I couldn't believe I heard it again. I live in a community that, without sugar coating it, is very low income, very high county and state welfare based, and is dominated by Hispanics, African Americans and Asians (not in any specific order). The prevelance of diabetes is high; nearly higher than the state of California average. And yet I heard it again. Someone else sayingg matter of factly that they had the "sugar," and they're not worried about it.

Ugh. I've been there. I have said it myself. And didn't back it up by taking care of myself in the process. They say denial is not a river in Egypt. Well it isn't just having something you can pawn off either. To blatently call it the "sugar" seems to me just as offensive as some type of word that will never be prepeated on this or any other blog.

We can not deny the fact we have a chronic illness. Whether metabolic or auto-immune, we have it. I bristle at the fact when someone says even borderline. The sheer fact is someone with a "borderline" diagnosis of diabetes IS a diabetic. It becomes a matter of the appropriate treatment.

I admit there have been many times I have been able to take care of myself, and other when I could not. I admit some of that was self-imposed. It was denial to the nth degree. And now I have the complications to prove my ignorance.

So please, do not call diabetes the "sugar." It just degrades all of us fighting everyday to be healthy, live with this disease, and make strides in finding the "cure" we so desperately want.

For some thoughts on how to approach someone with this ddisease, I suggest you look at the following brochure which is taken from the Diabetes Behavorial Institute on do's and dont's for people without diabetes. It'll give anyone a sense of what we're facing.