Just diagnosed last month, but the one I already hate the most is "Can you eat that?" (or, worse, "You can't eat that, you're diabetic!") I get variations on it from everyone from my coworkers to waiters at restaurants who see me testing. Yes, boss - in fact, I *can* have a Chipotle Burrito for lunch - if I take it without rice, or if I have it with rice but only eat half the burrito. I've tested before eating, and again two hours later, and it does not spike my blood sugar into a bad level unless I try to eat the whole thing with rice in one sitting. Yes, I *can* in fact have diet soda when I am out at a restaurant. No, it does not impact my blood sugar at all, Mr. Waiter.
And what really gets me is that a lot of times it is other diabetics doing it. My regional manager has type 1.5, he's on insulin, and he's constantly questioning my lunch choices even though I've shown him my numbers because the same foods in the same quantities would cause him to spike. The waiter who questioned my choice of diet soda was himself diabetic, and apparently someone along the way had told him that even diet sodas using non-caloric sweeteners would raise his blood sugar.
Slightly behind that is the question, when hearing that I've managed to control my diabetes fairly well (in the past week, for example, my highest reading was 143 and my lowest was 79 - when I was first diagnosed, I was at 359 with an A1C of 10.1.) after only a month and with some diet changes and meds (metformin and glipizide), "oh, do you think you'll be able to stop taking medicine entirely (and control it with just diet)?" Is it possible I could keep my blood sugar under control through diet and regular testing without meds? Maybe. But *why*? I'd have to go on a much much more restrictive diet if I did that, and personally I would rather keep taking four pills a day and be able to eat some Chipotle now and then, or my mother-in-law's slow cooker potato soup. Why is going off meds the first thing people think when they hear that you've gotten your blood sugar under control with meds? Is there some serious side effect posed by long-term usage that I haven't heard about yet?
