There is a difference about having a positive attitude and saying that diabetes is a positive thing. If someone were to offer to cure your diabetes would that be a bad thing?
I would never call it "good", of course it isn't. But I would argue that good can come from it. Good can come from anywhere. Manure is unpleasant stuff and always will be, but putting it in your garden soil can produce spectacular results. It doesn't change what it is, it just means that while living with the "bad" side of it, you can still find ways to, in effect, make lemonade. That's one of the things that a positive attitude can do. It doesn't make something "good", but it makes it possible for you to create some good from a situation.
It helps me stay on track with diet and exercise. I have to make it a priority so I do. I was healthy before I was diagnosed, but would easily put others needs before mine. My workout was the first to get put on the back burner. Not so anymore. My friends and family look out for me more and I appreciate that. I think looking at the "cup half full" is one of the ways I cope in life in general. Would I be glad If I woke up tomorrow without this, hell yes, but it's not going to happen, so I deal. Looking for the positive is helpful, not stupid.
Molly - I agree that the enforced discipline aspect of diabetes gives me plenty of extra incentive to resist lapses with eating and exercise. If I didn't have diabetes, I'm sure I'd let myself off the hook more when I wanted to eat something decadent. It'd be easy to rationalize, "You only live once!"
David - It's interesting that this thread splits fairly evenly between the "diabetes sucks" camp and the "making the best of a bad situation" camp.
I think that coping with diabetes involves the deeply personal trek through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. If my pop-psychology memory serves me, our path with these issues does not follow any certain sequence, calendar, or even eventual resolution.
Many people take these issues to the grave. I'd prefer to do the hard work and get on to enjoying some of the sweet things (pun intended) that life offers! We each have our own path and there is no "one right way."
hmm… I may try it one day… not sure because pizza was one of the foods I was having trouble with before D. I started having terrible burning in my eyes and my whole body which was later diagnosed as ocular rosacea. I remember being in the best pizza place on LI and my eyes became puffy and red and inflamed with terrible stinging.. I realized then the tomatoes were there reason… although now tomatoes don't do that, but due to reflux I only eat them occasionally. I can imagine with mdi it would be very difficult to do.
Can't disagree with any of that. Too true.
Exactly… no one would want their child, relative, spouse to get diabetes so they can experience any "positives" that may come from it.. get diabetes so you can take better care of yourself? Why not just take care of yourself in the first place, which I did, without a deadly disease.
I'm with you Acidrock (but I have been before). If anyone was tailor-made for type 1, it was me. I had recently retired as a ballet dancer, so I was used to only looking at food - not allowed to consume it. I am by my very nature, anal-retentive, numbers and details oriented, and type 1 is the only disease I know of where I am in control. I determine my outcomes.
On the shallow side of me, I benefit from the fact that I must take care of my body, eat well, be active etc. The result of that is that (at least on the outside - but then I did say I'm shallow) I look a helluva lot better than the women I went to university with.
Oh! I DID REMEMBER ANOTHER BENEFIT. iT WAS EASY PEASY FOR ME TO GET APPROVAL AND COVERAGE TO HAVBE MY TUBES TIED. I HAVE NEVER BEEN MOMMY MATERIAL. wHEN I WAS A YOUNG WOMAN (I WAS ONCE YOU KNOW) IT WAS CLOSE TO IMPOSSIBLE TO GET STERILIZED. a BOARD OF OLD FUDDY DUDDY MALE DOCTORS MADE THAT DECISION. (shoot I hit the caps again) Anyway, somehow that group of guys thought they were better at making the decision for me than I was). So not only fd=did I get the surgery, it was covered bymy insurance. Woo Hoo!
aS A P.S. - I am definitely NOT the little Mary Sunshine type of person - just ask my family.
I agree to a point....no one thinks that diabetes is a positive thing, but I think the point is that positives can come out of lousy things. I.e. in my own experience, teaching me I can do what ever I set my mind to (if I can control my diabetes instead of the other way around, which we all know is not easy!). Diabetes is not a death sentence or a "deadly disease" if you keep tight control of blood sugars. I get it though, everyone who has diabetes has every reason in the world to be pissed off about it. What matters more is how you deal with it.
BT, I 'm more blunt in my use of the "P" word:
PISSED: Pancreas, Immune System Spoiled Everything Dammit.
haha I like it
Molly - well said and I agree!
Terry - you're right.
No one will dispute that diabetes sucks but I think it's important to be in the "making the best of a bad situation" camp.
We are alive. We get to stay alive, if we struggle enough. Its ALL rainbows and kittens -ggg-
Yes, there is a grieving process, and perhaps we can all appreciate that part. It deepens us and can bring us to an increased appreciation of life itself, imo. To simply be alive can make me awestruck....but, still don't like the D!
Hey Pulli:
Your question is excellent and thought-provoking.
I agree with you that it is a nasty disease that I would not wish on anyone. However, it has dramatically increased my life expectancy because it forces me to take excellent care of myself. Before my diagnosis, I was descending into sedentary, doughy middle-age. I had a typical western carb-centric diet, rarely exercised and easily got winded after climbing a set of stairs. I was a poster-boy for heart-disease. I had a decent sized gut, but this was "normal." Most of my peers looked the same and lived the same way.
Diabetes has forced me to properly understand my physiology and given me an excellent understanding and appreciation of nutrition and exercise. My waist size has dropped from a 37 to a 32, which is what I was in university. I have energy levels and muscle definition I've never had before. My blood tests are all in the optimal ranges. And as Artwoman says, I look (and feel) better than anyone I went to university with.
The other positive is how I've been able to help others. My transformation has motivated quite a few of my non-diabetic and diabetic friends and colleagues to change their lifestyles successfully.
Do I sometimes still get frustrated, have bad days, BG surprises and occasional periods of self-pity? Yes. If someone came along with a cure for my T1, would I take it? Of course! But I do wonder if I would be able to maintain the same level of discipline that I have today.
Like you, I'm an optimist. I'm also a realist. This is the hand I was dealt, and it's a long road ahead. I try to focus on the positives and not let the stumbles get me down.
All the best,
Christopher
You know Christopher, I think that if a cure came around in time for me to benefit - that yes indeed I would take it. But...I doubt I would give up the fingersticks. I wonder how long it would take for me to trust that the cured actually worked.
I do have to admit all Doctors who treat Diabetes should have it for a Month to get the information we all know they need. But I think most patients think a Doctor should walk a mile in their shoes.
Even if there was a cure I would still think "How is my Blood-Sugar" !