Sorry to bug you all, but this has my panties in a wad.
So I’m on a Diabetes Support page on FB, giving a high five for a young lady who just got a beautiful tattoo as an awareness thing as well as a medical alert, and I start reading the other comments. The ignorance!! OMG the ignorance.
So many “you can’t get tattoos” and “that’s gonna go bad and get infected and never heal”. Well, you get my drift.
What is the major malfunction that people don’t understand? We don’t live in the dark ages of diabetes anymore, our control of our numbers is greatly improved. Our insulin works amazingly fast and we have these cool little gadgets that tell us when we’re out of range. But trying to explain to these people that it’s okay; we can do that was like talking to a brick wall.
Anyway, probably silly to get worked up about something so trivial, but it really got to me. Does little stuff like this get to any of you?
Hi Amanda, it is always the little stuff that do get to people and I would of been upset for the same reasons. I had actually thought of doing the same thing, putting a medical alert tattooed with my medicalert number as well. LOL
PPL really do need an updated education. Even my family, they see me every day do my stuff. they know what the cgm does they know what the pump does but if I needed them to help me for some reason or give my my insulin. I sadly think I would be dead!
The little things are always taken for granted. so keep getting upset about it and maybe more people will get an education about how diabetics can live among them. LOL
Those things bother me too. I have sort of had a mid-life crisis for a few years and like to fly my D-Freak flag with lots of activity, not to mention tattoos. I had a weird encounter with a couple of guys at a Tour de Cure event. A banquet guy was setting out some unlabelled, pre-filled soft drinks on these tables and these guys were pitching a FIT about which ones were diet, they NEEDED to know because WE HAVE DIABETES. I usually try to be friendly but something about their manner flipped my snide switch so I waved my Maker’s Mark at them and said “have a low-carb cocktail gentlemen!” which they also didn’t like, exclaiming “you’ve got to be kidding, you can’t drink with diabetes” and I totally blew the opportunity to try and edutain them and just drifted away.
There is a lady I know who says her daughter has ‘sugar diabetes’. every time I hear it I want to scream. She has actually just been diagnosed with T2, the daughter, that is.
My snarky did come out at one point. This lady was insisting we couldn’t get tattoos, her Dr. told her so. I told her her info was outdated and that next she was gonna tell me I couldn’t go barefoot or wear sandals. She responded “you can’t, you have to protect your feet.” I just can’t even anymore. The idiocy is too much.
The nurse at the hospital right after my DKA diagnosis left me with only one piece of advice: “don’t walk around barefoot and don’t wear sandals, you have to protect your feet”. Even with the little education I had at that point about diabetes I just thought that was the strangest thing to tell someone. I live in southern California. I’m wearing sandals. I think I’ll be ok, thanks. I also asked her if I could eat a salad with chicken and she says “sure, but you know, everything turns into sugar!” …???..was she suggesting I stop eating completely? I’ll never know, lol.
I wear sandals every time I go to my endo’s office! No one has commented yet 
You should have told “This lady” that you can protect your feet better when you can SEE them!
Anyway, no tats for me for religious reasons, but I clearly got diabetes from all the (take your pick) (sugary or diet) drinks I had while (not) sleeping (too much) and having too (much or little) cinnamon, okra, blueberries, and almonds. Or maybe I got it from my kids when they gave me insanity?
Actually since your endo should regularly check your feet, wearing sandals makes sense. And it also makes sense to wear them to go through TSA security.
And you probably go diabetes because you did a poor job of picking your parents.
Funny how older philosophies about T1 treatment continue to live on in the minds of both health care providers and patients, even as newer ones try to make headway. I have to admit that this battle goes on in my own head. When I was dx’d back in the semi-dark ages, the day you got DX’d T1 the message was: Henceforth, you will live your life in service to your treatment regime. This wasn’t a choice but a necessity. You could only test your BG by peeing on a strip and comparing the color to a patch on the tube, and you took R/NPH insulin that gave you no control over what was going to happen to your BG throughout the day–you took that shot and you were locked in to whatever it was going to do.
With the tools we have now, we’re coming around to the view that your treatment regime exists for your benefit and not the other way around. It should help you live your life as freely as anyone else. But if you spent your first 20 years as a T1 under that old mindset it isn’t necessarily easy to change. It can even be a little scary. For me the huge liberation was going on MDI–the first time I watched the clock pass noon, then 12:30, then 1:00 and I hadn’t eaten anything yet and I WASN’T PASSING OUT!!! was like being given a pair of wings and being told ok, you can fly now. But I think a lot of people really want the security of the structure and restrictions of the old way of doing things. And I think the old authoritarian mindset is even harder for some health care professionals who aren’t T1’s themselves to let go of.
Yes
When I,m with people who tell me I can,t have that cause I,m diabetic
The reason I,m having it is because I,m low, now.
I explain but it goes in one ear & out the other.
That’s one of the reasons I really like my new endo - he’s an oldtimer who IS and HAS BEEN willing to update his mindset as new technologies are available. Good combination of experience and flexibility!
Once you get a rusty nail stuck in your foot (AND don’t even feel it), you might change your tune. It IS good practice to keep something on your feet when outside. I’ve been remiss a few times when going outside and about a 1/3 of the time I regret it after stepping onto a variety of things that have no business on the walking side of my feet.
I mean, I feel like diabetic or nondiabetic, it’s probably a good idea to have something on your feet if you’re walking around outside. Unless you’re Britney Spears and think going into a gas station bathroom barefoot is sanitary. But the nurse I had made it sound like I couldn’t even be barefoot in my own house, haha!
i went barefooted in my own house, and someone broke glass and I got a little tiny sliver in my foot and could not see it to get it out. After trying to dig it out for weeks with tweezers and needle and anything else I could use. I even got people in my house to try and skin grew over it and it was very painful. I finally got a doctor to cut it open and get it out. So yes, even in your own house you can get stuff in your feet. Always check your shoes, I had something poking me in my foot and it was big nail from the bottom to the inside of my shoe. So even shoes don’t always protect your feet. I can feel my feet so it should be no problem going barefooted and I usually do anyway.
I wear keen sandles,very supportive. Also a strong closed toe area. I wear them to my endo also. No feet problem here. I don’t drive so I say my feet are my transportation. Taking excellent care has given me a strong foot foundation. Nancy
I have a [air of Keen sandals like those, as well, but I wear other types too. And yes, it is possible to have something injure your foot both in and out of shoes. Though I actually have done both the piece of glass in my foot (which happened when I was wearing shoes) and the 4" rusty nail (I was 4 years old and playing in and around a kiddie pool in my parents’ back yard), the only real way to protect your feet is to be vigilant and pay attention to them.
Over the years, I have had more foot problems caused by shoes than by “foreign objects.” Thankfully, I have no foot issues caused by diabetes at present and hope to avoid those. Regardless, the only way to protect your feet - or anything else - is to pay attention to them and deal with issues promptly if something happens.
Going back to the original topic of this discussion…
I have a long-time, good friend that I see intermittently. Since Dx, every time I see him, he asks me in a low voice, full of concern, “How are you feeling?” Or “Are you feeling alright?” The level of concern in his voice, while well-intended, drives me nuts!
This is a guy with, in some ways much worse health issues than fairly well-managed, T2D. He has had very high cholesterol and high blood pressure, with a family history of heart disease and related ailments. He’s had angioplasty to remove a blockage and has been told he is a heart-attack risk, if he doesn’t turn things around.
How am I feeling??
Hi Amanda,
I got a kick out of this topic title because I got an ETSY message with the same exact title. The tattoo conversation is one that comes up often, and I usually just don’t participate in the mix for the very reason you wrote "The ignorance!! OMG the ignorance."
I learned a long time ago that it only causes me to have bad feelings if I try to educate brick walls, make people understand ‘my’ reality, explain a condition they don’t understand or live with. I have better things to do than let stuff like that get to me. I’ve become pretty expert at Letting The Little Things just roll off my back. Thanks for the chuckle. Oh, and I live in Fit Flops for walking and … Oops 
I have all of those plus Keens and Naots (Ok, I’m shoe-maniac…) – but my Chacos rule! 
I have a pair of those too but they must be at the bottom of a pile somewhere as I haven’t worn them for a while!