A really bad day

[Jimbo1973]

To be called a liar is probably the most hurtful thing to me - I was brought up to respect elders, be truthful and never try and pull a fast one - ok ringing work saying your ill when you want to go fishing is only a teeny weeny white lie !!

Yesterday, someone who i've known for about 2 years pinged me on MSN messenger and accused me of being a liar, a fraud, a malingering mardy so and so etc etc etc - apparently she has done some research into diabetes and i'm not diabetic. I was away at the weekend and may have fallen off the wagon a little bit, but the funny thing is my bm's have been really low (well lower than normal) and she found out about this and promptly decided to rip into me.
After she had finished her initial rant, I kindly asked her to explain to me what she meant and her reply was:

" Well Jim, my sisters friend has diabetes, she eats what she wants, when she wants and all she has to do is stick a little needle in her stomach with some stuff in and she is ok, why CANT YOU do that ? " "maybe you should lay off the McDonalds fries and coke you had on saturday "

Well after I had thanked her for her obvious concern, i merely pointed out that after a month of eating really well (still wrong mind you) I thought i'd have me a little treat for losing the weight I have, for feeling a lot healthier than I have in a long time and knowing that it wont be happening again for a wee while, i decided to splash out on a portion of fries and a diet coke - how bad was I ?

Anyway - all I now need to do is eat what I want, when I want - I just have to remember to carry a syringe with some stuff in it to stick in my belly and all will be well - I wonder why my doc never advised me to do that huh ?

Ignorance is bliss !!


Jimbo

 

[totsy]

I have people react like that,as u say there is a lot of ignorance surrounding diabetes,my mum told me a good saying 'those who mind dont matter and those who matter dont mind '
ignore them hun and lets see u back as your cheery self

 

[caitycakes]

I would tell miss bloody expert that you don't have to justify yourself to her and that how you manage your diabetes is your affair. Unfortunately, when it comes to diabetes most of the population is uneducated. To be fair, so was I before I got it, but that is no excuse for sheer ignorance and bad manners. What a cheek! Just goes to show how a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing eh? Tell her you will be prepared to discuss your diabetes with her when she knows what she is talking about. I'm afraid though, that it won't be the last time you encounter attitudes like that.

Caitycakes x

 

[Jimbo1973]

@ Caitycakes - yeah me too when it comes to ignorance on Diabetes, tbh i'm still not exceptionally clued up

@ totsy - stuff em tbh hunni, something like this will not get me down, just annoys me when im struggling to cope with it - maybe in a few months when i'm getting there i'll have a better understanding of what is happening to me.

I'm gonna go sit in the corner now and eat Macadamias - my new comfort food !!

jimbo

 

[Jem]

Jimbo - I know how you feel hun, don't worry about her - if her diabetic friend of a friend is Type 1 then they NEED to have insulin and it's a different kettle of fish (see what I did there) ...

however, you're a type 2 and you have choices ...

you can control (95% of the time - we ALL need treats) your diet and therefore your blood sugar - and therefore your need to have insulin injections - and (hopefully) significantly reduce your future complications

OR

or you can jolly well eat whatever you like, get fatter and sicker and use insulin to counterract those naughty carbs and then maybe lose a foot or go blind BLAH BLAH ...

YOU KNOW and you've learned quickly how to dea with YOUR DIABETES - so you are in control ...

I've had the same thing said to me - one by the "caring mother" of a T1 who said my hba1c of 7.8 would be REALLY GOOD for her daugther ... next breath = "she can eat what she wants, she just uses the right amount of insulin" next breath = "you should look forward to using insulin, you don't have to watch your diet and can eat whatever you want!"

YEP ... I plan on living longer and healthier and watching my diet (95% of the time anyway) ... if people want to listen, then they can ... if they choose to ignore the best information available then that's their problem.

Be smug and know you are in as good health as you can be

if all else fails, block her on msn - your real friends will at least TRY to understand.

J/xxx

 

[ChezMorgan]

Id ask her when she's picking up her new car from Mercedes & moving to her new house in the country which she can obviously afford now as she got that position as Diabetic Consultant............


Oh and if she has a min could she explain to you why "Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system in type 2 diabetic patients with diabetic nephropathy reduces uMCP-1 levels and improves renal function" as you didnt quite catch it at your last appointment !

 

[gillyh]

She's not worth knowing Jimbo. We love you for who you are not what people like her think you are. Remember you're special like the rest of us :mrgreen:

 

[Jem]

Id ask her when she's picking up her new car from Mercedes & moving to her new house in the country which she can obviously afford now as she got that position as Diabetic Consultant............


Oh and if she has a min could she explain to you why "Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system in type 2 diabetic patients with diabetic nephropathy reduces uMCP-1 levels and improves renal function" as you didnt quite catch it at your last appointment !

I like our style

 

[hanadr]

It's a side effect of the scare campaign. they ALL KNOW that Diabetes is self infliccted and dangerous and that diabetics can't eat sugar and the whole rest of it.

 

[cavelioness]

It's a side effect of the scare campaign. they ALL KNOW that Diabetes is self infliccted and dangerous and that diabetics can't eat sugar and the whole rest of it.

I am lucky then as both maternal and paternal sides of my family had it then I accelerated it by not looking after myself

 

[ChezMorgan]

I have been thinking about this....... i have a great social network of friends and for the most part, they know i am diabetic they see me inject, coz i do it anywhere i please lol, and for 28 years they saw me eat "normal" food, because i ate the carby no sugar diet and didnt make a fuss about anything, they saw me party and have kids and live my life to the full. ( until now )
So how can we really expect people, friends, colleagues to know any different. There are so may illness's out there, for instance i no nothing about MS apart from you might end up in a wheelchair.

Jim .... I might well be the sister of your "friends" friend LOL, coz it defiantly must have looked like i stuck me belly with something and ate what i wanted.

 

[jopar]

She was not only showing total ingorance of T2 diabetes, but utter ingorance of T1 diabetes as well... But there again when we live with a condiditon that is as individual as we are it comes as no surprise...

Oh I wish that with my T1 it was just a case of sticking a needle in my stomac with stuff in (I hope show was talking about insulin and not other sorts of iffy things one can stick into ones self?) it takes some work and hell lot of knowledge to get everything right...

I spent 15 years working in the care field in the main within eldery residental care, 3 of those years was spent fighting to keep my job via occupational health... I was gobsmacked by my managers statement one day, words failed me...

Yet another round of discuusion of my diabetes and why I was fighting for a insulin pump and why did I want something attached to me 24/7 etc etc, Her words was she didn't know what I was making a fuss about as some people just run high naturaly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[IanD]

We can tolerate the ignorance of our friends - hopefully we can explain & they will learn - if they ARE our friends.

The problem is the ignorance of the professionals :twisted: