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Condition Or Disease?

No1DeadlyPoison

No1DeadlyPoison

Well-Known Member
Messages
136
Location
Milton Keynes
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Rude People.
Animal Cruelty.
Unnecessary Drama.
Posters, leaflets, websites and pages, I've seen a couple of ways people see Diabetes, as a disease or as a condition. In my opinion I see Diabetes as a condition, although it can be life threatening, it can be managed. A disease to me is something like cancer, which eats up the body. I am just wondering what your opinions are on this and what you see Diabetes as. A disease or a condition?
 
It's a condition when it hasn't harmed you but when it has then it's a disease. The word is literally dis - eased or not at ease.

I Googled a definition,

"noun. 1. a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment."

In short an incorrectly funtioning something from the effect of nutritional imbalance (for a type 2).
 
Oxford English Dictionary defines disease as:- a disorder of structure or function in a human animal or plant especially one that produces specific symptoms or affects a specific location and is not simply a result of physical injury.

Oxford English Dictionary defines condition as:- 1.1) a person or animal's state of health or physical fitness; 1.2) an illness or other medical problem.

So, essentially, they're synonyms and either could correctly be used to refer to diabetes.

I don't particularly spend much time thinking of diabetes as a thing, it just diabetes. I mean, I never think "oh I better deal with my condition diabetes now", I just "have to deal with diabetes". If someone else wants to refer to it as a condition or a disease (or to be perfectly honest an electric unicorn) I don't care, it's not going to change anything about what diabetes is to me.
 
These terms are just labels. Ii you could put your diabetes in a box and stick a label on it what would you write on it apart from do not open.

Diabetes, condition or disease?
 
JohnEGreen said:
These terms are just labels. Ii you could put your diabetes in a box and stick a label on it what would you write on it apart from do not open.

Diabetes, condition or disease?
Click to expand...
I guess the label on my box would read " Property of therower. Keep your hands off"
I for one feel diabetes can't be put in a box, it has to be part of your life.
Fully understand what you mean though @JohnEGreen
 
I guess that describing it as a condition, particularly to the newly diagnosed would reduce the gloom and doom thoughts that tend to follow that initial diagnosis. I regard my T2 as a 'condition' that I have to, and can, manage rather than a disease that is attacking me. I'm perhaps a victim of ostrich syndrome, but it helps keep me positive. :rolleyes:
 
The way I see it.

The engine managment system (or ECU.) is fine but the component it controls (in my case the pancreas.) needs replacing.
However. I'm still perfectly capable of driving home regardless of this fault..
There could be worst things like coolant loss & a head gasket....

A condition. Maybe a new "component" some day?
 
being from another language I sometimes make mistakes in my choice of words, but certainly not to offend anyone on purpose... usually name diabetes a disease, but maybe it is in GB more normal/common to call it a condition...
 
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I am most comfortable calling it a disease. I have a myriad of illnesses on my plate - I don't know why I would call depression with suicidal tendencies an illness, but diabetes that can be fatal if left untreated is less severe and 'just a condition'. Both have equal impact on life and daily management, so I will call them by the same name.

I face many issues with people not taking diabetes, or illness in general, seriously enough. My depression is responded to with "well just cheer up and do something fun", my anxiety is responded to with "well just relax and do something fun" and my diabetes has been responded to with "well just eat less sugar and you'll be fine". This is incredibly harmful even if most people don't realize and don't mean it poorly.

While well managed diabetes isn't an issue, even well managed diabetes can go horribly wrong. There are no guarantees, and the last thing I need in my life is to have institutions and healthcare professionals dismiss the impact these illnesses have on me. If they don't see it as 'bad enough', I will not get the help or support I need. I had to jump through so many loopholes to get my disability simply because I was too well spoken, articulate and smart. I could describe my issues clearly enough that they thought I was faking it. The same seems to happen when I refer to diabetes as a condition instead of a disease. If I can talk about it in such a nice way, surely it's not that bad, right?

This leads to quite a lot of misunderstandings and people not realizing that I need some extra space, time and accommodations, extra awareness from the people around me and preparations that other people don't have to take. If I don't refer to diabetes as a disability, I may not be granted extra privileges like taking food and water with me to places where it's not allowed, even though I need to have both on me due to diabetes. If I do not call diabetes a disease, people respond to things like specific food or drink requests as 'you can cheat on your diet this one time'.

For diabetics themselves, I totally understand why condition is more preferable. It does sound awful to call it a disease when on most days we're doing just fine and, while it's annoying, it's not as dramatic as 'disease' makes it sound. But at the end of the day it is a life or death matter to me, and I wish others would treat it more seriously. The only way people seem to take it more seriously is by calling it a disease.

(Gosh sorry for the long winded rant there. I just want to make sure there are no misunderstandings on my points!)
 
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