In fact where would we be apart from our complications.benedict said:Complications and avoiding them are a big part of diabetes. The key to discussion of complications is appropriate sensitivity.
JanieMc said:Gracek, please let people discuss the complications. To restrict this for people new to diabetes is condescending. As is that dreadfully insulting term 'newby' . It also raises other issues such as when you stop qualifying as a new one. Is it six months? A year perhaps?
We are all adults (including those new to the disease) and in all the conversations that take place, there will be those who over dramatise and equally, those who are more balanced.
My own situation is this: after forty years of this disease, I have complications. My first twenty years were very unbalanced through old fashioned insulin, terrible sugar testing methods available and then teenage / student rebelliousness. Then I came to my senses. However, I too have had maximum laser treatment on both eyes, I have mild neuropathy in my feet and the largest patch of necrobiosis lipoidica on my shin. My claim to fame is that there's a photo of my leg in a medical book somewhere.
On the bright side, I have been very stable for the past 15 years ( getting a pump helped) I'm a DAFNE graduate which has been, by far, the best thing for my diabetes control ever. I hold down a senior teaching and examining job, I bake and sell cakes as a side line and I use a gym regularly. In other words, you CAN stop the rot but only if you want to. Should we discuss complications? YES.
I have absolutely no objection to anyone discussing diabetes complications respectfully and sensitively ... I do not want to stop the discussion of diabetes complications. Is that clear?
What I do object to is people using the discussion of complications as an excuse to make very poor taste and insensitive comments relating to complications and calling that 'discussion'. It isn't discussion or information, it's crude, it's insensitive to others and it's using language and tone to scare people and it's totally unnecessary.
I am in favour of discussing complications respectfully and sensitively ... I'm not in favour of anyone taking it upon themselves to decide they're experts in knowing what each newcomer needs or doesn't need as they aren't the newcomer, they aren't the newly diagnosed and they know nothing whatsoever at all about the emotional state of any other individual as they enter this forum for the first time.
Also, I did not complain to anyone about insensitive discussion of complications, but I did witness a couple of newcomers who wrote that they felt so distressed by what some people were posting about complications that they felt they didn't want to come back and if the response to that is - 'well you can always go elsewhere if you don't like it' or 'why should we molly coddle' - I think that's a pretty rotten and patronising attitude on the part of those posters and a sad thing for the forum in general.
As for your claim to fame, that's fine by me too, but I personally would not wish to take a look at a picture of your leg if that's OK with you, I work as a medical secretary so I'm used to all sorts of claims to fame and photos of all sorts of disfigurements and medical conditions. I've also attending and taken medical dictation whilst a surgeon was performing a transplant. Having the stomach to withstand such things is not the issue here, but it seems to be how people interpret things.
The issue as far as my understanding of it is that some people have been posting about diabetes complications in quite an inappropriate way and I agree with and respect the moderators decisions in that respect. There are people who for some reason, feel that on the internet 'anything goes and we should have the right to express ourselves as we wish'. Would any of us sit in the A & E department next to a stranger and start talking openly about our medical conditions and give all the gory details? Would we roll our trouser leg up and show people our wounds? Even in that medical setting, the majority of us wouldn't do that but for some reason certain people feel it's appropriate to do so online - and that's because online, we can't see the reactions or the visual signals of the other person which instantly tell us where to draw the line.
swimmer2 said:Doctors don't always tell you about diabetic complications David - mine didn't - it was a nasty video at a foot clinic that did that but much much later.DavideB said:NOT to be told about the complications, their doctor will tell them that,
Swim
JanieMc said:An earlier post hit the nail on the head: if you get offended or scared by this stuff then don't read it. It's not exactly a discussion being pushed down people's throats. My experience was like the last post.. When I was first diagnosed at 8yrs, my GP warned me of complications. I asked what they were...
In 1974 the way technology was and the poor understanding of the condition then, complications were almost inevitable. Well.. I coped. I'm not traumatised and I'm still here and still learning about how to improve things for myself. Before I upset anyone though, that's just me. I was okay with it all. There are clearly others who might be too traumatised to click on the cross in the top right of the screen. Bless them. :wink:
JanieMc said:Not at all gracek - you got that one right! As for trauma - oooh dear, there's been more than plenty but to reiterate my point (should I write it in red? You seem to like it) this complications discussion is just one area on a massive board. People have a choice whether to read the details or not. Your ideas have people's sensitivities in mind which is honourable but to my mind ( and others who posted mr privately) you go too far; You are not the thought police and this is not prime time tv. Plus , how can you be so concerned about sensitive issues on one hand and yet slinging out really childish and crude insults on the other? It's so bad it makes me smile and no that's not sarcasm.
Read the posts, if you don’t agree with something then just ignore it or ask constructive questions. Do not rip it to pieces because it is not your opinion or way of doing things. It is obviously someone else’s way of doing things.
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