Stop what you are doing right now. I know exactly what you're thinking—you're thinking that you totally understand this disease. You're thinking “wow, my grandma has that”, or “my dog has that.” You're thinking, “wow, that sucks, she can’t have cake.” Right now, all the misconceptions you have about diabetes are surfacing because you read that title. Stop.
You are wrong.
So, here’s what I (a diabetic), am going to tell you about diabetes. So stop thinking, stop talking, and listen. Maybe you will learn something.
- No. Your grandma does not have it.
Your grandma probably has type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is different because it happens when your body cannot use insulin properly. This probably means that the person is either overweight or has high cholesterol (although there can be other reasons too).
Type 1 diabetes—also called early onset diabetes or juvenile diabetes—cannot be prevented or cured. In type 1 diabetes, the body no longer produces any insulin, and insulin must be injected into the body. It often occurs in children under the age of 12, but sometimes young adults get it too. Just because a person was 21 when they got type 1 diabetes does not make it type 2. I was 13 when I got it. It's still early onset. I'm not overweight, and I didn't get it from eating too many gummy bears. Sorry to disappoint.
- I don’t care that your dog has diabetes.
I’m sorry, I just don’t. That does not make me like you any more, and it also does not make you a diabetes expert, so please do not talk to me about my disease like you’re a nurse. You’re not. You own a sick dog. I am not a dog.
- When you find out someone has diabetes, don’t act like they’re lucky.
No. You are the lucky one here. There is nothing hunky dory about diabetes, just like there is nothing hunky dory about paralysis or any other medical problem. It is not a competition—please don’t make it one. Yes, I am going to live, but I still have diabetes and I will have it forever and it sucks. I will never think it doesn’t.
- I can eat sugar.
If you see me or any other diabetic walking around eating candy or drinking a milkshake please don’t come up and smack it out of our hands like it’s poison. I bought that milkshake. I am going to drink it. I know what I’m about.
- All the movies lied.
Diabetic movie characters are great and all, but the problem is that I have never seen one who has the same diabetes that I have. When my blood sugar goes low, it sucks, and I get really shaky and weak but I have never looked anything like Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias. If I say my blood sugar is low, please do not start grabbing my face and pouring juice all over me. That's not cool. Also, not to beat a dead horse "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," but YOU CANNOT GET DIABETES FROM CANDY. Sorry, but you have something else. And someone should tell the producers of "Panic Room" that Kristen Stewart is dead, because she was obviously having low blood sugar—not high—when you pumped her full of insulin. Nice going.
- It’s not a pager.
It’s my insulin pump. No, I’m not explaining how it works. Also, WHY WOULD I EVEN HAVE A PAGER? THIS IS 2015.
- Your jokes aren’t funny.
I really don’t think it’s charming or comical when you ask me what would happen if you rip out my tubing. No, I won’t die if you rip it out, but I will be very angry, and my supplies are very expensive, so don’t go joking about ripping out my tubing unless you’re planning on paying for it. Yes, I know that it looks like I’m doing drugs. That’s because I am (kind of). Please keep your lame, offensive jokes to yourself. No one is laughing. I cannot stress this enough: Diabetes may be easy for you to make fun of, but it’s not a joke to me—it is the thing with the power to take away my life everyday. Please remember that the next time you think you’re funny.
- Diabetes is hard.
You may not always be able to see our disability, and it is not always obvious that we're sick, but we are. Please remember that having this disease can be very, very difficult. Diabetes is a disease that is often stigmatized, and many diabetics are often made to feel like they are a burden on the healthcare system, or like they have failed some kind of personal responsibility. Friends and family can also alienate us quite often because we suffer from frequent mood swings and often get very angry, emotional, and upset for reasons that are not apparent to others. This doesn’t mean that we're bad people or that we are just being jerks for no reason. It means that we sometimes get fed up with all the needles and the wild blood sugar spikes and with feeling crappy all the time and with how very little other people understand what it can be like for us. It would really help if you could just try and understand that for a diabetic, not every day is great—in fact, some days are very scary, and having diabetes is a lot harder than it looks.
- Understanding does not mean assuming.
Don't assume that you can make us better. Don't assume that you know what it’s like. Just remember that diabetes sucks a lot more for us than it sucks for you to be yelled at when you touch the emergency orange juice.
