Does anyone else get annoyed by people saying “diabetes in a can” or “diabetes in what ever”? Or is it just me?

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DeathBySpaghetti

DeathBySpaghetti

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I see multiple videos of people on any social media platform when they have a lot of sugar or anything that revolves around junk food or sugar and they turn around and say “it’s diabetes in a can”, “diabetes in a bottle”.
It really annoys me especially being diabetic. I try to ignore it but it just bugs me. I get angry because not all diabetes is caused by sugar, if at all. I understand that there is a diet aspect of it but not always.

I just want to know if I’m alone getting angry at this. I saw one video where someone was at one of those sweet treat vans that go around places and they literally titled the video, “diabetes”. I think this country really needs to be educated.
And as soon as I call people out on their BS they get all defensive and bite back.

People just need to stop. Tell me I’m not alone in getting angry at this?
 
Zillions of years ago a girlfriend told me she thought one of my friends was "sweet".

"Don't you think I'm actually quite a lot sweeter than he is?"
"Hon, you're a great big sack of diabetes."

Then she laughed, a little too much.
 
Eddy Edson said:
Zillions of years ago a girlfriend told me she thought one of my friends was "sweet".

"Don't you think I'm actually quite a lot sweeter than he is?"
"Hon, you're a great big sack of diabetes."

Then she laughed, a little too much.
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Omg that’s horrible. This country needs educating. Everyone does. It makes me so angry I can’t even explain the anger.
 
TheClockworkDodo said:
Found the thread I was talking about, it was @Cookiemonster2017 - https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/help-me-break-the-stereotype.70251/#post-774803
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Diabetes on a plate… seriously? It’s like they see a ice cream and they say it. Ugh it angers me so much. What is wrong with people. It’s about time people educated everyone on diabetes! I know that obviously some is diet related, but not all of it.

I saw a woman cry because someone said “don’t she look like she has diabetes.” I literally went up to them and told them to shut the f up and go back to school. I felt so bad for her. It broke her. If she hadn’t have left (the girls) I’d have pulled out my pump and my other equipment and said, “do I look diabetic?”

Angers me so much I just want to scream!
 
No don't get annoyed, when young & newly diagnosed would get slightly embarrassed if anything, that has long since passed thankfully.

If wanting to be picky @DeathBySpaghetti one could take offence by your username, in that it could imply that if you eat spaghetti it causes death, of course your not implying that but its an example how words can be taken the wrong way & offend.
 
DeathBySpaghetti said:
Omg that’s horrible. This country needs educating. Everyone does. It makes me so angry I can’t even explain the anger.
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Way before I actually got diabetes - bad taste maybe but not really really horrible, IMO.
 
I hope it has helped you to have a good rant but, honestly, it’s just words. Yes, borne out of ignorance, but really no worse than saying “you nearly gave me a heart attack” when surprised by someone.

We have to accept that we are in a very small minority of the population and the majority have no connection with, or reason to understand, diabetes. I certainly don’t see it as my job to “educate” anybody except those who might be directly responsible for getting me out of trouble!

There are much worse things going on in the world to get angry about.
 
I do agree to a point, but I think you’re fighting a losing battle trying to educate the whole world. Most of the people who say stuff like this aren’t interested in hearing the truth so you’re wasting stress and effort trying. The other one that gets me at the moment is “oh I’m a bit OCD, have to have everything straight/in alphabetical order, if it’s wrong I HAVE to change it immediately”. I used to say that too… until I had to live through what OCD really is. And it definitely isn’t that, something that takes you 30 seconds to correct and you then get on with your day is just being fussy. My daughter went through two years of hell with OCD and it would have destroyed the family completely if it had continued. It would take her 4 hours to get ready for bed, because of hand washing. She’d be up until 1am sometimes, literally crying because she was so exhausted that she could hardly stand up any more, but couldn’t tell you how much longer she needed to wash before it was safe to go to bed. We had to hide all the cleaning products because she’d have tried to wash herself with bleach. It would take at least 3 hours for her to get up in the morning for the same reason so was always late for school, and then would often spend most of the first lesson in the toilets washing. If you tried to make her start earlier it would just take even longer. It was as if she’d been possessed by an evil demon who had complete control of her, and she had absolutely nothing to fight it with. For a while she thought the only way to escape it was to end her life. Thankfully she didn’t make any attempts at that and we did get therapy just as she got to the point where she started to realise that she needed help, and she is now in recovery. They don’t say “cured” because it could easily come back, her latest worry is fleas for some reason! But hopefully she’s strong enough to remember what she learned in therapy and keep it at bay.

There are a couple of people I know who keep trotting out the “oh I’m a bit OCD…” line and I’ve tried patiently explaining that it’s wrong, but I still don’t think they believe. Not wanting to spend my whole life arguing I think I’ll have to learn to bite my tongue. What’s really annoying is that people seem to think that the person who has actually lived through whatever it is, can’t possibly know what they are talking about because they are saying something different from the world in general. Who don‘t know what they are talking about but are somehow easier to believe. Doesn’t matter whether you have diabetes, OCD or anything else, this always seems to happen and I don’t know what on earth to do about it.
 
I used to get annoyed by this, now I tend to just roll my eyes at it and don’t comment

@Sally71 I hope your daughters struggles even out to at least a manageable level
 
Never annoys me. It's just words.
 
Playing devil's advocate but if one person views a video entitled 'diabetes on a plate' or 'heart attack on a plate' and that video spurs them into a lifestyle change that potentially prevents Type 2 diabetes or a heart attack, surely that's worth it?

The vast majority of people will never know the difference between the different types of diabetes, just like they will never know the difference between a cardiac arrest and a heart attack or a migraine and a headache.

As above, I'm fairly sure many of us have said "gosh, I'm so OCD about that". The reality is, we're not the slightest bit OCD about it at all. As humans, we just like routines. Throw away comments can be hurtful and I often get a bit miffed if someone is stood in front of me complaining they have a 'migraine'. If they did in fact have a proper migraine, they wouldn't be stood in front of me talking but I'm not going to let it stress me out or get angry about it. They obviously have a humdinger of a headache!

Your medical history is personal to you and you cannot expect other people to care all that much. The only people who should care and know what they're talking about are the health care professionals looking after you.
 
I am not sure but yes but i am over sensitive that's me.
 
Lily123 said:
I used to get annoyed by this, now I tend to just roll my eyes at it and don’t comment

@Sally71 I hope your daughters struggles even out to at least a manageable level
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Thank you, I’m glad the OCD got sorted as that was by far the worst. Everything else we can cope with I think. I’m trying to learn not to react to people. You can’t blame people for not understanding, I do have a bit of difficulty though with people who have never been to a single doctor or camhs appointment with my daughter, thinking they know better than we do how to deal with it all. But I’m slowly learning how to ignore them. Maybe they are just trying to help.

edit: apparently my daughter has had people saying to her ”why did you get NHS help just for that?” when she says that she had really bad OCD. I don’t suppose she goes round telling everyone this, but it sounds like it has cropped up more than once. How are you supposed to answer that?! “Because it’s the sh1ttiest, most awful mental illness that destroys everything and nearly killed her?” Like someone here said, people aren’t interested in explanations so what’s the point.
 
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The D thing used to annoy me greatly - but now think we-e-ell, at least whoever it is, has recognised that massive great feeds of carbs ain't much good for anyone, time after time, healthwise generally. And sigh, cos we all know too well, that's merely the tip of this ruddy iceberg.

Same as the, 'Should you be eating that?' or 'Can you have ... ?'
 
On that n
trophywench said:
The D thing used to annoy me greatly - but now think we-e-ell, at least whoever it is, has recognised that massive great feeds of carbs ain't much good for anyone, time after time, healthwise generally. And sigh, cos we all know too well, that's merely the tip of this ruddy iceberg.

Same as the, 'Should you be eating that?' or 'Can you have ... ?'
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in that note can you have.
One thing I am doing is check it before I drink, eat or chew it etc
I am horried that my sugar free gum has 1.2 carbs in it per two chews. Not much but it adds up
I am thinking of drinking lemon water. I find it soothes my stomach. I have say one slice in boiling water instead of a tea bag. usually I had like half a lemon. How do I count carbs in that and can I have?
 
Nayshiftin said:
I am horried that my sugar free gum has 1.2 carbs in it per two chews. Not much but it adds up
I am thinking of drinking lemon water. I find it soothes my stomach. I have say one slice in boiling water instead of a tea bag. usually I had like half a lemon. How do I count carbs in that and can I have?
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You’re taking carb counting way too much to an extreme if you’re horrified that chewing gum has 0.6g carb each.
 
Nayshiftin said:
On that n

in that note can you have.
One thing I am doing is check it before I drink, eat or chew it etc
I am horried that my sugar free gum has 1.2 carbs in it per two chews. Not much but it adds up
I am thinking of drinking lemon water. I find it soothes my stomach. I have say one slice in boiling water instead of a tea bag. usually I had like half a lemon. How do I count carbs in that and can I have?
Click to expand...

Sugar-free gum - ignore the carbs. A slice of lemon - ignore the carbs. You’re not aiming to eat zero carbs anyway. Why not focus on eating healthily, avoiding the obvious things like large hunks of cake, etc, and simply moderating the major carbs you eat like bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc?
 
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