my most frequently asked question when i do anything D in public is "does that hurt?"
what do you think? Duh. i may get used to the finger sticks and the injections, and the sensor and pump changes, but NO, it doesn’t stop hurting.
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Replies require a minimum of 10 characters? That is lame in a way that is perfectly consistent with this thread. Reminds me of a joke I heard a few years ago: “I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”
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By a Relative…“Geez I thought you had juvenile diabetes, shouldn’t you have grown out of that now?”
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When will anybody invent GENERIC injectable insulin(s)?
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This was asked by a classmate who saw me check my bloodsugar and take a shot:
“You know that is HIGHLY offensive to other people, right? Could you please do that in the bathroom next time?”
A diabetic taking insulin is about as offensive as a non-diabetic breathing!
Anyone offended by needles or small amounts of blood can simply choose to look the other may and remove all offense.
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I’d answer something like, “Yes of course. since one of the primary purposes of skin is to keep bad things OUT of my body, I’ll be happy to poke holes in my skin in a room full of your leftover bacteria!”
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Of course, I’ve gotten the “You’re diabetic – you don’t loot FAT!?”
And. “You’re diabetic – is that because you ate too much ?”
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Haha… “No, actually, and funny story this is, I got diabetes by asking too many stupid questions.”
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I’ll have to remember that one!
The minimum number of characters is meant to combat spam and bots. You’d think they’d make an exception for their emoticons though.
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“I bet you wish you could put drugs or booze in that thing instead of insulin, right?” No. I do not wish I could do that. Do you wish you could fill your lungs with tequila instead of air?
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In defense of nursing 
Registered nursing is so specialized now, that it’s no wonder she didn’t understand. I’m an operating room nurse, and nurses outside my specialty wouldn’t survive in an operating room. So, other than a general understanding of diabetes, most nurses other than diabetes educators would lack the education and experience to deal with the specifics of diabetes. It’s too bad, but that’s how it is – medicine has become so complicated and technical. Believe me, RNs in their specialty have to retain tons of specialized information in regards to their area of expertise. Please keep this in mind when you’re in the hospital and your nurses know what they’re doing – that’s because they are trained in a specialty. And remember, diabetes is a specialty. Your diabetes educator knows nothing about other specialties unless he/she was previously trained and worked in another area.
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While this may be true I think it is an overall failure of the system. The same could probably be said of most doctors, otherwise how would we have GPs who know basically nothing about diabetes. But this really does not serve us as patients with diabetes well. This means that whenever we engage with the health system for anything besides diabetes we may be put at risk. I think every requires a basic understanding of diabetes. It affects a third of the population and it doesn’t really seem like rocket science.
As long as people want the benefits of technology/electronics in their medical care, the system will not likely change. The more technology is involved in medicine, the more specialization there will be. One day during an average outpatient surgery, I counted at least 14 machines in my room that I need to know how to operate and troubleshoot - and that was only for that type of surgery. Every specialty has its own complicated equipment.
When I’m having surgery, I’m glad my anesthesiologist is a specialist, I’m glad my surgeon is a specialist (as opposed to a general practitioner), I’m glad the surgical assistant is specially trained. I’m glad heart nurses know what they’re doing during cardiac surgery. I’m glad I have an insulin pump and sensor and that my MD specializes in diabetology. We all benefit greatly by specialization.
GPs are just what the name implies. They have knowledge in tons of areas, but specialize in none. In medicine, an individual could get advanced degrees and be a genius, but they will be at their best when they thoroughly understand and can function in a specialty. Oh, and then there’s the fact that we are learning constantly because of how technology changes and improves on a daily basis.
It is unfortunate in many ways, but also you and I benefit from all the technology available to us.
Yes, that’s definitely how technology works. Another example of this is how only a minority of highly trained specialists are able to use a so-called “smartphone”. 
I agree,@caring4patients, that the large benefits of medical specialization come at some cost to basic working medical knowledge. I do think we as patients, however, need a medical professional community that retains a knowledge of some diabetes basics. Losing even this knowledge is dysfunctional.
Even speciaists should know:
- there are more than two types of diabetes
- each type has its own etiology and treatment protocol
- treatment of hypoglycemia requires glucose, not insulin
- carbs primarily drive blood glucose levels
- sliding scale insulin protocols are archaic and hyperglycemia impairs healing
- most diabetes patient technology is comprised of glucose meters, insulin pumps, and continuous glucose meters.
- modern insulin dosing is based on a basal/bolus regimen
Specialists should not be granted a right to be completely diabetes ignorant. If they do then I question the net benefit of any speciality.
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At the very least, it should be fairly clear that an in-patient (unless unconscious) has a handle on their diabetes management and should be allowed to be in charge of their management. As I’ve posted before, my healthplan requires surrender of devices, (meter, pump, CGM, and the humulog insulin so they can use R to save money). I’m planning on having my husband (and he’s a big strong guy -6’6" and broad shouldered - thus intimidating) to smuggle in my meter at the very least.
It’s funny, when I lived elsewhere, the doctors, RN’s and gas-guys loved that I had those devices and that I was managing things well. Obviously this is a sore spot for me.
As I suspect it would also be for many of us here. I can certainly say it would ■■■■ me the hell off. 
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A good freind said, don’t Type 1’s sometimes get better and are “normal”.
Oh, yikes!
People don’t understand that we are living with a degenerative condition. Pancreases don’t spontaneously regenerate.
But, wouldn’t it be great if they did? 