My awesome friend (or, why you should tell people you're diabetic)

NoKindOfSusie said:

I am an awful lot of things before I am some sort of fashionable acronym.

I do not need that to be special.

Click to expand...

Fashionable acronym!!!!! You are a type 1 diabetic. Acronym aside, that is what you are, there is nothing you can do to change that fact. You really have to come to terms with it and stop letting it get the better of you. Don't let it stop you doing what you want to do. Don't let it beat you

NoKindOfSusie said:

I have tried about 100 ways to answer this but here is the best I can do.

Am I the only person here who thinks this is just totally crazy, and I mean obviously crazy so that anyone of any normal level of brainpower would say er, that is just absolutely insane? Do you actually believe what you are saying or is it just part of this "Be positive" thing we are required to do where everyone just endlessly says comforting stuff without paying any attention to whether it is true or even convincing?

It has never been more obvious that I will never be one of you guys, I am sitting here watching my life slowly circling the drain and on some forum someone basically says "I don't know why you think it is bad."

There is obviously some very special inner circle thing going on here which I will never be a member of because I am never, ever in a million years going to think like that.

Click to expand...

It is BAD but if I argue for my limitations then I get to keep them. I would hate to be considered part of some relentlessly positive tribe of Pollyanas pretending there is nothing wrong. I feel okay now but take me back to ME 20 years ago when I was depressed/struggling with diabetes and an eating disorder it was not good and nobody could have convinced me otherwise...

NicoleC1971 said:

I would hate to be considered part of some relentlessly positive tribe of Pollyanas pretending there is nothing wrong.

Click to expand...

Too late.

Unknown fact: my middle name is Pollyanna.

mountaintom said:

Unknown fact: my middle name is Pollyanna.

Click to expand...

I'm Pollyanna too.

... And so's my wife!

There is a world of difference between the 'Pollyanna's who bury their head in the sand and pretend that nothing is wrong and those who face the fact that everything is not perfect but get on with life and make the best they can of the situation, trying to help other people in similar situations. Being diabetic is not a death sentence now as it was in the past, and there are various high profile individuals who are diabetic but have not let it stop them from winning international renown. I do not presume to win even local fame but I do want to let other people know that diabetes does not stop you from doing what you want to achieve. You can live a worthwhile and fulfilling life as any type of diabetic if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just today a colleague was surprised to find I was diabetic and came out with the cliche 'but you don't look like a diabetic'!

We all deal with diabetes our own way some might not agree with no kind of Susie but this is her choice. I do not know any diabetic who has bad days and has been in denial about diabetes, i got it when i was 3 and grew up with it this was 1979 and things were a lot different to today. I had a pancreas and kidney transplant in 2015 which is giving me a break from diabetes but the damage that the diabetes had done beforehand has come forward. I am in constant pain due to all all the nerves in my body been damaged, they have effected my bladder and bowel, my hands and below the knee go numb, my balance is not great.ans my mental health is not good. The thing is i am a single parent, a son, a nephew, a cousin and a friend and i am only hear today because someone lost there son and gave me the chance to live. I carry that burden everyday and yes a lot off things have gone wrong but i am still hear. It took me to my early twenties to tell people as all my close friends knew and the girl i was seeing we had grew up together, mind i did get some strange questions like can i catch it off kissing but instead of making a big deal about it i just laughed. I think telling the first person is the hardest but the more education people are given the better it will be, i did play football to a high local level and had to put up with here is the junkie or do you want some sugar. I just said we both have our problems i am a diabetic and your pig ugly and you will not have the sort of money to fix that face.. I played in a final and the other teams fans kept throwing sweets near the touch line every time i was there but when i scored i ran over to them unwrapped a sweet and ate it. At the end of the game we won so i went and got some of the sweets i was going to throw them in the air but i was named man of the match so when i went up to get my mom award i threw the lot in the air and laughed. You will always get people who think diabetes is a joke but there are more people out there who will help you, i have never thought of myself as a victim of diabetes and sometimes refuse help because i am stubborn. As i have got older i found out that people do want to help and in return i have helped our future doctors with a Q & A session and also done talks to diabetics as sometimes you think how does the doctor know how i am feeling he is not a diabetic. The sad part is diabetes is rising at a fast rate and if we do not help the people who need our help there will be more deaths and people needing transplants and that is putting pressure on the NHS which is at breaking point.