[shiftzor]

I believe most of these fat claims come about due to government and health agencies trying to reduce the obesity in certain countries. It’s easier to say life style A results in disease B than it is to say don't live life style A because I said so. It’s similar to global warming. They forget that the minority that has the disease doesn't enjoy being given this negative light. So the government and health organisations need to change their approach to tackling obesity and stop using diseases as a "weapon" to tackle the problem. Changing the name of a disease won't work and distancing ourselves from type 2s definitely isn't the answer.

[barbarac]

Oh, I have gotten that one too. I have a friend (and she really is though she doesn't sound like it), who introduces me as her friend who has diabetes so bad she has to wear a pump. Doesn't matter that I have explained it to her. She just thinks because I have to take insulin I have it worse than someone with shots,l then when I got the pump I was in really bad shape.

I am glad (I guess glad, may not be the right word, but . . .) that I am not alone here. I was beginning to think I had a really bad attitude. That Dr. on TV yesterday literally told the world that diabetics could have avoided this with correct lifestyles. I know a girl who was always thin, ran maratons and minis, was a dietician and ate right, and still had a rough time with her Type I.

Another example. I was on a diet (think it was Medifast). The Dr.--a real one who examined us once a month--said I could get off my insulin and blood pressure meds if I lost this 50 lbs I had gained. I kept telling her no that I was Type I, maybe reduce with no eating, but not off--she didn't seem to want to believe me. Well I lost weight and nothing changed in meds. My new endo kept saying she thought I was Type II because of my age I got it. Then did some test and said "oh you are Type I--well duh!!

But anyway. Feel better now that I know I am not losing it and getting upset over nothing.

It amazes me how people who have no idea what they are talking about seem to get their points across better than those of us who do and are living it.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Gary_W

Whilst re-naming T1 would be helpful to me and other T1's in terms of the ignorance of others, I would still feel sorry for the T2's who suffer the accusations of self-harm whether it is true for them personally or not.

Hear, hear. Does anyone know enough about the mechanisms of T2 to think of a descriptive term that avoids the word "insulin"?

Originally Posted by blacklightmike

In spite of the fact that they are treated with similar drugs and have similar pathologies, I'm of a mind that believes T1 & 2 are very different diseases.

Yup. And people can end up with both...

[barbarac]

Thanks for replies by the way. See a lot of new people here and you all seem great!! I felt better just reading your replies.

[barbarac]

Each time I think I am done I read a new reply and have another comment--sorry. Something I heard the other day that struck home. I don't have a sugar problem (I have a friend that says "she has sugar"). Instead, I have an insulin problem. I think that would make people realize it is not as much what we eat as not having what we need to deal with it. They seem to think we all stuff. I have caught myself saying "I really don't eat that much to have gained this weight". Why do I feel the need to defend myself?

[slipperyelm]

When I was a child in the 1960's through high school in the 1970's my stereotype of a diabetic was and very thin, scrappy, dehydrated looking person--sort of like some of the current stereotypes of serious runners or bikers. I think that was because, the few type 1's (and at the time they were called juvenile diabetics or insulin dependent diabetics) I knew were athletes whose means of managing diabetes were more limited than nowadays and they did look like that. I am not aware of having known any type 2s back then, though I did know of something called "non-insulin dependent diabetes." Heck, I had to do a little school report on diabetes when I was 11 in grade five, and I remember having those categories in my report. To me the Type 1 sort of diabetes was what I heard of the most and if I heard someone was diabetic, I would have assumed they had no insulin production. The non-insulin dependent diabetes was baffling, I didn't understand where it fit in and I just never heard of anyone with it.

I think it used to be that type 1 was what most everyone thought of when they heard the word diabetes. Now it is reversed; everyone seems to think of type 2, even if they understand nothing about it.

On the whole, I just have a huge complaint about Education--with a capital "E". You see, I am surprised again and again how ill-prepared people are to understand a few fundamentals about diabetes. I meet people who think they have never heard of a pancreas, for example. People who don't know that glucose is a sugar, that it is a fundamental carrier of energy for living beings. I wonder what these people did with their high school biology knowledge. Don't most people study a year of biology in high school? (In the USA anyway.) And at least half of that is human anatomy, human physiology, and cell biology applicable to human cells? Does it just vaporize from their brains? If so, what a waste to have sat through it and gone through the motions. Even if they did not study biology, they likely took a class in "Health" and/or First Aid. Didn't they learn anything about diabetes there? I know it was covered in my classes.

Still, yes, I agree, it might be helpful to not refer to both type 1 and type 2 as diabetes. Type 1 could be switched to being called "primary islet failure" or something.???

[Scrabblechick]

I feel for all of us lumped into the D category, regardless of how it's manifested.

As I said in the body fat thread, most overweight people feel terrible enough about themselves and have gone through YEARS of self-blame--far worse than any news report. We don't need the media self-righteously pontificating about our disease when they don't know doodly-squat about it.

Different names might be helpful, but you can't eliminate idiots from the planet, more's the pity. That's why I haven't told my bosses about my DX. They are fat-o-phobic anyway and would immediately become the Food Gestapo, asking me about every bite that went into my mouth. Like I said: you can't eliminate idiots, ignorance or plain ol' stupidity.

It's a pain for all of us who suffer from the D.

[howdysf]

I agree... They are two different diseases and shouldn't share the same name....It's confusing for people who don't have it...

[sprzepiora]

Originally Posted by fgummett

incidentally there is yet another D called Diabetes Insipidus...

Oddly enough my wife has this, she got it when she was a little girl and got Scarlet Fever. It used to be she could take a shot or a nasal spray, now they have a pill.

We are constantly saying "no not that kind if diabetes" when talking about her medical condition.

[sprzepiora]

Originally Posted by davef

Well I'm an overweight T2, so according to many people in society (and it appears some here too )

Nevermind

useless text to overcome the short message error.

[Jan B]

It sure was easier when it was simply "juvenile" or "adult-onset". I was 18, but there was no question it was "juvenile". IMO, type 1 is easier to deal with -- the disease is fairly logical and unchanging (not completely though).

When I first joined this forum, I was looking for other Type 1s, because it's obvious they would understand more of my own issues. However, I like that we are ALL in this together which helps our attitudes about being judgemental . . . in case anyone was leaning in that direction. Personally, I have a LOT more empathy for Type 2s than I used to have. In fact, I used to be so insensitive, I thought of us Type 1s (or those of us who needed insulin) as the "real" diabetics.

There are so many unknowns, changes, and often so much discrimination that I really hurt for you Type 2s.

It's a complicated world we live in, and stereotyping is a useful tool when true knowledge is lacking. However, I think we have all learned that stereotyping can also be very damaging and unkind.

I think we should also remember that diabetes is a disease with many variations, and it's even hard for us to fully understand our own disease at times. So, how can you expect non-Ds to understand a lot about us with their only education of D being portrayed the way it is in the media?

Type 1 = Pancreatically Retired
Type 2 = Pancreatically Challenged

[fgummett]

Originally Posted by sprzepiora

Oddly enough my wife has this, she got it when she was a little girl and got Scarlet Fever. It used to be she could take a shot or a nasal spray, now they have a pill.

We are constantly saying "no not that kind if diabetes" when talking about her medical condition.

I can just imagine the confusion on peoples faces And I'm glad to hear it is easily treated these days.

---

By the way... I assume everyone knows why it is called "Diabetes Mellitus"..? In the same way that the only home test up till a few years ago was the urine dipstick... going back even further than that (think Geeks and Romaines), they actually used to taste the urine of someone who was always peeing and thirsty, and if it was sweet (mellitus = honey-like) you had your diagnosis.

Diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus share the name "diabetes" because they are both conditions characterized by excessive urination (polyuria).
The word "diabetes" is borrowed from the Greek word meaning "a siphon." The 2nd-century A.D. Greek physician, Aretus the Cappadocian, named the condition "diabetes." He explained that patients with it had polyuria and "passed water like a siphon."

---

Just found out that there was a Saint Mellitus... "Honey... I shrank the bishop!"

[sprzepiora]

Originally Posted by fgummett

I can just imagine the confusion on peoples faces

Well, since I have that type of diabetes we can now add, "but I have that type" and then I get the whole cinnamon cures it you know...

I just say no, I never heard of that, honey start buying more cinnamon One day I was being a smartass and said only if it come with a new pancreas as that is what is broken on me.

[fgummett]

I just love it when folks can keep a perfectly straight face and say things like that... it's especially funny when the object of the sarcasm doesn't even realise it...

I invariably think of the best response only after I have left the situation.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by fgummett

they actually used to taste the urine of someone who was always peeing and thirsty, and if it was sweet (mellitus = honey-like) you had your diagnosis.

I've heard reports of that still being done in lesser-developed nations.

Also... if I may steal the spotlight for a moment:

Sweet Pee (DF theme song?)