Do you live with diabetes or suffer from it?

I was just reading an article which made the statement “suffered from diabetes.” I always get angry when I read this kind of wording. I live with diabetes, so far there is no suffering. Maybe in a couple of decades I’ll change my mind if complications set in.

Is it just me, or is anyone else bothered by the suffering description? I feel like the term suffer makes us into victims. I don’t feel like a victim. How would you like the media to describe your life with diabetes?

I would go with “live with it”! No I don’t “suffer” from it! Good God!!! It may suffer from me!

Yea Doris diabetes certainly does suffer from me lol

I could do without the “suffering” language also. Agree that it does smack of being a helpless victim.

I live with, rally against, get bummed out by, deal with & manage diabetes.

Suffering equals pity. I hate the word pity because it gives those who say you are suffering power over you in their own mind.

To me suffering sounds like we’ve been defeated by having diabetes. For myself, I think it’s made me a better person in the long run :slight_smile:

Me, I live with it. On occasion, it has caused me to suffer. When both of my children were diagnosed, that hurt like no other pain I can describe. It still causes me a lot of grief, to know I passed this disposition to diabetes to them.

On occasion, D HAS made me into a helpless victim. But thankfully, I’ve always been able to get right back up and rail against it, again. It has unique obstacles for all of us, but I do hope, for all of us who have, on occasion, “suffered” from D, that we were able to find a way to beat it, and put us in a better position.

Now that’s good! HA!

No nothing hurts like being told (after watching ) your child suffer with all the symptoms of being a Type 1 then being told that your daughter who (was born missing her left hand) is a Type 1 like you but I REFUSE to let it win. So does she!!! I felt so guilty about passing it to her but she told me about 2 years ago it wasn’t my fault. I was so glad she didn’t blame me for her getting it. (this was after she had had it for 8 or 9 years all that time blaming myself for it) She’s really a trooper!!

Give her a hug from me and my girls! I think, the 3 of us have a connection and understanding of each other that maybe parents and children without D do not have. My kids let me know all the time that they do not blame me, but I often wonder, my Mom was a type 1 as well, my sister is fine, she doesn’t have D, her 5 kids are fine. I had 2, both D’xed so young, of all the things to get a perfect score, I’m 2 for 2. My younger one says she wants to be like Daddy, the only one NOT to pull out a meter before meals. If there was a way to take it away. . .

If someone uses the term “suffering” I have to assume they know little about T1D and diabetes in general. It is kind of a sign that says “I don’t want to know…or learn about D.”

Doris, your daughter sounds like an awesome and fantastic person. She is an inspiration to us all.

I am the third generation with D and I don’t think I’ve ever blamed my mother nor my grandmother for this disease. I feel like it makes me who I am. I do not suffer with this disease but rather use it to make me a better person. I have seen what this disease does to people and I know that if I’m not responsible it can happen to me. I just live my life daily. If the prior day I didn’t have great control, then the next day, I’m going to work a bit harder to have better numbers. It is a daily battle but in no way do I suffer with it.

I’ve always thought she was a fantastic person but .well mama pride here! She’s the best and fixing to be a mom again for the 3rd time! My grandchildern all seem to be fine! The girls that is my grandson will be born later this month but I’m sure he will be too!!!

“I feel like it makes me who I am.”-

That’s a concept, huh? Since three generations of my family were D’xed at < 12 months old, when they found that genetic mutation that presents like type 1, but can actually be controlled using type 2 oral meds, we did the genetic testing. For like 3 weeks, I walked around thinking, gosh, how much a part of me IS my D? I mean, on the one hand, talk about the ultimate get out of jail free card, but on the other, wow, how different would me and my families life be without it?

But that wasn’t us, we’re just regular old type 1 diabetics, no new genetic mutation groundbreaking research 1 in a million freebie card for us. But it really did stump me, I’ve never known life w/o D, how different would it be? Hope I get to try to figure out the answer to THAT question some day!

Congrats! Wow! That’s totally awesome!

Done the genitic testing on my daughter 2 weeks BEFORE she was diagnosed with Type 1 (comong from a long line of both Type 1 and 2’s0 but well that didn’t work either! Life lessons that’s what you get!

Judith, I love your perspective. I rage at diabetes when the occasion calls for it, too.

I agree with you, Cara. I hate it when people phrase it like that.

I don’t know if I can work up a good “rage” in regards to my D any more. A rant, a rail, but rage takes so much energy-I need to watch out where I place it, unless it’s feeding my motivation that is : )

My internist likes to say that one of the features of diabetes is that it doesn’t hurt. That’s why it’s easy to ignore it. So it’s hard to say I ‘suffer’ from it.

If I keep paying attention, it won’t make me suffer in the future either.

Terry