UGH!! [[I need to rant. Caution: run-on sentences and grammatical errors ahead. You have been warned.]]
Life with diabetes can definitely be frustrating. Something that frustrates me even more is that people have no idea what the heck type 1 is vs. type 2. I'm sitting here reading a book... which I will not reveal... and it keeps mentioning how horrible diabetes is and how it can be preventable and how it is associated with obesity and not once in any of those above statements does it say that he is talking about type 2. Come on people, seriously. Maybe it only bothers me because I'm type 1... but still there is a difference. Type 1 is crappy and type 2 is sucks, too... older, set in your ways, blah blah poor fat you. Yes, it is preventable [for the most part]. Yes, it is associated with obesity. BUT HELLO! Type 1 is not, which is unfortunately labeled by the same nomenclature... diabetes. ::sigh:: I want to re-name type 1. I don't want to be grouped into the same category as type 2 anymore. Any suggestions? Yes, I was diagnosed at 16 and not at 6 but that does not make me type 2. But yet I still have diabetes. Great example of people's misguidedness of diabetes... I was sitting on a plane waiting for 30 minutes to take off when I decided to eat my lunch. I test my blood sugar and begin eating. When I finish eating I take my shot. The guy next to me turns to me and says "So, how long have you been type 2?" No lie. So I say to him, "actually... I'm type 1." He shuts up. I guess he actually knew the difference, which is rare. Just because I am in my 20s does not mean I no longer have type 1. I still have type 1. I will not magically rid myself of diabetes nor will I turn into a type 2 because I got older.
I feel like I've written this post before. Maybe I've just thought about it for so long it seems like I should have already.
Back to my point... Ok... I don't think people other than people with diabetes care that there are more than one kind or that one is associated with the haunting image of obesity running rampant through America and the other is genetic [according to popular belief] and unavoidable... for this I highly doubt anyone will care enough to change the name. I'm fine with being type 1. That's just dandy. Then type 2 should be type 2. Things need to be labeled properly. X's with X's and O's with O's. I'm an X, thank you. There is a difference. I don't want to be lumped into the same category as someone with type 2. I eat well, exercise daily and did not allow my pancreas the opportunity to stop functioning properly when I was 16 by stuffing my face full of fat... it just did it all by itself. I have even read articles posted by the ADA not mentioning which type they were talking about... and it was usually type 2. While I do understand where the confusion comes from... there is a difference. And the ADA of all things. Come on!!! Seriously!? This is why so many people are confused and cram them into the same disease. They are not the same disease, they work in different ways, they have different catalysts. I'm not going to go on and on and explain what the difference is, I just don't feel like doing that right now... maybe some other post. Go read Diabetes for Dummies if you're that curious. It bothers me. Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe I'm being trivial. But it bothers me nonetheless. There is a difference.
Not in the majority.
j
6 comments:
Jules, I totally agree with you and have ranted about this before. It seems like diabetes is in the media all the time, but they don't go to the trouble to tell people they are all talking about the obesity epidemic and type 2. It's very frustrating.
When I was first diagnosed, back in '64, the only words that came with it were "diabetic" and then later "juvenile diabetic". Now every time that you turn around, even if it's kids that they are talking about (sadly), the words are "Type 2 diabetes".
Few seem to realize that if there is a Type 2, there must (by association) be a Type 1. Or if I tell you that I'm a diabetic, just ask "What type (please, please)?".
I'm not a Type 2 because I look like an adult who is slightly overweight; I'm a Type 1 who has reached that middle-aged "battle of the bulge".
I suppose, being in the minority of the "Types", we'll always have a lot of educating to do.
Hmmm, full-time (unpaid) ambassadors for the diagnosis.
You write very, very well. I am more than a little envious. BTW, I drifted here from "DiabetesMine".
Thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoy it :) It's always good to hear comments and other people's stories and how they found their way here!!
-jules
Hi...thanks for stopping by my blog.
I have a good friend who has type 2 and he's quite slender and works out and eats relatively well, and did all this before his diagnosis. So it's not *just* because you're fat. I really think there is a genetic factor in there somewhere, otherwise every fat person out there would have type 2. There has to be something that triggers it besides weight.
But I am with you on the frustration of differentiating between the two. I preferred when type 1 was called Juvenile Diabetes. It made it that much more distinct. There really should be an entirely different name for type 1 because this anger we all feel over it is only going to get worse at the type 2 epidemic gets bigger.
I just found your blog. I love this post and could not agree with you more! I once had someone with type 2 say to me "you can't be diabetic, you're so skinny!" I just walked away but I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I love your blog - I'll be reading regularly!
Thanks Whitney I'm glad you enjoy it, it makes me happy to hear that people can relate to me about these things :)
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