Beardie - I am not saying some people can't be ill with diabetes, any more than am I not saying Leukaemia is serious. What I am saying is that diabetes, like many other conditions I can think of - arthritis, hypertension, asthma are just a few examples, are what I term "portfolio conditions". In other words, the label covers a great breadth and depth of symptoms/asymptomatic individuals/debility/disability/life impingement. My diabetes is a bump in life's road for me, so far. That could change for all I know. My neighbour's leukaemia is a bump in life's road for him. On the other hand, a good friend of mine's late wife died as a result of an acute, aggressive form of leukaemia, so her condition was the ultimate bump in life's road.
I cannot say how much I dislike labels. Not one single one of us feels exactly the same as any other about the deal we have been dealt, and I certainly feel differently at this time in 2015 than I did in 2014.
I wasn't having a go at you, or anyone else in robustly stating that I am not ill, and that I do not consider I suffer from an illness. It's just absolutely how the label applies to me, at this time.
I hope that clarifies my position on the matter, because my posts were not made to upset you, but they clearly have.