Joe. I agree about treatment being 100% ours…recently figuring that out & I’ve been Type I 16 yrs!!..slow learner…& when having bad day (alot of them lately), really is discouraging when a “friend” says: Have u called you Dr? or the ultimate slammer: I’ve read about famous diabetics that do ANYTHING they want, just set ur mind to it.
great discussion topic, Carol! I am struggling w"baggage" also and I still try to EXPLAIN when D prevents me from doing or eating certain things. Sometimes I think explain is misunderstood for COMPLAIN…guess we need to come to terms w/fact that many others don’t understand…good luck!!!
My diabetes and celiac become very “visible” to anyone around me for very long. This whole discussion has been a great reality check for anyone who reads it.
My mother said something similar. She was diagnosed with stage 4 skin cancer. She went thru a year of chemo, radiation, and beat it about 15 years ago. Five years ago she was diagnosed T2. She said cancer is easier because people rally around you, do things for you. Doctors take care of your treatments and you’re not in charge of anything. With her T2 and my T1 she says is much, much harder and exhausting. With cancer, you live or die and your life is on hold until you do either. With diabetes, your old life immediately dies and you are sentenced to this new one with all the work of the old one doubled. She said she had many people visit her when she had cancer for one year. No one visits her to check to see how she’s doing now that she’s had diabetes for 5.
Here is my take for what its worth…If it can kill you in your sleep (which D can) then its serious enough to be considered up there with any other chronic disease. Ours just lets the cat out of the bag every once in a while to make sure we are on our toes!!!
Well if you are insulin dependent that means that if you don’t get it externally, you will die. How is that not a serious thing?
The one aspect, in my situation, at this time, that I consider “good” about diabetes is that if I get the right treatment, it can be managed, and I can have the chance to live to see my children graduate from college. (I’ve got type 1).
Cancer well, let’s say that I was glad that my doctor told me I had type 1 diabetes at the time I was diagnosed instead of pancreatic cancer. But that “gladness” that I feel does not minimize in my mind what diabetics suffer, nor the seriousness of the disease – certainly not.