how long have you been diabetic?

Me: about two and a half years....

Friend: what caused it?

Me: they don't exactly know - other than it's auto-immune -- so something triggered an autoimmune response which caused my pancreas to conk out

Friend: oh, you're just like another friend I know -- she's diabetic too -- she got it because she went on this crazy health kick where all she ate was fruit -- and the spikes from the fruit caused her to become diabetic.... she's managed it just by cutting back on sugary things though.

Me: sounds like she's type 2?

Friend: yes

Me: I'm type 1

Friend: yea, exactly -- she's the same - but it's crazy cos she was actually trying to be healthy and that's how she got it...

{at this point I zone out -- thinking I don't know how to deal with the endless confusion....}

----

This sort of conversation happens to me *at least* once a week - does this happen more because I'm adult who got diagnosed....? Or does this sort of conversation happen to everyone with type 1?

I'm seriously considering wondering whether to lie to people and say I've always had it, cos it doesn't seem to matter how many different ways I explain that cutting out sugar isn't going to cure me, people just don't understand.... :(
 
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Nicola M

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I've had it for 17 years (I'm 18 now) and I get this all the time from people. I've give up trying to explain it because it's so frustrating. There are so many repeated questions that I get asked by people which is irritating but all part of it I guess. It's really quite surprising how many people just don't understand the differences, I wish more people would be taught a little bit about diabetes to stop the confusion.
 
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L3wisr

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321
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Type 1
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Insulin
I had a pt try to explain to me how drinking healthy smoothies would reverse my type 1, after I explained the difference they still didn't change their opinion. I just give up now and agree.
 
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novorapidboi26

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your response of "the don't exactly know" to the question what caused it should have been simply that the pancreas was attached by the immune system and it was unavoidable..............:)

that might not help people understand I suppose..........

personally people don't ask me that often..........friends have asked in the past and I think they understood it just fine............
 
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Welshgooner

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"You cant educate stupid" however much you try.....personally I wouldn't bother

"If ignorance is bliss" there are a lot of happy peeps out there :)
 
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ewelina

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Yeah they always mention eating too many sweets in childhood. I grew up in communism and we had sweets once week if we were lucky. Sometimes I put effort into explaining but most of the time I just say that there are different causes of getting diabetes without going into details.
To be fair though, its all quite complicated for someone who hasn't got diabetes. people know much more about type 2 as you can read a lot about it in papers or see on tv, so Im not surprised they get confused. I don't know much about other health conditions...
 
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Juicyj

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My mother in law thinks I have the same diabetes as her mother who died from complications caused by her type 2. So I get told stuff like I can't eat that or shouldn't be drinking that when i'm around her, for the sake of the rest of the family I just play dumb now it's not worth trying to explain any more.

Now if the 2 conditions had different names then that would save the confusion..
 
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M

mrspuddleduck

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My regulars are "you can't be diabetic, you're too thin" and " it can't be type 1, you're too old"!
Despite having pancreatic disease for 15 years knowing that it would eventually pack up and die and I'd become a (LADA) type 1, even my GP insisted I must be a type 2 when it finally happened!!! Sue xxx
 
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noblehead

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You never know a lot about a condition until you get diagnosed yourself, so many people only know from what they read in the press............and they get wrong more times than enough.

Of all the strange things said over the years the one that stands out the most is ''You don't look like you have diabetes.''
 
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azure

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9,780
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
When I told my hairdresser I had diabetes ( had to have a snack in the chair) her response was "But you're not fat!" So I patiently but briefly explained that I had Type 1 and simply explained the differences, and that Type 1 wasn't related to 'being fat'.

But after apparently listening carefully, all she said in conclusion was "Well, you must have been fat once!"

It's so annoying - especially when people don't take in what you're saying. But I never give in to them. Even if they can't or won't comphend the difference, I will simply tell them they're wrong in what they're saying. I don't want them spreading misinformation about diabetes, and even if they still don't understand, at least they may be aware of their lack of knowledge then.
 
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Auckland Canary

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286
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Some of the ignorance is hard to imagine though.
I have had a pump for about a month and have talked quite a lot to a very good friend of mine of the ups and downs I have been having. I said that it was quite weird being plugged in to a machine that keeps me alive. He went a bit quiet and looked confused and then said "Do you die if you don't have insulin then?" I explained that you will die without insulin and he just though that diabetics "got a bit sick and felt unwell" if they didn't inject etc. This is an intelligent guy that I have know for over 15 years, the mind boggles.
 
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Eldorado

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168
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Type 1
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Insulin
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Diabetes.
What about the 'Oh you're diabetic? Type 1? But you're not fat!' That's a wind up for many reasons.
 
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pinewood

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788
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
I get this too! So frustrating!

When I was diagnosed in December I got so many comments, some of the most memorable:

  • "Oh, you must have had a really bad diet when you were younger - did you have lots of sweets?"

  • "How have you got diabetes when you're so active and not overweight, is it because you eat unhealthily?"

  • "At least you can just take tablets to control it, it's not too serious and won't affect your life"

  • "Oh no, it will be rubbish not being able to have any sugar any more" ... etc ... etc ....

One woman was convinced I had been mis-diagnosed because "only babies get type 1 and only fat people get type 2 ... so how can you have got diabetes?"

These were from intelligent people....in the end I just gave up. Don't think we can be too harsh though - although I wouldn't have been as silly as to make comments such as those above, I have to confess that my knowledge of diabetes was very little pre-diagnosis.
 
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Eldorado

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Hahaha! I've had some of those.
I think one of the problems with being diabetic, and there are many of those, is that if you have it, you need to know a lot about it and understand how it works. If you're not diabetic you don't need to know any of that stuff. Lucky bunnies. Scoff what they like without a second thought. But, like you, I like to think I wouldn't have asked such daft questions.
 
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-Artemis-

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533
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Type 1
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Other
... Clearly it's not just me...!! :D

--- I've had all the above too I think; one friend is a nutritionist and asks me *everytime* I see her; 'tell me why they think you're type 1 again...?" -- and I say 'because my GAD antibodies, which is meant to be below 5, came back at 1,800 higher than my doctor had ever seen -- that's what makes it autoimmune' -- and she without fail goes on to say something along the lines of 'but you did like sweets though didn't you'... She may as well just say she thinks I'm type 2 and be done with it!!

... Quite seriously though I do find myself removing myself from social situations because I'm becoming so sensitive to the continued 'you just haven't tried hard enough to "beat this"' comments... :-/
 
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Flowerpot

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424
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
The one that never fails to amuse me is from people who know I use a pump and say " but you take it off at night don't you"? like I dabble part time at being diabetic but only in daylight hours.

The rest of the remarks I just can't be bothered with any more and nod in agreement with the wise words that I am indeed very lucky not to be overweight considering I live on cake, I will single handedly bankrupt the NHS and I should definitely make more effort to cure myself.
 
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Lol, I told some one on a site that I had Type 1 and he said, "You look good though" :wacky: :hilarious: I think I took it as a compliment ROFL
ps I did hide my horns and forked tongue ;):p
 
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Gary61

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Messages
68
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
A person in work was getting really annoying talking about my diabetes just like the rest of you, so to shut him up, I just casually mentioned that I'd read that it can be very contagious and that someone had caught diabetes from a diabetic sneezing in front of them. He never bothered me again after that ;)
 
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Type of diabetes
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A person in work was getting really annoying talking about my diabetes just like the rest of you, so to shut him up, I just casually mentioned that I'd read that it can be very contagious and that someone had caught diabetes from a diabetic sneezing in front of them. He never bothered me again after that ;)

:hilarious: :D
 
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