Diabetes Blog Week - I Want Them to Know

Today let’s borrow a topic from a #dsma chat held last September.  The tweet asked “What is one thing you would tell someone that doesn’t have diabetes about living with diabetes?”.  Let’s do a little advocating and post what we wish people knew about diabetes.  Have more than one thing you wish people knew?  Go ahead and tell us everything.

I wish they knew that we make this look easy, but it isn’t.

I wish they knew that just because I don’t look sick, doesn’t mean I’m less deserving of a cure. Just because I don’t look sick, it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel awful.

I wish they knew that I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t bring it upon myself, and I’m dealing with a disease that’s constant. No vacations. No time off for good behavior. It’s 24/7 for the rest of my life. 

I wish they knew that because I want to have a long and healthy life, so I have to be militant about my diabetes care.

I wish they knew that being militant about my diabetes care doesn’t 100% guarantee that I won’t get any of those nasty complications everyone likes to talk about, but it helps.

I wish they knew that my diabetes is uniquely mine. It isn’t like anyone else’s. (ie: their grandmother’s, their great aunt’s).

I wish they knew that, yes I CAN eat that (damnit!)

I wish they knew that, the “expert” on TV doesn’t have a clue.

Most of all, I want them to know that if this diagnosis should become a part of their lives, despite what anyone else might say, they CAN do this.