• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

What do you wish people knew?

L

LornaFarrell

Well-Known Member
Messages
72
Apparently it’s “diabetes month” in October and I’m thinking a blog post, something like 10 things you should know about Type 1 Diabetes. It will be aimed at friends, family and the general public - not HCPs or people with a diagnosis.

So, since I’m fairly new to this I thought I would ask you all. What do you wish people knew? What do your friends say that you’re sick of ignoring or correcting? What do you wish people in cafes or out in public understood?
 
Someone close to me is insulin dependent, and is often asked when having a hypo, "Do you need to inject some insulin?" So I think some education about difference between hypo and hyper would be useful.
 
I bet type 2 get this a lot and it grinds on them but even more so me. When I tell them im type 1 diabetic and the reply is

" Is that because you eat too much sugar "

Why yes, so cut down on your sugar intake today to avoid type 1 diabeeetus
 
Pipp said:
Someone close to me is insulin dependent, and is often asked when having a hypo, "Do you need to inject some insulin?" So I think some education about difference between hypo and hyper would be useful.
Click to expand...
It would help the understanding of the general public if the medical world didn't insist on using similar sounding words that mean the opposite. Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycaemia, Endogenous and Exogenous, In Vitro and In Vivo etc.
 
LornaFarrell said:
What do you wish people knew?
Click to expand...

Fortunately my friends have never been a problem. They know they're not experts and don't make assumptions.

I would like people to think a bit more, for example is obesity the cause or a symptom?
I'd like those that encourage us to avoid sugar (Jamie Oliver etc) to maybe encourage us to eat less carbs as well.
I'd like people like my insulin dependent type II father who still eat things like chocolate despite their BG, stop to think about the actual consequences.
I wish providers of diabetic meals (airlines especially and others) realised that their diabetic meals aren't exactly the best options.
 
As a type 1 "can you eat that?"
 
I wish people knew that red wine was an OK part of a low carb diet. You've just persuaded them to give you an extra lettuce leaf, instead of chips, ("if we gave everyone extra lettuce we wouldn't have enough") then you order red wine and suddenly you are only asking for extra lettuce to be a nuisance and why should they be put out when you ARE DRINKING WINE!!!
Sally
 
I wish they could see inside me and make a better judgement. Judging book by it's cover.
Bus driver sneered today at my bus pass. Funny enough I will be one sneering when I get my good job back, as I'll be earning more than her!!!! Silly woman.
 
ickihun said:
I wish they could see inside me and make a better judgement. Judging book by it's cover.
Bus driver sneered today at my bus pass. Funny enough I will be one sneering when I get my good job back, as I'll be earning more than her!!!! Silly woman.
Click to expand...


Go you! you'll get the last laugh!
 
"I hear you have been diagnosed with diabetes".

"Yes, I have".

"Is that the good type or the bad type?".
 
Q: “But all the other diabetics I know eat bread pasta potatoes sweets etc etc. They only watch sugar. Why don’t you eat carbs?”
A: “Are they on insulin and meds? Do they have diabetic complications?”
Q “Yes”
A “ I’m trying not to be like them and would rather use food to control it given the choice”


Sorry T1. I do explain my comments refer to T2 and it’s different to T1 as they have no choice at all but to use insulin but many T1 are helped by low carb too. I hope I’m not doing you a disservice in that explanation
 
wish i knew fat isn't such a bad thing and carbs are the real culprit.
 
To be honest, I wish people knew that it's polite to mind their own business. Is there any other chronic condition in the world where virtual strangers would presume to ask a person the ins and outs of what they are 'doing' about it or what they are eating or what they need to do about it or tell them why they've got it or how they can get rid of it, and on and on. Imagine a work colleague with a 'woman's problem', would we be doing the same to her?, or a man with prostrate problems? I do get that some individuals are interested and ask as a genuine concern for your welfare and that is lovely and kind, but I find that the majority are looking at you with a 'sympathetic' look on their faces giving you their uneducated advice whilst standing before you 5 stone overweight, just back from a cigarette break and talking about ordering in a pizza. I feel like saying 'you may not have diabetes but here's what I think you should be doing to lose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking' etc and then go into minute details of MY plan for THEM. I wouldn't dream of it of course so why do people think it's ok to comment on the health of a diabetic so freely and judgementally?
 
I must have told this story about four times on here but one more won't hurt.

At a barbecue where everyone knew there were things I shouldn't eat.

Pushing a burger in a bap onto me with the comment, "Go on, one won't hurt you".

"Actually I am more worried about the bun".

Laughter from all the guests who think the silly old gentleman is being witty.
 
Hi there
This is my whinge. When eating out I can find out what is vegan,what is vegetarian, what is low fat, gluten free the list goes on. But ask about how many carbs may be in something then they look at you like you have grown an extra head. With no success there I have asked on occasion if they could maybe weigh something so that I can work out the carb value. You should see some of the looks of amazement with that question.
Hope this helps
 
I just today sent Sainsbury’s an email asking the same. Surely their computer systems have each products nutritional information that could be sorted and listed somewhere online
 
Definitely the main one for me aside of those mentioned is that sugar is in pretty much everything, and many things turn to glucose once processed. Most people I know think that sugar isnt in most products, its only included if they sprinkle it on top, frustrating & laughable at the same time, I think it should be more widely known.
 
I wish more people knew that type 1 was not a childhood disease and that more than half of the people with type 1 are diagnosed as an adult (over the age of 20).

I get quite annoyed when I read about doctors diagnosing people with type 2 because "they are too old for type 1" and then those people struggle for, sometimes, years to get their BG level whilst being told off by their doctors for not taking their diabetes seriously.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You not fat is a pretty annoying comment for a thin T2 and for some others it's not all that kind when it's its implications are considered.
D.W.


Dixon1995 said:
I bet type 2 get this a lot and it grinds on them but even more so me. When I tell them im type 1 diabetic and the reply is

" Is that because you eat too much sugar "

Why yes, so cut down on your sugar intake today to avoid type 1 diabeeetus
Click to expand...
 
I'd rather call type 1 -Insulin Dependent Diabetes. I've always been led to believe that Type 2 is very different as in Type 1 the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin. Type 2 ers still produce insulin themselves but for whatever reason it doesn't get through to reducing their BG in their bodies; possibly because T2 ers are overweight. I've had T1 since a child - 58 years to be precise. Both types should be taken very serious in my opinion. Good luck all sufferers !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…