9 Things You Should Never Say To A Diabetic

9 Things You Should Never Say To A Diabetic

As of Christmas Eve of 2010, I am officially in the type 2 diabetes club. Not the Christmas gift I ever planned to receive. It is what it is. Over the last almost 7 years, I’ve heard some of the dumbest and rudest things about me and my disease. People don’t think before they give their uneducated opinions about a disease they don’t have.

Here are a few of the things I’ve heard. You should never say these things to someone with diabetes or any other disease. Mmmkay? Don’t be that jerk.

9 Things to NEVER say to a diabetic.

I could never give up bread, pasta, sugar, etc.  Never say never. I didn’t ask to give up these things, but when your food choices could result in you losing limbs or death, you learn to live without those foods. Or you try to. It’s a struggle to give up those foods daily. Sometimes it’s really freaking hard. So, shut up and don’t say it.

If you eat cucumbers, okra, etc it will cure you. No. No, it won’t. I get that you want to help, but if that was the “cure” do you really think any of us would be walking around with diabetes? Heck to the NO! I’d eat okra every day if it would cure it. Fried, baked, in a milkshake. I’d eat it any where and any way. But this is a lie.

 If you lost the weight it would go away. Well, yes and no. It’s not going to go away with weight loss. Can it be completely managed? Yes. Does that mean it’s gone? No. Those with diabetes have a VERY hard time losing weight.

I have always struggled with blood sugar, even when I was thin. My blood sugar would drop so low that I would black out, start to see stars, or feel like I was losing my mind. I did the 4 hour glucose test at one point and my blood sugar never went high, but it went really, really low – the kind of low folks are hospitalized for. If you wouldn’t want someone to tell you to lose weight, then don’t do it to anyone else. What someone else weighs is NONE of your bees wax. Dude, for real. 

You can’t have any treats. Not true. I just can’t have them all the time. Once a week? Not a big deal. Every day? No. For the way my body reacts to sugar and certain carbs, I try to not have any because then I find myself craving them 24/7. It’s easier to just say no and I don’t always succeed.

For the love of all that is good, don’t ever announce this (so-and-so can’t have this because they’re diabetic) to a crowd. It’s not your medical issue to share! Yes, this happened to me and I was humiliated.

You can’t eat that. Dude. Who died and made you God? You worry about what’s on your plate and I’ll worry about mine.

You should exercise more. Duh. Unless I hired you as my personal trainer, shut your trap. You should probably exercise more too.

I could never poke myself or give myself a shot. I hear you on this. I’m probably one of the most squeamsih people alive. For real. I do it to survive. Because I have to. I give myself a shot every single day and it still freaks me out!

You don’t look sick. That’s a good thing. If I looked sick that’d mean some really serious things for me. You don’t have to appear sick to have a disease.

If you hadn’t gotten fat, you wouldn’t have diabetes. I will never know for sure if that’s true. I’ve never had normal steady blood sugar. Ever. So, I think at some point it would have developed because my body has never had this area under control. This is such a rude statement, I can’t form anything nice to say to it.

Having diabetes sucks. There are so many variables with it that folks who don’t have it don’t understand. The worst part of it comes when someone doesn’t care to understand and they only care about thrusting their opinion down your throat. What if instead of being critical, you asked how you could help and encourage? I dare you to try that.

For those who have diabetes, have you heard these 9 things? I bet you could add to this list! What’s the craziest or rudest thing someone has said to you? Share in the comments.

*Please note, I DO have a comments policy here. This is my domain and I will not allow abusive or rude comments to be made. You’re free to take your negative comments elsewhere.

 

Comments are closed.