30 Comments
Sometimes people stumble with what they say or do to a person with T1D. Even if the other person is trying to be helpful, it may not be interpreted that way by the person with T1D. This can be more complicated, as the same person can sometimes be supportive and other times be critical or judgmental. Of the people in your life, who (if anyone) makes you feel judged or criticized for your T1D management (for example, what foods you eat, where or when you check your BG, etc.)?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
While I know they mean well, it is still frustrating!
Fox News wrote this question.
More of a CNN question regarding victimization.
#BeWell
Never happened to me. Someone at a previous job used to sometimes comment about different things but she was always criticizing literally everybody else at work so nobody paid any attention to anything she said.
My type 2 mother who has never even tried to take care of herself!! Lol
Most of the people who make comments. Are incredibly ignorant. The only ones I really pay attention to. Our professionals. Even they. Without the disease. Don’t have a clue what they’re saying at times
Sometimes my church acquaintances/friends have asked to pray for my healing
I thank them and ensure them that prayers for everyone’s healing is always appreciated…and “plan” a quick escape as soon as possible I have to remind myself that they usually have the best intentions
My husband is very supportive and has come to my rescue several times
It’s totally irrelevant to me whether ANYONE criticises [criticizes] or judges me. I don’t give a flying fig!
I checked medical provider, but the providers that ever said anything were not in endocrinology; podiatrist, optometrist, PT. I tried not to take their comments personally, because I was confident I was doing well and my endocrinologist agreed.
I don’t really care but the Med Pros that comment are the Most Frustrating!
When it comes to Diabetes, after being T1D for 55 years, most people I know don’t have much to say.
My ex-mother-in-law was the worst. As a former nurse from a by-gone era, she felt she was an expert and that my efforts to manage my diabetes were unnecessary and self-indulgent, particularly when they inconvenienced someone else. The only time I ever had a hypoglycemic episode that I couldn’t manage myself was when she felt it was her duty to “prove” to me that I didn’t really need to stop shopping and eat a snack when I felt my blood sugar falling. She said her patients “rarely become unresponsive” even though they complained a lot about mismatched timing between food and insulin shots. Thankfully, she’s not part of my life any more.
This is generally not a problem. However there have been times in the past when I was ill (turned out to be sepsis) and the ER staff told me to go home and take better care of my blood sugars. They were way up because I was very sick!
I haven’t had to deal with this for quite a while.
Can you have a question that focuses on who is positive and supportive in our lives? T1D is complicated and highlighting those that are negative doesn’t help build up those relationships. Thanks
I wish Type 1 and Type 2 had different names. I feel that most of the people that misunderstand type 1 do so because they know someone with type 2. that got off insulin, or “cured it” with pills.. or saw advertisements for type 2 drugs. I’m not saying type 2 is less serious or of less concern, but it does seem to have different rules that people (even health care workers) often don’t understand.
I have a long term girlfriend who insists diabetes is caused by eating too many sweets as a child. No matter how often I explain or try and set her right, she fails to grasp the simple medical concept. Don’t waste my breath anymore with herm
Dump her!
I just put a thumbs up on the reply, “dump her”, Then I had to laugh at myself…. that is classically the exact same kind of behavior that frustrates me… strangers thinking they understand my situation better than I do! My apologies. I hope for your sake her redeeming qualities are good ones. 🙂
SOOO funny!!!
Total strangers I can understand them not knowing, but growing up two family members it never sunk in about diabetes.
My dad always tried to make the effort when I was younger, but it took him 40 years to finally understand the difference between a high bg and a low one. I remember one time he took us somewhere and forgot to give me my shot (something that my mom usually did) before we left. When I told him I felt high and sick, he handed me a candy bar!
Then there was my grandma, his mom. She came to visit when I was 6, and brought me 5 lbs of lemon drops saying it was cure me.
My mom was understandably livid! I don’t blame her, she could have killed me.
My spouse who knows the old T1D where when needed you eat, or exercise, or inject. She has yet to realize what gastroparesis does to that old works-every-time formula.
When gastroparesis bullies himself into the room, it’s like 52-card pick up. Need glucose? Nah, I’ll get around to it when I feel like it. Need to exercise? Nah, I’ll keep you from doing that when I feel like it. Need to inject? I’ll make you pay for that too.
The best description of gastroparesis I can render is a light switch with a short in it – the light may flicker on and off all day long. And it just drives a stake through the heart of that old trusted formula. ¯\_( ͠~ ⍨ ͡°)_/
¯
I don’t get many comments after 54 years with T1D but I got a lot of flack from mom when I was sneaking midnight snacks as a child. Now she bakes a decadent dessert every time we visit. I usually plan and adjust my insulin for this but she always wants to offer a second helping. I just deal with it and attribute it to her age.
On the other end of the spectrum I spent a whole month in a military hospital when I was first diagnosed at age 11 in 1968. There’s not much to do to while away the hours so I started exploring and soon found where they stored the snacks. Maybe that’s why I was there so long :>)
My Father and brother both were T1 and both were very ill and on dialysis. They both at different times made a conscious decision to stop insulin and dialysis. I am 9 years younger than my brother and have a lot more tools at my disposal and am better educated in what to eat and how to handle my diabetes. Also I live a much different lifestyle than he did. So that being said my oldest sister calls me all the time and asks what I’m eating, why I go out to eat so much, why I don’t have a pump. It drives me crazy. I just lie and make up some stuff that I’m cooking. She even asked me the other day if I ever thought about stopping my insulin. I understand why she asked but enough already. I told her if I live to Daddy’s age when He died or am as sick as my brother when he died then she can ask me. My other sister just ask me all the time if my blood sugar is low do I need insulin to bring it up. Which actually makes me laugh. I have one more sister and she is the least annoying because she always prays for me so that’s good.
Strangers and acquaintances may always do this. I don’t normally get ruffled by it. In the past I did have coworkers who did it- people who had the habit of this kind of behavior in general. And my second husband (and not long my husband) had this problem too. He was a highly anxious person who often made his anxieties mine to fix. I suppose that is often at the root of butting in to other people’s business. Though it is hard to remember that, and to try to feel compassion for those who are doing it.
In my experience health opinionated care providers can be the most judgmental, insensitive, ignorant and unsupportive when it comes to understanding the dynamics of what it is like to live with T1 diabetes.
I meant to say opinionated health care providers.
I wish there was an edit option when we make a typo or spell check jumps in and makes an inappropriate correction.
It’s okay Connie, I understood what you said at first, and also have had the same experience,,
For many years now, I just say I am 90 [or what ever age] and I got T1D at age 21 ………..
It happens/happened so infrequently that I just put it doesn’t happen. There was one time however that a co-worker said that he was surprised I was eating something again as I had eaten a piece of pizza and a dessert during a company potluck. My job was so physical though that even after eating some high carb foods, my sugar was trending low. He said to get rid of my diabetes I just had to eat correctly. I just explained quickly that my diabetes was caused by an autoimmune problem and not by anything I ate. I wasn’t annoyed as he just didn’t understand. Funny thing is, he became a T-2 diabetic a few years later even though he was a fairly healthy eater and wasn’t overweight. He found out that Type-2 runs in his family and that is probably why he came down with the disease.
I answered “no one” AND “Extended family”. I have one aunt that has always been overprotective and interrogates me when I eat. She is 102 now and in Hospice so she doesn’t hover as much other than if I look at my pump! LOL! She wants to know what my sensor reads…. she is surprisingly sharp and inquisitive about how the CGM and pump works.