I honestly cannot think of any one that is perfectly healthy that live within 5 miles of me. Some are over weight, many have some form of arthritis or joint problems, one has cancer, one has Type 1, two have Type 2, a few have mental problems :), others have allergies. I think every one has some thing wrong with them (maybe they just don’t know it yet).
I am a fat type 1… I love it when people tell me if I lost weight i would cure myself of diabetes! Is my sarcasm coming across?
In regards to the topic at hand, diabetic, diabetes whatever. I dont care and I think I refer to myself both ways.
I do call it a disease as opposed to a condition. I feel like condition doesnt get the point across as to how serious it is. Someone asked me once as I counted carbs out loud at lunch one day and programmed my nifty little pump’s bolus wizard if I had to do that for carb I eat. ummm… no, my body only cares about midafternoon carbs, Carbs eaten in the morning and evening dont have any effect on my body. DUH!!!
As a parent, we almost always use the term not the label. I do not begrudge anyone that uses the label to identify themselves, that is their personal decision. I want my kid to be a kid first and foremost. She is a kid with diabetes, not a diabetic. The diabetes doesn’t define her. I also don’t think the term diabetic is bad. It doesn’t imply negativity to me, since when is having the courage and strength to face a chronic disease day after day a bad thing? But I do want to remind her that being a kid is the most important thing.
The only reason I identify my daughter as having type 1 is because a lot of people incorrectly assume that it is something she can treat with diet and exercise. It has nothing to do with other people’s perceptions about the reason she got Diabetes. Typically I don’t even mention the type unless someone suggests that she can take a pill or exercise and stop eating sugar to treat the disease. Usually I take that opportunity to educate the person, not only about type1, but also about type 2. I think a lot of people don’t realize that type 2 is a genetic disease. Yes, some people with type2 are overweight, but that doesn’t mean that the weight causes the Diabetes. I never knew this myself until I was exposed to more people with type 2 on the internet, but I think it is an important thing to teach people.
As Heidi said, this is the same reason I distinguish between type 1 and 2. It may be selfish of me, but it is a quick way to stop all of the unsolicited advice. Isn’t it amazing how many self appointed “experts” on diabetes there are out there? Sometimes it gets tiresome to hear which herbs are supposed to cure me this week. Education is the key but there is just so many times you can tell your buttinski coworker that cinnamon is not going to help you before you want to scream.
I’m not opposed to either reference. I use both.
For me, it just goes right along with … I’m a blonde, I’m blue eyed, I’m a woman, I’m arthritic, I’m an asthmatic, I’m short … you get the point! I think. I hope! ;0)
It doesn’t necessarily “define” me, nor do I think it puts a negative connotation on me [if it does, I see that as the OTHER person’s problem, not mine!], but it IS a part of me, and forever will be. [unless they find a cure! Yea, right! LOL] A part, that makes up the WHOLE of me! :0)
I did not intend to bring up the causes of Type 2. Folks like you, Travis & Jenny, can talk more about than I can. I’d guess that both of you have encountered a lot of misinformation along the way expressing ignorance of diabetes. I know I have.
Well, here’s another nice can of worms I gotten us into. No offense, but the disease I have requires me to take insulin or die within maybe a year or less. Those with Type 2 Diabetes have other options. I don’t have those other options. That is the reason I specify that I have Type 1.
I prefer to say, “I have diabetes,” or “he/she has diabetes” than “I am a diabetic” or even “I’m diabetic.” Saying that someone “is” diabetic seems to be using the illness to define who they are. I mean, you wouldn’t call a disabled person a “cripple,” would you? No, you’d say, “he/she has a disability” (which is preferable to saying “he/she is disabled.”
I don’t see why it should be a problem for people to use the phrase “has diabetes” instead of “is diabetic,” because I don’t know of many (if any) other chronic diseases that use the name of the disease as an adjective. You don’t call someone with lupus “lupic” or Crohn’s disease “Chronic.”
I do, however, sometimes slip and use the word “diabetic” in discussions with other people who have diabetes… force of habit, I suppose.
Great to be thinking of this rather linguistical issue and specific terminology that involves so very much of who we are - for me, it is about the sense of how I am in control, verses how the disease controls me - both have most definitely occurred in my 30 years living with diabetes. (i.e. DKA due to not stocking up on test strips -hand in hand with road closures due to avalanches!! Zero control there, except at the pivotal preparation stage.)
I’m encouraged when people play around with words to figure out who is who and what is what…for me it becomes a problem when I don’t realize the implications of my words. Words have power and so do we - so why choose one way of the other? For me there is no choice to make but becoming more aware of all that I am capable of as a human being. ??–>Thought–>words–>action–>
Kudos to us, we do our darndest, don’t we??
SOME with T2 have other options! Not all! Some of us, like me, require insulin to control our BG’s. I’ve been the diet, exercise, oral meds routine. Ended up not working very long! If I stoped taking my insulin, my BG’s would go through the roof, therefore making DKA and pending death, a probability for me as well. It may not happen as fast as a T1, [IF my pancreas is still producing some insulin on it’s own] but it would surely happen eventually. So, for me, I don’t have any other options. I must take my insulin, it is required for me to live.
Steve,
Here’s a thought. Because you have Type 1, you almost certainly got an almost instantaneous diagnosis, diabetes education, and your doctor takes your disease seriously giving you things like intensive insulin regimens and pumps to help you get control.
Type 2s, in contrast, have a disease that comes on insidiously. Half of all Type 2s have neuropathy and nephropathy and early retinopathy on the day of their diagnosis. As a Type 1, you know how long it takes for those complications to appear, so you can imagine how long they’ve had undiagnosed diabetes.
Diagnosis just means that doctors will give them largely ineffective, but expensive, oral drugs, many with dangerous side effects. The company’s own docs show that none of these oral drugs lowers A1c more than 1%, but these are people who often have A1cs over 10% when medication is started.
Doctors resist giving Type 2s insulin, allowing them to walk around with these A1cs of 10% and higher for YEARS. When they get “insulin” it is usually basal, and they are given generic doses and no help in adjusting the doses to get them near normal. Many doctors are happy with 160 mg/dl fasting bgs for Type 2s… If they do get prescribed bolus insulin, no one teaches them how to learn their carb/insulin ratios, so they use generic dosing, which is always much too low to “avoid hypos.” Rarely do they see a diabetes educator. Most Type 2s NEVER see an endocrinologist, their treatment is managed entirely by a family practitioner.
That’s one reason why most people going blind from diabetes are Type 2s. Ditto amputations. Ditto on dialysis. It might be a “milder” form of diabetes, but that very “mildness” allows doctors to ignore it until way too late.
I agree with Anita and Heidi but Anita mainly I love the “expert” advice I get from ppl.
I bet these “experts” are the same people that like to give investment advice…
I`ve been thinking about this issue a few days ago. For those who do read spanish please check my toughts about “beeing or having” in my blog…
I’m in the same boat with you - my A1c is in the “normal” range, but people/doctors are always telling me I will have x or y because diabetics are prone to it. You’re right, though; the cause is not diabetes, but high blood sugars.
This has been an ongoing topic of discussion on the parents email list run by CWD. I refer to Olivia as having Type 1 diabetes (and I do specify type). She, on the other hand, could care less, although since she knows it drives me inSANE to hear “I’m diabetic,” she humours her mother and says she has diabetes.
As others have said, I don’t like defining someone by their disease. You don’t say someone is asthmatic or cancer-ic, so why say diabetic? It’s my personal preference, though.
As for specifying type, I do it to head off some of the ignorant comments, although that often fails. I find that those who do know the difference between the two also know that Type 1 is insulin-dependent and Type 2 isn’t always. That doesn’t stop the stupid comments from those who have no freaking clue, however. But that’s ok, I LOVE telling people when they’re wrong about something. 
Hi Julie; The use of the diabetes / diabetic terminology could be also be a geographical preference. I noticed that the term diabetic is used in the southern US, as well as some of the posts (in other forums on tudabetes) from Australia. Down here in the southern US I do hear the term asthmatic. I over heard a couple of nurses using the term diabetic when referring to my mother this week when she was having her pace maker replaced. As for other “IC” terms: Parapalegic, Allergic, Claustaphobic (may be misspelled), etc. I now definely agree with the need for distinguishing between Type 1s and Type 2s. May be a pamplet is needed to present those that do not have diabetes, but think that they know all about it, to set them straight once and for all.