{"id":36350,"date":"2014-07-15T08:33:06","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T12:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?post_type=feature&p=36350"},"modified":"2016-01-11T03:44:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T08:44:38","slug":"ten-more-things-to-never-say-to-someone-with-diabetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350","title":{"rendered":"10 More Things Not to Say to a Person With Diabetes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when you thought it was safe to start talking to people with diabetes, here it is: a new collection of statements that have been known to make people with diabetes cringe, twitch, and fume. (See here<\/a> for the first list.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"There's<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

10. \u201cYou must have the bad kind.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Here\u2019s a comment that many people with insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, or other tools of the Type 1 diabetes trade hear from people who think there\u2019s actually such a thing as \u201cgood diabetes.\u201d Let\u2019s be clear: all types and varieties of diabetes are scary and expensive and stressful and time-consuming. But if you hear of a new kind of diabetes that\u2019s easy and cool and that I might be able to convert to, do let me know.<\/p>\n

\n

9. \u201cI could never do that to myself.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I understand that most people who speak these words mean it as a compliment. Diabetes management \u2013 especially the needles and the bleeding \u2013 can seem like an insurmountable task from the outside (and, frankly, from the inside, too). But the alternative to the pokes and the blood and the food measurement is death. It\u2019s not that we can <\/em>do this to ourselves (or to our children, for parents of Type 1 kids), it\u2019s that we have to.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

8. \u201cBut you\u2019re not fat.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Thank you so much for the keen evaluation of my overall well-being based on modern society\u2019s perceptions of weight and health issues! Two things, though: a) One\u2019s weight is not a sole determining factor in the development of any sort of diabetes. There are genetic and other environmental factors to consider, and there are roughly a bajillion people who have diabetes and do not look like what you think people with diabetes look like. We\u2019re a varied lot. And b) Type 1 diabetes has even less to do with weight than Type 2 diabetes does. But neither of those points really matter when the overall issue is that my weight\u2019s none of your business.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

7. \u201cThe pump takes care of everything, right?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Oh, I wish so much that this were true, and I don\u2019t blame people for thinking it. Sadly, it\u2019s still a dream. Insulin pumps are such amazing pieces of technology, and they help make life with diabetes much easier for so many people \u2013 especially when they\u2019re paired with continuous glucose monitors. But expecting my pump to manage my blood sugar is like expecting my Mazda 3 to drive me up the Eastern seaboard of the United States. The pump is a tool, and I have to tell it just what to do in order to get where I need to be. Fingers crossed for the bionic pancreas, right?<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

6. \u201cYou must have eaten a lot of sugar when you were a kid.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ll admit, I did <\/em>have a vicious elementary school addiction to banana Runts, but that doesn\u2019t have anything to do with my diagnosis. As discussed in item #8, Type 1 diabetes isn\u2019t at all influenced by diet. It\u2019s an autoimmune disorder, like multiple sclerosis, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis \u2013 and there\u2019s no direct connection between those diseases and banana Runts, either.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

5. \u201cIf you eat better and exercise more, you\u2019ll get better.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0\"If<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

On some level, this is true. A healthy diet and regular exercise would probably make everyone better, to some extent. But it won\u2019t cure any kind of diabetes. Folks who claim to have cured their Type 2 diabetes by losing weight and exercising \u2013 or by following a very low-carbohydrate diet \u2013 still have diabetes, they\u2019re just beating it into submission. So yes, we can get better. But we can never make diabetes go away.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. \u201cI got you some sugar-free candy!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/strong>Thanks! I\u2019ll see you in a week and a half, when I emerge from the bathroom.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. \u201cI\u2019m so hungry I could pass out.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to admit that I feel a little solidarity with anyone who utters this sentiment in my presence. We know this person probably won\u2019t pass out from hunger, but I always get the urge to exclaim \u201cIsn\u2019t it horrible? Don\u2019t you feel awful? What if this happened to you multiple times per week \u2013 out of nowhere? In business meetings and while you\u2019re asleep! And what if you had to restrain yourself from eating entire boxes of Lucky Charms when you felt this way?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI know all about diabetes! My cat has it!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Absolutely no sarcasm intended: thank you for your empathy. But my own anecdotal research has shown that feline diabetes may be the one and only type of \u201cgood diabetes.\u201d What I mean to say is that human diabetes is complex and varied and emotionally draining, and cats mostly just get neck injections and special food and they still get to sleep all day. (And no one asks them if they got it because they\u2019re fat.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u201cThey\u2019ll have a cure in five years.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"they'll<\/a><\/p>\n

I first heard this doozy in 1990, right after I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. And in the 24 years since then, this proclamation has likely been made to thousands of kids and parents. It\u2019s intended as hopeful, but it still causes a lot of heartbreak and resentment among people who\u2019ve been waiting for decades, all while diabetic lab mice get cured by the hundreds. And if you\u2019re reading this, we\u2019re still waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut you\u2019re not fat.\u201d Thank you so much for the keen evaluation of my overall well-being based on modern society\u2019s perceptions of weight and health issues! Two things, though: a) One\u2019s weight is not a sole determining factor in the development of any sort of diabetes. There are genetic and other environmental factors to consider, and there are roughly a bajillion people who have diabetes and do not look like what you think people with diabetes look like. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":36352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1428],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 More Things Not to Say to a Person With Diabetes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here it is: a new collection of statements that have been known to make people with diabetes cringe, twitch, and fume.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jacquie Wojcik\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350\",\"name\":\"10 More Things Not to Say to a Person With Diabetes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/theres-a-good-kind-of-diabetes-Home.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-15T12:33:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-11T08:44:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95518ecb7b31358a2ba6ec048eac16\"},\"description\":\"Here it is: a new collection of statements that have been known to make people with diabetes cringe, twitch, and fume.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/theres-a-good-kind-of-diabetes-Home.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/theres-a-good-kind-of-diabetes-Home.png\",\"width\":598,\"height\":402,\"caption\":\"theres-a-good-kind-of-diabetes\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=36350#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 More Things Not to Say to a Person With Diabetes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95518ecb7b31358a2ba6ec048eac16\",\"name\":\"Jacquie Wojcik\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/851faaddf27783cd38cc3a65ffbac6de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/851faaddf27783cd38cc3a65ffbac6de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jacquie Wojcik\"},\"description\":\"Jacquie Wojcik has lived with Type 1 diabetes since 1990. 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