I am sure that almost all of you know/or have come across someone who is a diabetic. You may not even know that they are. As a diabetic myself some of my friends will see me stick myself with a needle and say

"OH MY GOD What are you doing?"

"I am a diabetic"

"oh my god, I didn't know that"

Oh I am sorry for not broadcasting to the world that I have diabetes, or for not wearing a sign on my back that says "I am a diabetic"

Basically, you have probably come across someone who is diabetic. Here are some things to think twice about before asking a type 1 diabetic.

1. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be fat?"

Actually no. Type 1 diabetes is an incurable disease where your pancreas stops producing insulin. There is no certain "type" of person who can become diabetic. Even the healthiest of people can end up with this awful disease.

2. " So does that mean you can't eat sugar?"

People with type 1 diabetes can eat whatever they please, as long as they take insult for it. So do us all a favor and don't look at us and say "should you really be eating that?" or "isn't that bad for you?" I mean eating a piece of cheesecake isn't all that great for you either, but you still eat it right? Chances are we know WAY more about diabetes than you do. I don't care what your health classes have taught you, there is much more to it then what even any doctor can understand.

3. "I am terrified of needles, how do you give yourself shots every day?"

Oh you're terrified of needles? Me to! But if I want to feel anywhere near normal, or not give myself long term consequences later in life, I will suck it up for the 1 second of pain I have to go through. If I want to live life not feeling sick every second of the day, I can suffer through the shots and finger pricks that it takes to be somewhat healthy.

4. "Your diabetic? No way, my grandpa has diabetes too!"

I mean, thats cool that you are trying to relate what is most likely type 2 diabetes to type 1 as the same thing, but it isn't. There are so many differences between the two. Type 1 means you are completely insulin dependent.

5. "My sister/brother/best friend has diabetes, I totally understand."

I know that the life of a diabetics family also can be difficult, however you don't actually know what it is like to have to deal with this every day. Please spare us the dirty look we will give you when you say this.

I can't imagine having to watch my little sister or brother go through this every day, but don't even try to compare this to actually having it.

There is so much more that happens in a diabetics life that you could never understand. The questions we deal with when we test our blood, or give ourselves a shot.

6. "Can I watch?" (when testing or giving insulin shots)

I mean sure if you want to, but don't be so weird about it. Chances are you didn't have to ask because I've gotten used to having people watch.

7. "If you change your eating habits won't it just go away?"

HA. If this was true don't you think I would have done it by now? NO that isn't how it works. For the rest of my life I now have to count carbs and test my sugars regularly regardless of if I just ate celery and chicken, or a bowl of pasta.

8. "At least it's not like, cancer or something."

Yes cancer is an awful disease, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. I watched my mom die of cancer, few things in this world are worse than that. And yes things could definitely be worse. Let me just say for all of the type 1 diabetics, that we get it could be worse. BUT IT STILL SUCKS. We can't just run away from it for a day without suffering consequences. We live with it, and will always live with it every day.

Our lives were forever changed from the moment we got diagnosed. We not only have a disease that affects our bodies, but it affects much more.

We can never get rid of the looks we get when we check our blood, or give shots. People will always give us the "I feel so bad for you" look. We just have to learn to deal with it. We will have good days, and bad days.

Hopefully these tips helped a little bit. Having diabetes is hard enough in itself, try to be a little more considerate before asking these questions.