"But you don't look like a diabetic."

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Allison Blass on November 13, 2009 at 8:31am

My grandmother, to this day, tells me that she wants me to go shopping with her because she wants to make sure she buys stuff I can eat. I keep telling her I can eat whatever she wants to make... with the exception of beef. And that doesn't have anything to do with my diabetes!

Another thing people are always asking me is, "Do you need to eat?" Only when I'm hungry (or bored).

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruth on November 13, 2009 at 10:34am

I just love the people who say "oh, I could NEVER handle being a diabetic"...like we have a choice! I wonder if they would just curl up and die upon being diagnosed?

I usually respond by telling them that they probably can handle whatever is put in front of them, but I do still hope they never have to deal with diabetes themselves.

Ruth

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Allison Blass on November 13, 2009 at 10:55am

Oh I remember getting all the time when I was a kid! Other kids would look at me and say "I just couldn't do it."

Well, unless you prefer death....

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tom Goffe on November 13, 2009 at 10:49am

I've heard it, but it makes me testy. FWIW, I'm 5'10" and 150 lbs. When I was diagnosed at age 30 with Type I, I was a sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery. Suffice it to say, I don't fit the stereotype I used to have for what a diabetic is supposed to look like.

Most often, I just smile sweetly (pun intended). But, I'm thinking something to myself that is too nasty to mention, like "You are dumber than you look, you microencephalitic knuckle dragging inbred from the shallow end of the gene pool moron!" or some such. If I am especially provoked and tending towards NOT keeping my mouth shut, then I'll ask the clod "Just what is a diabetic supposed to look like? Perhaps I should try harder?"

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Zoe on November 13, 2009 at 4:42pm

Oddly, I read this thread just this morning thinking, "I 'just can't imagine someone saying that!" Then a handyman was at my house and was pretty chatty and somehow I mentioned having diabetes and he said....you guessed it...."you don't look like you have diabetes" Well I was in a good mood because he had just fixed my furnace so I laughed and said, "there is really no way to tell someone has diabetes", and then went on to briefly explain about management to stay healthy and avoid complications. He was quite interested, telling me he had an uncle who was recently diagnosed with Type 2 and they didn't know what it all meant. So I used it as an opportunity to educate a bit more and gave him several TuDiabetes cards and he was very grateful. Good experience!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jessica Rasmus on November 13, 2009 at 5:02pm

in irony to all the comments of "you don't look like a diabetic" i have this moment:

i work in a restaurant with a primarily hispanic staff an a lot of them are directly from X country. When i was talking to one of the guys i told them i was a diabetic and i received the "you don't look like a diabetic comment" and i gave him a pretty "wtf does that mean" type of look so he elaborated saying that in Guatemala, where he is from, diabetics generally are not very healthy stemming from a lack in health care and diabetics really do look sick or type 1 is less common/less diagnosed (i dont' really know) and many diabetics tend to be in the older population.

Yeah that doesn't excuse most people, but still it's not something we really think about.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steven Miller on November 13, 2009 at 6:53pm

I've had people mistake the use of insulin for the opposite application.

For example:
"So, if you get all woozy, light-headed, or pass out I should shoot you up with some insulin?"

Ummm...sure, if ya want to kill me.

or

"You have to give yourself extra insulin when you work out, right?"

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by wil v on November 13, 2009 at 7:05pm

Here is my funny, or insensitive. I dont know which yet. After I was on insulin for about 9 months after my diagnosis my pancreas seemed to kick back to work. I had someone who was very religious ask me with this puzzled look, why would God heal you, what did you do. So i did not know if I should take it as a compliment or an insult. They knew I was not the best kid growing up but I was not the baddest either.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rosalee Meade on November 13, 2009 at 7:22pm

I've seen peoples chin drop when I told them I have diabetes.I've heard the comment too,"You're so thin" and "It must have been all the sugar you ate".

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Doris Ann Dickerson on November 14, 2009 at 12:37pm

OMG Heared that one too much!!! I'm 5'5" and 123!!!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by rick phillips on November 13, 2009 at 7:31pm

Two ladies on a train saw my insulin.

One turns to the other and says loud enough for me to hear, He has insulin, its addictive.

A man after I was first diagnosed asked why I was not eating chocolate ice cream. i said well it is high in carbs and I can't adequately cover it. He said well, two days ago, I saw you eating peanut M & M's, I said well yes I was low and shaking. He said well pretend your low and have some chocolate ice cream.

A teacher asked why I cose to take insulin. Why didn't I chose to go on a diet and run five miles a day, like his wife, she was able to not even take the pills that were prescribed.

A hotel clerk when asked to put my ice pack in a freezer asked why i had it. I carry my insulin in a small cooler with the ice pack. he said I should use dry ice, it lasts longer.

One of my co workers asked is I had to give insulin, why didn't I just drink it? He hated shots so he figured if he every had to take a shot, he woudl drink the medicine.

A professor once asked if I enjoyed taking shots. I said well no. He said well I thought you did otherwise, you wouldn't take so many.

A boss asked if I wasn't using that apple juice in my desk, could she have it, she was hungry. i said well, i will be happy to give it to you, but you know I go low int he afternoon sometimes, and i only have one box. She said well if you go low, you can have some water.

I was riding my bicycle and stopped to test my BG. A woman stopped and asked I not do that in public. I aksed what? She said pierce myself in public. I said well im not, i am tkaing my BG. She said yes like al those other damn diabetic natzis.

rick phillips.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by boshra on November 14, 2009 at 7:25pm

Oh my goodness, I can't stop laughing....

▶ Reply to This

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last