Media rant! Grr!

[zoze_j]

Ok, so this is my bug bear (I hope this falls within the rules as I'm not bashing any type of diabetes)...

I am seriously getting so sick of the general ignorance, perpetrated by the newpapers/media in general about the grouping/generalisation that EVERYBODY has T2 & the only form of diabetes is T2!

It's like, every headline is a scaremongering tactic, or a branding that all diabetics are unfit or overweight when this is so not the case! It's like, in the headline it says diabetes. It doesn't specify even in the storyline that leading an unhealthy lifestyle can contribute to type 2. Nor does it say that not every type 2 has the condition because of the lifestyle they have or haven't led! It also brands everyone the same, which we are so not.

Then when I meet people & they're like "Oh, so you must have had a really unhealthy diet/been a fat kid?" and I'm like "NO! I got the flu & my body attacked itself!" or the most infuriating of them all, coming from non-diabetic, non professional people who've read a newpaper article/seen a report on the news & now assume all diabetics need to live a carb free/sugar free diet! Drives me crazy!

I blame the media entirely for peoples' ignorance. I also believe there should be more education about diabetes & it's catagories in schools. It was bad enough when I was at school & the only person in my entire school to have diabetes, nobody knew anything about it at that time & there were a lot fewer diabetics out there, but now there are so many of us, there's no reason there shouldn't be more education out there.

Rant over. I feel much better!!!

 

[Robinredbreast]

I have been asked twice now if my diabetes is type 2, both from medical professionals ( hospital nurses) about 18 months ago and then last week.

 

[noblehead]

Par for the course with regards to the media, very rarely do they print anything accurate

 

[mrspuddleduck]

When my body decided to destroy my pancreas I was told I must have an alcohol problem. When I became malnourished due to my pancreatic disease I was told I must be anorexic. Now my pancreas is dead, I'm told I must be a type 1 cos I'm not fat enough to be a type 2. (I'm actually type 3C). Nothing to do with the media, all from qualified doctors and nurses.........

 

[donnellysdogs]

I've also had it wrongly written on A&E notes that I was a T2 because I am over 50....even medics that have been told you are a T1 don't listen and write things up wrong...they just assumed old and T2.... They don't think that I was a child once! Plus the fact I'm only size 8 so there assumption was based upon my age!! Ggggrrr - rant over... But not a media rant!!

 

[Gaz-M]

you see it and get it all the time, I have never got used to it

 

[zoze_j]

Oh wow, I'm surprised so many of you have experience labelling from medical professionals! I'm thankful that's never happened to me, but never say never!

When my body decided to destroy my pancreas I was told I must have an alcohol problem. When I became malnourished due to my pancreatic disease I was told I must be anorexic. Now my pancreas is dead, I'm told I must be a type 1 cos I'm not fat enough to be a type 2. (I'm actually type 3C). Nothing to do with the media, all from qualified doctors and nurses.........

I am absolutely gobsmacked at this!

Par for the course with regards to the media, very rarely do they print anything accurate

Haha really? :O I always thought they printed completely unbiased, 100% accurate tried & tested source material...!

 

[noblehead]

Haha really? :O I always thought they printed completely unbiased, 100% accurate tried & tested source material...!

 

[CapnGrumpy]

I've had a nurse in a hospital tell me that I couldn't possibly be having a hypo as they tested my blood sugar every hour. Despite my Accu Chek telling me that I was at 2.7 and there being no record of any official blood sugar tests in the 6 hours since I was moved to that ward...

I still trust that hospital more than journalists.

 

[conniecar]

Ha ha this makes me laugh. The Daily Nazi prints tripe about it all and sadly I have colleagues and in-laws nervously ask if I'm allowed a biscuit. We are not responsible for the collapse of the NHS, although I did hear one woman in the chemist queue moaning that we got free drugs and that's when all the problems started. Needless to say I wanted to give her a big jab of Novarapid and shout 'try that for free, lady.' I was suddenly dropped from the birthday party list in 1977....far too dangerous to have near the fairy buns, so my mum made my parties special by improvising with recipes involving vanilla pods and Sorbitol ( memorable for its startling laxative effect .) We will always feel different ( don't worry, am not about to quote anything hideous about learning to dance in the rain ) but again, this site is great, along with the media for making us realise that different is on the increase, so we are 'on trend.' Xxxxx

 

[zoze_j]

Needless to say I wanted to give her a big jab of Novarapid and shout 'try that for free, lady.'

Brilliant! I probably would have felt the same way! Cheeky mare! I would give anything not to have diabetes and pay for my prescriptions like a regular person. You know, without the chronic illness!

I was suddenly dropped from the birthday party list in 1977....far too dangerous to have near the fairy buns, so my mum made my parties special by improvising with recipes involving vanilla pods and Sorbitol ( memorable for its startling laxative effect .)

I remember my first year of high school in food class - we had to make flapjacks as our first ever practical. Let me tell you, flapjacks made with canderel are not yummy!!

 

[therower]

I think the problem is that the media thrive on headlines and avoid long drawn out explanations. Regarding the media/press most people react visually and audibly. Diabetic , Diabetic T2, Diabetic T1, so to the uneducated or uninterested the SLIGHT difference is the numbers 2 and 1, and even then which is the best number to have. Is 1 best as it comes before 2 or is 2 better on account it's 1 twice. It all gets a bit to much for the media/press to explain even if they know the difference, consequently they go with what is most common to their audience. For us type 1's that unfortunately is type2, nobody's fault really, it's just the way it is. Perhaps if diabetes was more visual it would help people understand, perhaps if we categorised differently, insulin and non insulin. If we could put 2 diabetics in a room, 1 insulin dependent and 1 non insulin dependent and then ask which was which no one would really be sure but if we then ripped the pancreas out of the insulin dependent diabetic and left a bloody large gaping hole, then people might get it. As I pointed out earlier we react to visual and audible so easily, diabetes is neither visual or audible.

 

[LittleG]

In my experience, as as newly diagnosed T2 person, most people's perception of diabetes is worryingly off the mark. I have become a bit of a diabetes bore to anyone who asks me how I am doing. I have also had some priceless comments about not eating cake ( 'What silly diet are you on? Have a cake ! ) or my weight, ( you're diabetic! But you aren't that fat or old ( THAT fat lol) ).

 

[Lamont D]

No one believes I'm not diabetic!
Except those who have the knowledge to know the difference mainly the good folks on here and my medical care team. My endocrinologist, my GP, and my dsn!

But to everyone else, I'm just another diabetic!

Honest I'm not!

Ok, so I was misdiagnosed as T2 for over ten years, but, most people can't see the woods for the trees! It's even more embarrassing when I had to keep going back to the hospital for all my tests and appointments.

I can't help being weird!

But I'm not diabetic!

That's a fact that most dailys have no concept of!

 

[RuthW]

Like donellysdogs I'm T1 in my fifties and I've had it since I was 5. I live in Turkey where T2 is extremely common so when I say I have diabetes, someone ALWAYS says, 'My mum's got that.' I just agree, add, 'Yes, but I've had it since I was five' and flash my pump at them!

Having said that, at the small hospital where my endo works, I practically get a round of applause every time I walk through the door. The director of the hospital knows my OH and informed him (when I first showed up after not seeing a doctor for 7 years), 'She's got no complications at all! She must be doing SOMETHING right!'

Recently, I had a whole bunch of floaters appear in one eye, and in a mad panic insisted on three separate check ups with two different doctors. Eventually, the eye doc yelled down the phone at my endo, 'She's got better eyes than a NON-Diabetic.'

So, yeah, I get fed up with the emphasis on Type 2 in the media. I get fed up with the proportion of research funding that goes to Type 2, but all in all, I prefer having Type 1 to having Type 2.

Once you've got insulin resistance (Type 2) or Metabolic Syndrome, it seems to be really hard to roll back. For a Type 1, then, avoiding developing insulin resistance AS WELL as Type 1 is the key to longevity. So some of the Type 2 info is relevant to us too.


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[satkins]

So, yeah, I get fed up with the emphasis on Type 2 in the media. I get fed up with the proportion of research funding that goes to Type 2, but all in all, I prefer having Type 1 to having Type 2.

Once you've got insulin resistance (Type 2) or Metabolic Syndrome, it seems to be really hard to roll back. For a Type 1, then, avoiding developing insulin resistance AS WELL as Type 1 is the key to longevity. So some of the Type 2 info is relevant to us too.

I hope you never have to deal with insulin resistance. We get the same thing over here in Canada also. All the news is about Type 2 and seems all the research is also on type 2. A friend of my son is Type 1 and has been dealing with it since he was a year old. I can feel for all type 1's that you get swept under the carpet. The news and medical people all feel that type 2 has an easy cure if only people would listen. Lose weight and eat right. My doctor is a little better then that. He asked me how much I weighed 10 year ago. When I told him around 220 lbs and now I weigh 260 he asked if my diet had changed. When I told him I actually walk more now and eat better then 10 years ago he said I was probably diabetic 5 to 7 years ago and nothing would have stopped it. If I did avoid all sweets and such and ran marathons it would have only delayed diagnosis. But just about everyone else would have just thought I was fat and lazy. Especially since I just moved to this town and they didn't know the skinner me (yes 220 is still over weight but only by 20 or 25 pounds and I hid it well).

 

[Diakat]

I've had a nurse in a hospital tell me that I couldn't possibly be having a hypo as they tested my blood sugar every hour. Despite my Accu Chek telling me that I was at 2.7 and there being no record of any official blood sugar tests in the 6 hours since I was moved to that ward...

I still trust that hospital more than journalists.

Thanks, from a diabetic journalist.

 

[CapnGrumpy]

Thanks, from a diabetic journalist.

But the journalists on the TV tell me that the newsprint journalists spend all day hacking mobile phone voicemails!

OK - that's going a bit far, and I've only written it to emphasise a point - I don't mean this to sound personal. Those who don't know much about diabetes (quite a lot of people - certainly including me pre diagnosis) get a certain amount of their information from the media. Just as I (largely ignorant of how journalism actually works) get information on the media from the media. Can I tell the difference between someone who writes well researched and interesting articles that make me think from the stereotype in a mac and a trilby hat with a Press Pass tucked in it?

No, I've not got a clue, because I am ignorant, because I can't be bothered to look into it further, because I don't really care and want the news in bite-sized chunks. And that's the issue. If three quarters of an article is saying that diabetes costs the NHS a squillion pounds an hour and is caused by eating pies and never exercising then it can grate a little with T1s, T3Cs, and the 1 in 5 T2s with 'normal' BMIs because they are all lumped inaccurately together and because those without a vested interest won't look any further and assume that to be the case for us all. So then we get the comments about 'you don't look that fat', 'did you eat too many sweets as a kid?' etc.


TL;DR: I'm an idiot. So are loads of people.

 

[Diakat]

Bad news sells, all media has an agenda and remember that no one wants to annoy their advertisers.

 

[petepontiac]

When diagnosed with T 1 the hospital told me they were only 99% sure. I am a 65 hard working 6' 2" long haired rebel and the doctor told me I didn't look like a diabetic. I was taken into hospital suffering from keytone acidosis and a B.G of 29. I had lost a stone in 5 days whilst in Spain. After a week of "stabilization" constantly having to drink water and take Metformin they decided I was indeed T 1 and Lantus and Apidra was the answer. What a relief My point is just because I didn't look like a diabetic there was some doubt I was. Can someone tell me how you identify a diabetic visually.....No