Whats the most annoying thing people say about diabetes?

Lily47

Member
Messages
14
Yes mine too. I want to slap them. It usually comes with a "face" too. I was having some ice cream when I was out with a group I joined, this male sitting next to me said " I thought you were diabetic?", so I said "and?", he said "why are you eating that then?". MYOB :evil: Would anyone go up to a wheelchair user and demand to know why they were in a chair?

Also, "sugar diabetes" really winds me up.
 

carty

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,379
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
You cant be diabetic you are too skinny :evil:
Ok I will just go tell the GP
CAROL
 

diabetes51

Active Member
Messages
33
Dislikes
I am old fashioned so rude people, swearing , lack of good manners.
People trying to make me live in fear of complications instead of encouraging me to enjoy life. especially those who have never bothered to educate themselves about T1 diabetes.
People who eat/sleep/drink their diabetes,and let it rule their life!
When others express ignorance through what they say, it does not annoy me at all - I see it as an opportunity to educate others. After all they or members of their family or their friends may develop diabetes in the future and I think those of us who live with diabetes should be educationalists. I judge them as I judged myself when first diagnosed, ignorant of the facts because they have never had the need to learn. Come on - be honest, unless you have a family history, - most of you probably knew very little about the condition before you or a member of your family were diagnosed.

The people who annoy me most I would break into 4 camps

1. Those who have diabetes or care for someone with it, who try to prove that either having Type 1 or Type 2 is worse than the other. Neither is worse, people with either type have their individual problems, based on the condition yes, but also based on their response to it.

2.Those that appear to think having Type 1 diabetes nowadays is far more difficult than having it 50 years ago, not a nice thing to say. It was different 50 years ago, but no easier than it is now! Sterilising syringes, using needles until they became blunt - no disposables then. Trying to keep urine tests at a certain shade of green, eating exactly the same amount of carbohydrate at meals 7 days a week - no variation allowed, having to eat 6 meals a day, having strict times when you had to eat, having to go for a walk after each meal no matter what the weather etc. I wonder how many people on here could manage such a strict, monotonous routine - try it then tell me it was easier!! It was different but not easier.

3. This is a difficult one and may lead to others disagreeing, but I have witnessed this. Professionals and other diabetics who appear to be determined to encourage others to become what I call diabetic cripples i.e. people who centre everything around their diabetes instead of enjoying life. For me type 1 has caused few problems in 53 years, because I have not let it! I believe this is because I had brilliant parents who encouraged me to just get on with it, with their support. Thanks to them and a great paediatrician, I did not turn into a person crippled by my condition, but from the age of 9 years old did my own testing, food weighing, injections etc I really believe that there is far more to life than a perfect HbA1c. The treatment pathways I was given for over 35 years of my life did not ensure a stable Hb A1c, so I must ask - how come I am still live today with the only major complication being hypoglycaemic umawareness?

4.Professionals who choose to treat people with diabetes as criminals if the wonderful 9 government tests are not within "normal" limits. These are the professionals who make statements that you could easily begin with "All you have to do is". Here are some examples, I bet others can add more
(All you have to do is) Eat less and it will prevent/treat/cure Type 2 diabetes.
(All you have to do is) Take less insulin and that will stop the hypoglycaemic unawareness. (My GP)
(All you have to do is) Just balance your insulin with carbohydrates and then you will be stable. (Oh yes, what about exercise, stress, illness?)

When I taught diabetes courses to junior nurses, following discussion I made them live as they would expect a Type 2 diabetic to live for the 3 months of the module - no sugar, low fat, restricted calories etc, (This was between 1978 and 2005). Not one of them could stick to the strict criteria they set for others and that stopped the "all you have to do is" statements. I think all professionals who's occupation includes supporting people with diabetes, should be made to live with the dietary restrictions themselves for 3-6 months.
 

AMBrennan

Well-Known Member
Messages
826
The treatment pathways I was given for over 35 years of my life did not ensure a stable Hb A1c, so I must ask - how come I am still live today with the only major complication being hypoglycaemic umawareness?
Would you do your own pluming? No? Then how come you assume that everything doctors learn in medical school and all that time medical and statical experts put into analysing the data is completely worthless?

To answer your question: Because you do not understand what risk means. Lowering HbA1c has been shown to reduce the risk of complications which means that fewer people in the experimental low HbA1c group suffered from complications compared to the control group.

This is, i suppose, an inverted perfect solution fallacy: Because the complications are not certain, any intervention that reduces the risk isn't worth doing.

Whilst we are at it, every time you see a story like "Patient makes miracle discovery after stopping conventional treatment and trying alternative medicine", ask yourself how many deaths following people rejecting effective conventional treatment go unreported because they wouldn't make a good story?
Unless you go out of your way to collect all the data, you never hear about the unlucky ones.
 

Superchip

Well-Known Member
Messages
512
Dislikes
GP's, Diabetes Nurses.Crazy NHS guidelines on diet for Diabetics, they are seeing off millions.
Cheap Whisky !
Terrific post diabetes51 !

YOU obviously have a FAR greater understanding of our situation than some others on here.

You can lead a horse to water etc......

If I had listened to these ' SO-CALLED ' professionals I would have been sticking their s*dd**g needles in myself for the last 6 years ! They will, of course hopefully, eventually, learn the errors of their ways. As long as it doesn't affect their paypackets.

Please don't get me wrong about insulin, but if I can achieve good control and stable readings without it then that is MY path.

The hcp's and gp's and dieticians are PAID to follow the misguided nhs misguidlines......( not bad eh ?)

There is so much evidence published by emminent people, that put in to dispute the ' TOE THE PARTY LINE ' attitude, all taught with great reverence to their salaries, possibly/probably paid for by pharmaceutical vested interests, I mention statins as a case in point !

But that is a subject for another debate ! When the proverbial hits the fan on that one it will make the thalidomide medical FIASCO look like a picnic for lawyers and the inevitable lawsuits to follow ( mine included !). Not to downgrade the evil and terrible suffering that that 'HELPFUL ' wonder drug caused. It has taken how many years just to get an apology from the idiot pharma co. ?

I'll prob get moderated again, getting used to it, but perhaps we adults should be given a forum where we can vent our views ?

(Only joking !)

Superchip
 

kezz01489

Active Member
Messages
42
Dislikes
Judgemental people, everyone is entitled to their opinion but when people don't listen they will never learn. I know that cause that's how I used to be.
Hi pappa i totally agree with you here. Been t1 for 24 years and the whole time all i ever heard was how i need to have good low blood and how high blood will kill me, so much so that i became in a mind set that i needed to be low all time. My blood goes to 1.5 now and i appear and feel fine. Getting head round all bits now again. But its hammered into u isnt.it. Xxxx

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Ebba

Newbie
Messages
3
As others have written it's really annoying when you say for example that you're tired and the comment you get is: are you low?
Everything gets connected to your diabetes...

Also it's not fun when someone yells out "oh I hate needles so much", while you are injecting!


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jude67

Member
Messages
10
A friend of ours has a mum who is just diet and has never been above 6.0 and is always offering info on her mums diet, i alwaya say is yr mum on medication, answer always is No, i say well then, lol
 

Jelly Beans

Member
Messages
5
Is that a phone?
Is that a fax machine?
What happens if you press that button?
IS THAT TUBE ACTUALLY IN YOUR STOMACH RIGHT NOW AT THIS MINUTE?
CAN YOU FEEL IT?
OH MY GOD, ARE YOU A CYBORG?

Been asked all of them.
 
Messages
4
All I have heard since I was diagnosed is No wonder your diabetic !! >>>> YOUR FAT !! I have family history, great granma, grandma, dad, aunt and 2 brothers !
 

neels

Well-Known Member
Messages
111
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Some years ago I had a pharmacist say to me - You don't look like a diabetic! - Really???? Do diabetics have it written on their foreheads 'Give way! I am diabetic' or something?

And yeh the most common one - Are you supposed to be eating that?

Another one when I tell someone I inject insulin 5 times a day (used to) - you must have really bad diabetes, you should try eating less sweets! :roll:
 

Babydowg

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
MODY
Treatment type
Insulin
My GP And diabetic nurse when they say oh you're type 2........ I actually have MODY and they don't seem to know the difference!
 

Pickwick

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Doctors who tell me how I feel rather than ask. Hospitals where clericals outnumber medical staff. Actually - hospitals in general - I stay out of them.
The most annoying thing about T2 ever said to me was by my own GP who called it - and still calls it - "only" Type 2 diabetes. I often jokingly tell friends I'm very special as I have that special variant of T2 called "only T2." It soon became clear I'd probably been diabetic for several years - years in which I'd seen my GP regularly about other, serious, conditions. He only diagnosed diabetes after I banged on his desk and demanded he check specifically for it. Subsequently I heard more misinformation from my GP and his diabetic practice nurse than from any other source.

Someone here commented on the level of diabetic training among nursing staff - in my own experience I can testify it seems to be zero or worse (the worse being actual misinformation based on the NHS party line.) A short stay in my local general hospital confirmed this - the wholesale ignorance wasn't quite as disgraceful as the authoritarian, often angry, certainty with which it was offered. As in another thread on this forum, I often had to fight for my metformin and even then await their convenience. I shudder to imagine the result had I needed insulin.

These days as long as I get my metfartin, etc, free (I'm retired and disabled) I try to stay up to date via websites like this, and stay as far away from medics as I can for as long as I can. As for my local general hospital - it will take a sheet over my face before I return to an institution in which I'd decline to kennel my dog.

The American politician Will Rogers used to say "It's not what we don't know that causes trouble. It's what we DO know that ain't so!"
 

noblehead

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
23,618
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Disrespectful people
neels said:
Some years ago I had a pharmacist say to me - You don't look like a diabetic!


Wish I had a pound for every-time someone has said that :roll:
 
Messages
2
Two of the most annoying for me are: "Have you got too much sugar or not enough?" and "I know if you have a hypo you need your insulin." NO! I used to be polite when replying to these but I've had diabetes for 12 years and I've had 12 years of these annoying questions!
 
Messages
6
Dislikes
Moaning people who complain they feel tired and ill but do nothing to help themselves.
I hate hearing, "are you diabetic because you ate too much sugar"?