Type 1 diabetes rant :). ( revised title ). DIABETES RANT.

[Lampet77]

I do see the truth in elements of this rant. I'm type 1 and have no experience of type 2, so I only say this as a response to my own experience. However, there is a probably largely unjust view in the public/press that 'diabetes' is caused by sitting on your **** and eating Burger King 3 meals a day.

I do not want to demonise any type 2, but as a young type 1, diagnosed at 11, being constantly told that I could have prevented my condition if I'd eaten less pizza or whatever as a child pisses me right off and was 100% the cause of several incidents of essentially burnout because I constantly felt blamed.

I have often said that I wish the two conditions were called something different, so that when the news etc talks about 'diabetes' that people don't instantly assume I've done something to cause a condition I hate living with.

I do feel for type 2 patients, because I get the impression there is a lot of misinformation, but it is not the same as type 1. I don't tell anyone about my diabetes any more, because I cannot cope with the comments. Nobody understands what type 1 is. It isn't the fault of any type 2, but of the news and press.

I am sure type 2 have their own problems too and this isn't a type 1 vs 2 issue, it is both types vs the general wrong reports in the papers.

I'm a needle phobe, I need 2 people to hold me down to have bloods taken, I do understand the comments like 'I couldn't do that to myself' wrt to taking insulin. I couldn't for several years, my mother had to inject me but if I didn't I would die. The difference between that and the 'you should have laid off the pies' is that the needle one is someone who doesn't really understand trying to say you are doing well or trying to empathise with how tough it is, the second one is basically victim blaming.

That's my rant. Don't get me started on health 'professionals' only ever focussing on the negatives, not what positive steps you have managed...

 

[Scandichic]

I do see the truth in elements of this rant. I'm type 1 and have no experience of type 2, so I only say this as a response to my own experience. However, there is a probably largely unjust view in the public/press that 'diabetes' is caused by sitting on your **** and eating Burger King 3 meals a day.

I do not want to demonise any type 2, but as a young type 1, diagnosed at 11, being constantly told that I could have prevented my condition if I'd eaten less pizza or whatever as a child pisses me right off and was 100% the cause of several incidents of essentially burnout because I constantly felt blamed.

I have often said that I wish the two conditions were called something different, so that when the news etc talks about 'diabetes' that people don't instantly assume I've done something to cause a condition I hate living with.

I do feel for type 2 patients, because I get the impression there is a lot of misinformation, but it is not the same as type 1. I don't tell anyone about my diabetes any more, because I cannot cope with the comments. Nobody understands what type 1 is. It isn't the fault of any type 2, but of the news and press.

I am sure type 2 have their own problems too and this isn't a type 1 vs 2 issue, it is both types vs the general wrong reports in the papers.

I'm a needle phobe, I need 2 people to hold me down to have bloods taken, I do understand the comments like 'I couldn't do that to myself' wrt to taking insulin. I couldn't for several years, my mother had to inject me but if I didn't I would die. The difference between that and the 'you should have laid off the pies' is that the needle one is someone who doesn't really understand trying to say you are doing well or trying to empathise with how tough it is, the second one is basically victim blaming.

That's my rant. Don't get me started on health 'professionals' only ever focussing on the negatives, not what positive steps you have managed...

I object to the idiots who issue blame for either diabetes type 1 or 2. I am type 2. However, all of my grandparents and their siblings on my mothers side were T1. I strongly believe that it's not just a question of who ate all the pies as 80% of obese people are not diabetic. I think there is a genetic connection there too. I think that not enough is known about T2 yet. The diet is a minefield. Some swear by the healthy plate and others by lchf. I fall into the latter camp but am a firm believer of each unto their own. In other words, if it works for you then go with it.
I think there's nothing wrong in separate areas for T1 and T2 on the forum. I wish that more people would accept that we have areas in common. I would like to see people pulling together and supporting each other regardless of Type.

 

[kevinfitzgerald]

@Scandichic I think if we could all concentrate on our similarities rather than our differences it would breed a little more understanding between all types !

 

[Anaelena]

I liked your rant, Anaelena. I said so, I thought it was very funny. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be funny but it was for me. But this is an open board. It is not specifically yours. There is no unspoken rule that you get to say whatever you think, but nobody else can respond with what they think too. But I didn't think your rant was offensive.

I am older than you, though, and while I used to feel like you when I was younger, I got over it about twenty years ago. It's no use being stuck in your anger at the disease and other people's reactions, in my opinion. Anger (and a rant, and your latest reaction to my comment expresses nothing else) is not a pleasant or healthy feeling in the long term. And since we are not going to get rid of our diabetes, we'd probably better get rid of the anger. That's my stance. And I'm allowed to say so, Anaelena.

Plus, I am in my fifties, and fitter, slimmer, healthier than 95% of the other women I meet my age. That's because I have taken great care of myself compared with most people BECAUSE OF my diabetes. I found a plus in it. Likewise, I find a plus in all the friends I have made, some wonderful people, who are also marginalized or stigmatized in some way by society because of their disability or some other factor. I might not have looked at them, considered them as friends had I been able to fit into some Aryan ideal of the "perfect body".

I am actually happy to have diabetes. I'm loud and proud. Delighted to be Diabetic.

I never said you have no right to respond as you like. As I also have every right to respond to you as I did.

If anyone is interested ... 2 weeks ago I was on Facebook and a new young diabetic asked a question ( it was from this site actually ) . He asked people who have long standing diabetes to describe their complications from diabetes. The majority of those who posted had at least one complication. About middle way in a lady posted and said that she was very upset about the post and thought it was completely negative and that we all should just be happy we are where we are and focus on the positive . After seeing her post I saw that she herself was not a diabetic but her son , who was 19 was . I include a picture of what I said . If I cannot rant on a diabetic forum about frustrations I have as a diabetic than I cannot imagine where I can. I have lived almost all of my life as a diabetic. I can have empathy for others just as I can for myself.

Yes the rant is tongue in cheek but in every joke there is truth & My age should not negate my feelings. I am in my 40s and look good considering everything I deal with . I am actually not an angry lunatic but a person who just wanted to rant with people who just might understand and not assume I am angry or unhappy in the context of my life . If ranting on a forum makes you an angry person in general well my god we are all in trouble .

 

[Anaelena]

There are always people who won't want to hear the rant or who cannot empathize or sympathize or who will say others have it worse . For anyone to say or to compare diseases seems unsympathetic. That is just my opinion . Sometimes allowing people to have some self pity or to exchange horror stories is okay . It may not be for everyone like that mother of the diabetic boy but some people need it to feel connected to others .

 

[donnellysdogs]

Scandi

Empathy is total for all diabetics.. This has always been the case with me. I did say I think T2's have a tougher time...
We do all actually pull together here...
Even my hubby this morn after 20 years of living with a diabetic got a rant from me this morn.... Not because of an insensitive remark. Just because I ad injection to do before going out... He was ready and I was still pondering how much insulin to give... Although he lived with me for 20 years and he didn't mind waiting etc it was frustration on my part that emphasised the fact I couldn't just get up n go..

I wasn't directing any comment against a T2. In fact some of a T1 rant as I said to hubby this morn was that from my aspect its just frustrating to see others sometimes being "normal" when we have to do certain things before going out, during the night testing etc.. So from my aspect I rarely rant but inwardly sometimes its pure frustration of never having a day off. I think this is especially hard for children but live in hope that they will get the opportunity in the future for some better treatment/cure to come along.

T2's and T1's are still diabetics and the norm is to support each other.

If I can get so frustrated with myself that my lovely, most sensitive hubby doesn't actually fully realise how the heck do "bystanders" to our illness really stand a chance of saying the right things??

 

[Anaelena]

Scandi

Empathy is total for all diabetics.. This has always been the case with me. I did say I think T2's have a tougher time...
We do all actually pull together here...
Even my hubby this morn after 20 years of living with a diabetic got a rant from me this morn.... Not because of an insensitive remark. Just because I ad injection to do before going out... He was ready and I was still pondering how much insulin to give... Although he lived with me for 20 years and he didn't mind waiting etc it was frustration on my part that emphasised the fact I couldn't just get up n go..

I wasn't directing any comment against a T2. In fact some of a T1 rant as I said to hubby this morn was that from my aspect its just frustrating to see others sometimes being "normal" when we have to do certain things before going out, during the night testing etc.. So from my aspect I rarely rant but inwardly sometimes its pure frustration of never having a day off. I think this is especially hard for children but live in hope that they will get the opportunity in the future for some better treatment/cure to come along.

T2's and T1's are still diabetics and the norm is to support each other.

If I can get so frustrated with myself that my lovely, most sensitive hubby doesn't actually fully realise how the heck do "bystanders" to our illness really stand a chance of saying the right things??

They have no chance )) but we can still rant about it ! Lol

 

[shaggy1974]

I've just read the facebook page from the mother of the diabetic 19year old. ok, she's a mum and no mum wants to read the bad stuff that could happen to their child, but it is a reality of the illness.

He's gone 19 years without complications, that's great. I just don't understand why she felt the need to stick her nose in to a conversation that didn't involve her.

.......and her comment about cgm's is laughable. Have they started giving them away for free now?

 

[Scandichic]

@Scandichic I think if we could all concentrate on our similarities rather than our differences it would breed a little more understanding between all types !

My point exactly! Hugsx

 

[Anaelena]

I've just read the facebook page from the mother of the diabetic 19year old. ok, she's a mum and no mum wants to read the bad stuff that could happen to their child, but it is a reality of the illness.

He's gone 19 years without complications, that's great. I just don't understand why she felt the need to stick her nose in to a conversation that didn't involve her.

.......and her comment about cgm's is laughable. Have they started giving them away for free now?

I guess that is my point . I did try to sympathize with her as a mother and I can imagine it is difficult but so often people don't want to " hear it ". As a kid I wanted to know other diabetics and what they were going through but never got that chance . We had no social media like we do now . Why can't we rant without feeling like **** or being told we don't have it so bad ? Why do we have the need to tell people not to feel " angry " or to suck it up ? Also at the end you can see the young man who asked the question . Are we to say because others are so uncomfortable with this that we cannot speak about it ? Because that mother wants to smell the roses that young man needs to be worried about asking the question ?

 

[Mrsass]

I've just read the facebook page from the mother of the diabetic 19year old. ok, she's a mum and no mum wants to read the bad stuff that could happen to their child, but it is a reality of the illness.

He's gone 19 years without complications, that's great. I just don't understand why she felt the need to stick her nose in to a conversation that didn't involve her.

.......and her comment about cgm's is laughable. Have they started giving them away for free now?

Won't do her any good burying her head in the sand... No one likes to see/hear about complications but don't just ignore them

 

[RuthW]

There are always people who won't want to hear the rant or who cannot empathize or sympathize or who will say others have it worse . For anyone to say or to compare diseases seems unsympathetic. That is just my opinion . Sometimes allowing people to have some self pity or to exchange horror stories is okay . It may not be for everyone like that mother of the diabetic boy but some people need it to feel connected to others .

Anaelena, I completely empathize with you. As I said, I liked the rant. I thought it was really well written, well expressed and witty. See my first comment about it. My second comment just came because by coincidence, the other day one of my friends came up with the foot-finger-amputation comment. It was the first time in years that anybody had said something like that to me, it struck me as hilarious for several reasons, not least because I had just recently enjoyed your rant, and then, because of the context of my friend's illness, and her concern for me, it triggered all those thoughts in me. So I wanted to share them here because they seemed relevant. Not to reproach you. Again look at my first comment on your rant. I'm not reproaching you for the rant or for talking about the complications, etc. (My pet hate is not diabetics talking about complications, it's consultants who "threaten" diabetics with them - like terror ever improved a person's control.)

I also don't have anything against Type 2s. My dad was the one who looked after me when I was a child and he also got Type 2 in his sixties, though he was slim, fit and a tennis player.

But I do feel that research into Type 1 is relatively neglected, not just compared with research into Type 2, but also other conditions. Look how the research funding dropped off in the eighties when money was poured into AIDS research. It just seems like there aren't enough of us to make it worth researchers' while to try and cure us! So, yes, I could add a few things.

 

[Anaelena]

Anaelena, I completely empathize with you. As I said, I liked the rant. I thought it was really well written, well expressed and witty. See my first comment about it. My second comment just came because by coincidence, the other day one of my friends came up with the foot-finger-amputation comment. It was the first time in years that anybody had said something like that to me, it struck me as hilarious for several reasons, not least because I had just recently enjoyed your rant, and then, because of the context of my friend's illness, and her concern for me, it triggered all those thoughts in me. So I wanted to share them here because they seemed relevant. Not to reproach you. Again look at my first comment on your rant. I'm not reproaching you for the rant or for talking about the complications, etc. (My pet hate is not diabetics talking about complications, it's consultants who "threaten" diabetics with them - like terror ever improved a person's control.)

I also don't have anything against Type 2s. My dad was the one who looked after me when I was a child and he also got Type 2 in his sixties, though he was slim, fit and a tennis player.

But I do feel that research into Type 1 is relatively neglected, not just compared with research into Type 2, but also other conditions. Look how the research funding dropped off in the eighties when money was poured into AIDS research. It just seems like there aren't enough of us to make it worth researchers' while to try and cure us! So, yes, I could add a few things.

Well in that respect I may have misunderstood your post. As I thought it was implying that we don't have it so bad . My apologies for that. !!! I tend to be super sensitive about it .

 

[Robinredbreast]

There are always people who won't want to hear the rant or who cannot empathize or sympathize or who will say others have it worse . For anyone to say or to compare diseases seems unsympathetic. That is just my opinion . Sometimes allowing people to have some self pity or to exchange horror stories is okay . It may not be for everyone like that mother of the diabetic boy but some people need it to feel connected to others .

I wish there was a clapping smilie on here.
Sometimes ( lately)I am so fed up to the back teeth with it, I wish I had a partner and I could just be swooped up and be consumed with love and empathy and who would listen to MY rants, concerns, worries, frustrations and woes, I haven't , it's just me and my teenager.
If you can't let off a little steam on a forum regarding that medical condition, then it's a sad, mad world.......................... and hereby ended my little one.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I guess that is my point . I did try to sympathize with her as a mother and I can imagine it is difficult but so often people don't want to " hear it ". As a kid I wanted to know other diabetics and what they were going through but never got that chance . We had no social media like we do now . Why can't we rant without feeling like **** or being told we don't have it so bad ? Why do we have the need to tell people not to feel " angry " or to suck it up ? Also at the end you can see the young man who asked the question . Are we to say because others are so uncomfortable with this that we cannot speak about it ? Because that mother wants to smell the roses that young man needs to be worried about asking the question ?

No. no internet when I was diagnosed and husband left months earlier and I had two children to bring up, but you just got on with it.

 

[Lamont D]

I have so much to rant about!

But as someone, who is so different to you lot of diabetics, that I feel frustrated, that I sometimes don't want to rant, I want to express and talk my feelings through.

Why me?

That's the big question!

What makes us so different?
But so alike as well!

We share knowledge, we give advice, we give encouragement, we help!

There is so much help needed out there and we are not alone no more because of this forum.

Let's not judge, accept people for what they are, no matter who or what and respect their problems, as if they were yours!

I have to deal with knowing that I'm weird, medically and look after my disabled wife and work because I don't have the luxury of retiring yet. I have to shop, clean, do the chores, cook, clean,polish, wash dishes and clothes and make sure that my wife is able to deal with her disability and get no respite from her pain and her meds.
From an early age, the both of us have worked our arses off, never claimed, brought up four great kids. Not once regretting anything, just getting on with life. As we were taught to do as responsible working class family's do!

Now if I was to go on, that would be a rant!

But that's not the way I was brought up, yes have a moan! But encouragement is better than judging.

There is always someone worse off than you!
It's so true.

My eldest son's father in law has been told he has cancer!
And it could be life threatening!

A great chap and a friend.

I've lost so many friends, best friends, colleagues and close relatives, that life is to short to argue and fight.

Let's all pull together and not worry about what is happening but what can we do to make it better and easier for someone who needs a shoulder to cry on.

If that means a rant, then go on and rant!

 

[tim2000s]

@Scandichic, the discussions I've had with various endos suggest a very different view within the medical profession that deals with diabetes. They know that genetics plays a much larger factor in T2 than it does in T1, although most GPs and dsns don't seem to have the same info available to them. They also know that certain races are more likely to have prevalent T2 genes.

The press has yet to understand these issues so sadly we are sadly saddled with complete disinformation from our journalistic brothers and sisters until one of them actually bothers to do a spot of research....

 

[Pipp]

I have so much to rant about!

But as someone, who is so different to you lot of diabetics, that I feel frustrated, that I sometimes don't want to rant, I want to express and talk my feelings through.

Why me?

That's the big question!

What makes us so different?
But so alike as well!

We share knowledge, we give advice, we give encouragement, we help!

There is so much help needed out there and we are not alone no more because of this forum.

Let's not judge, accept people for what they are, no matter who or what and respect their problems, as if they were yours!

I have to deal with knowing that I'm weird, medically and look after my disabled wife and work because I don't have the luxury of retiring yet. I have to shop, clean, do the chores, cook, clean,polish, wash dishes and clothes and make sure that my wife is able to deal with her disability and get no respite from her pain and her meds.
From an early age, the both of us have worked our arses off, never claimed, brought up four great kids. Not once regretting anything, just getting on with life. As we were taught to do as responsible working class family's do!

Now if I was to go on, that would be a rant!

But that's not the way I was brought up, yes have a moan! But encouragement is better than judging.

There is always someone worse off than you!
It's so true.

My eldest son's father in law has been told he has cancer!
And it could be life threatening!

A great chap and a friend.

I've lost so many friends, best friends, colleagues and close relatives, that life is to short to argue and fight.

Let's all pull together and not worry about what is happening but what can we do to make it better and easier for someone who needs a shoulder to cry on.

If that means a rant, then go on and rant!

Fully, agree with all of this.
Maybe it is a generational thing, because I know we are a similar age @nosher8355. Could be our similar upbringing, but I know that we have to get on with what life chucks at us. Even when life seems unfair.
Yes I rant from time to time, it is very cathartic. I also know that if the rant continues beyond letting off steam, then people stop seeing and understanding a rant, and regard it as a whinge. Anyone continually whingeing is usually seen as someone to be avoided. So a quick occasional rant, and paying heed to someone else's rant (as long as it isn't a prolonged or constantly self pitying rant) is fine. Whingeing only alienates those from whom one is seeking empathy and understanding.

 

[Lamont D]

Fully, agree with all of this.
Maybe it is a generational thing, because I know we are a similar age @nosher8355. Could be our similar upbringing, but I know that we have to get on with what life chucks at us. Even when life seems unfair.
Yes I rant from time to time, it is very cathartic. I also know that if the rant continues beyond letting off steam, then people stop seeing and understanding a rant, and regard it as a whinge. Anyone continually whingeing is usually seen as someone to be avoided. So a quick occasional rant, and paying heed to someone else's rant (as long as it isn't a prolonged or constantly self pitying rant) is fine. Whingeing only alienates those from whom one is seeking empathy and understanding.

Exactly! Spot on!

Life is sh.., then you die!

I think a scouse saying!

 

[azure]

Scandi

Empathy is total for all diabetics.. This has always been the case with me. I did say I think T2's have a tougher time...
We do all actually pull together here...
Even my hubby this morn after 20 years of living with a diabetic got a rant from me this morn.... Not because of an insensitive remark. Just because I ad injection to do before going out... He was ready and I was still pondering how much insulin to give... Although he lived with me for 20 years and he didn't mind waiting etc it was frustration on my part that emphasised the fact I couldn't just get up n go..

I wasn't directing any comment against a T2. In fact some of a T1 rant as I said to hubby this morn was that from my aspect its just frustrating to see others sometimes being "normal" when we have to do certain things before going out, during the night testing etc.. So from my aspect I rarely rant but inwardly sometimes its pure frustration of never having a day off. I think this is especially hard for children but live in hope that they will get the opportunity in the future for some better treatment/cure to come along.

T2's and T1's are still diabetics and the norm is to support each other.

If I can get so frustrated with myself that my lovely, most sensitive hubby doesn't actually fully realise how the heck do "bystanders" to our illness really stand a chance of saying the right things??

Yes, absolutely. It's the 'never having a day off' that gets to me. At certain times I could just do with a break, eg when I'm ill (no going to bed and sleeping for hours because my BS needs watching even more closely than normal), when I was pregnant (enough to think about without diabetes in my head 24/7 ) and just on those days when life's being awkward.

That obviously applies to everyone with diabetes, no matter what type. It'd be nice if we could ALL have a break.

It's upsetting that there are still people feeling bad about this thread. I really didn't see it as anything other than a rant rom a Type 1 about being a Type 1. That didn't mean people with Type 2 didn't have it bad as well. If we're going to react like that, then I'd like to berate every single person on this thread because no-one's included epilepsy, and having epilepsy is just as hard as having diabetes so how very dare you all rant about diabetes, etc

I'm sure there are things that are 'easier' for Type 1s than Type 2s and vice versa. That does not mean we don't have empathy for each other. However, as long as we're polite I don't see the problem in having an honest rant. I'm sure we all have personal bugbears and sometimes it's nice to get them off our chests. Mine? That there's no cure for Type 1 - no diet, no losing weight, no taking more exercise, no lifestyle changes. Nothing. And that's depressing some days.