"Oh, yeah, I have diabetes"
Hello Friends, it has been a while. I have been mighty busy with school and getting together with friends. I have recently connected with a group of young-adult Christians and have spent a lot of time with them. None of the people in the group are diabetic (either t1 or t2) so I have had to explain myself a bit in some circumstances. Thus, I have to share/vent what took place.
I was invited to go serve in the breadlines in our city to help the homeless/disadvantaged. Ok. I love doing things like this!"'VeteranDiabetic' we are going to be carpooling," said my friend. Ok. I can handle that. "I'll come pick you up at home," said my friend. Ok. I will be ready (with all my D junk in hand). So, my friend comes, picks me up, I say, "I'm just going to bring some juice with me, can I put it in the back here?" My friend says ok so, I put the juice in the back.(understand that when I bring juice into people's cars, it is a giant 12 pac of boxes or a 6 pack of bottles, not exactly tiny and discrete). I get in the front, and she dosen't say anything about the juice, thus, I feel a bit awkward. I tell her that I have diabetes and I need to bring juice incase I go low. She says, "oh, ok." She changes the topic and we never discuss the topic again.
Ahhh, so I'm saying to myself, she mustn't want to embarrass you and thus she is not talking about it. Then I think, oh, she must understand diabetes, I wonder if someone in her family has it? Then I think, boy, oh, boy if someone threw juice into my car and told me they were diabetic, I would want to learn more. She mustn't be interested, boy, I want her to be interested, I'd love to talk D. So, now, at this point, I reach out to you, d community and ask your opinion, what do you think. Also,next time we get together, should I just tell her some details or would that make things awkward for her?I would love your honest opinion. Thank you!
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Comment by brokenpole on December 6, 2012 at 2:59pm -
Personally, I usually don't provide any further information than that which is asked for. I would tell the person I'm riding with that I am diabetic.
If you want to try to engage the person in some D related conversation, try telling them what happens when you do go low. Can get them talking and also protect you.
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Comment by veterandiabetic on December 6, 2012 at 7:04pm -
Good tip. Thank you!!
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Comment by karebear1966 on December 7, 2012 at 10:47am
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I find some people just dont want to discuss it at all. Maybe they lost someone to the D... I have a neighbor that will change topic the moment D is brought up, and if I finish my sentence, she will turn and walk away. Not sure why, I guess she must have her reasons. It seems weird to me, but it is what it is.
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Comment by renka on December 9, 2012 at 5:33pm
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Personally I think its an open invitation for criticism. I don't like to call attention to my diabetes because everyone has something to say about what I have to put in my mouth . I feel like everyone is the diabetes police and I can't stand the ignorant people. I know what I need to do for myself in case of an emergency. I would mention it to whom ever I would be spending the day with for safety reasons. I think a simple explanation telling that person or anyone else that you are diabetic and sometimes if your sugar goes low you need juice is explanation enough. But who knows why this person in particular didn't engage in diabetes conversation. Any one of those reasons could've been the reasons!
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