One thing that used to really wind me up was that my Mum saw me as her Diabetic daughter first before seeing me as her daughter in so many things...
I'm a small d however, I do think that being OTT with looking after myself has enabled me to say a small d..
I've recently had so many consultants say to me that I am a "role model" patient but they don't really see what I do to try and look after my health. Unfortunately I do have more health issues now than D and being appreciated by my consultants is great but sometimes I do wonder what else I would do with the time I would have extra from not having these blooming illnesses.
However, on the positive side having these illnesses has enabled me to be more aware of health issues and I have met some fantastic people along the way through my journey woth the illnesses. If I hadn't had them I would never have made these friendshipsn.
It doesn't define me either... At least I know amongst froends that they love me for me and never mention the D...
I cannot be the only one who when diabetes was diagnosed I was relieved, there was medications I could take. My body was trying to destroy itself, it was one less organ to try worry about. I'm just a person with some medical complications that I live with, none define me as a person.
I like to think I'm still the stupid slightly perverse oddity I've always been
What's been fascinating about this question is that the majority of commenters so far have been T2s (in a kind of referendum way - 52%). And the overwhelming response has been diabetic (or person with diabetes, a diabetic, etc.) rather than Diabetic (and all its other connotations).
If I break this out from the comments, what I get is that 87.5% of the T2s consider themselves diabetic while only 57.1% of the T1s that commented consider themselves to be diabetic.
It leads on to the question, is it that for the most part, T1D requires a great deal more micro-management than T2D and therefore people find it intrudes in their life a great deal more?
I thought I understood the question (I just read the OP's post some days late). I need someone to explain what the above means since it makes no sense to me.(Before anyone says, neither or "I'm not Diabetic I'm a person with diabetes, if you consider yourself the latter, the same logic applies)
CONGRATULATIONS... I am happy for you and that you took the warning seriously, what a great example you are to othersLower case.
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I consider myself as a diabetic with a small d. Even though I have had this lovely condition for 34 years, it does not define me. It lives with me, not the other way around. I have had a 745 for two and a half years, But I don't have a CGM. My numbers are perfect. My A1c is 5.8 at the moment. I am more restricted by other medical problems I suffer with. But again, they do not define me.I had a clinic appointment this morning as a follow up to getting the 640G (as it's required), and the DSN was massively impressed with the numbers and the CGM traces. We were discussing how one opts to deal with T1 and one comment she made was "I wish some of our other patients were more positive about it!". It raised an interesting point about how we think about ourselves.
It set me to thinking. How do you think of yourself?
Are you Diabetic with a capital D. It defines everything you do, how you live your life and stops you doing things, or are you diabetic with a small d, where you have a life, and diabetes is just one aspect of the characteristics that define you, and not the overwhelming one?
(Before anyone says, neither or "I'm not Diabetic I'm a person with diabetes, if you consider yourself the latter, the same logic applies)