Did you seriously say that about my child with diabetes?
No I did not give them too many sweets.
Ever have anyone come to you and with all sincerity in their eyes say, “I know exactly what you are going through, my dog had diabetes.”
Really? I mean Really?
When our second child was diagnosed;
“Tom, God will never give you more than you can handle.”
“How lucky that you already have one, now you know what to do.”
“What a blessing that God trusted you over so many others.”
Seriously?
And of course some ‘ol time favorites.
“Bet you were grateful it was ONLY diabetes.”
Don’t know about you, but I clearly could have shot a few people over the years.
“Your dog.” Really.
What was some doozies people told you? Please share. Hit reply and share some comments that wanted you to just shoot someone.
I’m a Diabetesdad.
39 replies on “Be Honest, Don’t you Really Just Want to Shoot Someone, Sometimes?????”
A good one from a family member was ( so you just can’t give him sugar anymore and everything will be okay.)
How about “It’s a good thing it was you not us. “Name” couldn’t stand getting needles every day.”
You make it look so easy….it must not be so bad.
You are so wonderful with your ‘painful’ honesty.
“My Grandma had the Sugar”
“At least it’s not cancer”
“Your strong, you can handle it”
“Don’t worry, she will be fine.”
“Relax, your making a bigger deal than it should be!”
And the best coming from an ER doc when she was having a Diabetic Seizure due to a severe low at Christmas… “How many sweets did you let her eat for Christmas?” REALLY! We got her stabilized and drove her to the hospital an hour away!
From a family member “I just read how to cure this, the first thing you have to do is STOP giving him insulin, it is killing him.”
OMG, I had a looooong discussion with a friend who said I should just completely trust in God and stop giving insulin. Shikes!
From my MIL: “A walk to cure DIABETES?? What’s next, a walk to cure the common cold? Ridiculous! Just feed her right.”
I was talking about getti g a D.A.D for our T1 and a family member had the audacity to say..”Is he really that bad, that he needs a dog?”Grrrrrrr
The one that always gets to me is that “AT LEAST IT IS JUST DIABETES”, yes she only has Type 1 Diabetes BUT that Type 1 Diabetes never has the possibility of going in to remission, We cannot take her in to surgery to remove her Type 1 Diabetes. I understand that cancer patients have to go in and get radiation and chemo via an IV or port but so does my daughter except she doesn’t have to be in a hospital with nurses and doctors around, she has her “IV and IV pump attached to her body 24/7/365 no chance of remission, a promise that she will DIE if she does not get her insulin, no she does not lose her hair but I would hate to see what this disease is doing to the inside of her body. Sorry if this upsets others but this very little sentence hits my nerve so bad. Every disease is BAD, DIABETES IS NOT EASY!! It is NOT fun, OUR CHILDREN CAN DIE, our children CAN have many complications due to the disease. I could punch a fool at times. Mommy loves you Aly
my fav is ” is he regulated?’
he usually answers.. ” no I prefer high test”…
His middle school nurse called him ” My sugar boy”
some other dumb things people have said :
“is it the bad kind of diabetes?” – ( is there a good kind?)
“Should You Be Eating That?”
“I’d rather die than give myself shots every day!”
This is great! I think the worst I’ve heard is when a fellow parent leans over to their child and says “you get diabetes from eating too much sugar” OMG!!!!
Or when someone says “it could be worse, at least it’s not cancer, diabetes is managable” WHATEVER! Walk a mile in my son’s shoes and then say it could be worse!
Thank you so much.
My T1 husband himself said “at least it’s not cancer” when he was diagnosed. Actually it’s not such a stupid thing to say. Generally, people just mean well and may be trying to help. Sometimes they don’t know what is best to say so rather than say nothing at all and avoid you, they say the “wrong” thing. My MIL, before she died of ovarian cancer, said that she would rather have people say something, anything, in town when she met them in the street, than avoid her eyes and say nothing at all. I’m sure I’ll get shot down in flames for this comment but I stand by it!
Oh my….just invcredible
At least she got it young so she won’t remember what it’s like to not have diabetes.
Ugh…I have heard this from MANY strangers…”oh, that’s horrible. My grandma died from diabetes.”
Our pediatrician (the guy who diagnosed him, no less) told my son and I that ‘Type 1 diabetes would be no more than an inconvenience.’
It is hurtful when people make ignorant comments to you about diabetes, taking care of yourself or both. I feel like most people do not understand the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. They say “I know how it’s like because my grandma was just diagnosed with that”….NO you don’t know what it’s like because she has type 2 and there IS a HUGE difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes! Man it feels good to vent about that! People get educated before you make comments to me about my disease!
Waitress Witnessing My Son Age 5 (Diagnosed Age 3( Testing His Blood: “Oh, I know what you are doing. My Aunt Sue had that diabetes and they ended up having to amputate her leg, poor thing. She died shortly after that.”
My Subconscious Mind: “Really? My Aunt Ellen was a waitress in a restaurant just like this and she looked a lot like you. Well, one night when she was leaving work, a chainsaw wielding maniac came up from behind her and took off her hand. Have a good night! Be safe!”
Waitress Witnessing My Son Age 5 (Diagnosed Age 3) Testing His Blood: “Oh, I know what you are doing. My Aunt Sue had that diabetes and they ended up having to amputate her leg, poor thing. She died shortly after that.”
My Subconscious Mind: “Really? My Aunt Ellen was a waitress in a restaurant just like this and she looked a lot like you. Well, one night when she was leaving work, a chainsaw wielding maniac came up from behind her and took off her hand. Have a good night! Be safe!”
great response !
At least he doesn’t have something he will die of. . . . . . . yeah right.
Everybody—-These are fabulous—thank you for sharing
Here are my shoot-worthy doozies:
“So you just give her a shot in the morning and keep her away from candy and she’s fine?”
“I don’t see what the big deal is… ”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“Well, it could be worse, at least you can’t tell by looking at her.”
“Oh yeah, I know about diabetes. My grandma had both feet amputated.”
It never ceases to amaze me what people have said/will say in front of our 5 yr old. She has diabetes. She isn’t deaf.
My ex when our newly diagnosed daughter told him her Endo was moving out of the country ” hey no big deal right? You pretty much got this beat”
MIL (a T2), right after we left the hospital: “I knew you were giving him too much apple juice!” Oh, by the way, she had recently handed him an entire bag of mini marshmallows as a “snack”. But I guess that was okay.
But my personal favorite is the constant: “So, it’s only juvenile diabetes, that means he’ll outgrow it, right?” I know it’s just ignorance, but it still gets old.
From someone who WAS a friend…
“I know just how you feel. When my son was constipated…”
Or “He’s so lucky to have you. I couldn’t stand giving my child needles.”
or “Are you sure? He looks so healthy…”
From a good friend, right after ~K was diagnosed, “Oh now, Aunt so-and-so’s daughter had her leg amputated. She kept hiding candy bars under her bed and eating them when she wasn’t supposed to” (this was when they didn’t have fast-acting insulin yet).
Oh, and how about “Why would him having diabetes mean your sleep is interrupted?”
“Can’t you just teach him (child was maybe 8) what to do so you can sleep?”
Some comments/actions that I won’t forget from friends and family members that are totally ignorant!
“It could be worse”
“She’ll outgrow it”
Assuming that sugar-free substitutes are the solution to all receipes/foods.
Some one told me that I “should be thankful it was only Diabetes, at least he wasn’t in a wheel chair or mentally retarded.” And I had never met her before, she was a work colleague of my sister 🙁
Or my husbands boss on the day of diagnosis who asked us what the big deal was, plenty of other people have it.
My mother told my son prior to diagnosis, that his poppy had diabetes from too many sodas. When we were learning everything right after dx, my sweet 6 year old broke down crying and apologizing for having a coke here and there. He still fears soda at age 9.
My stepbrother who is T1 and very noncompliant and careless at 42, informed my wife and I after seeing our treatment and lack of sleep those first few months that we are too overly protective and smothering for checking his BG more than twice a day.
My sister the artificial tire inflator sent me recipes for rice crispy treats with chocolate on top. She told me that without the choc, adding peanut butter or Nutella would be great for the boy. Apparently marshmellows, rice cereal, butter and Nutella have no carbs in her world. She then said “he is on Atkins diet too?”
Let’s see… my attending physician (I’m a nurse) calls me “the juvenile diabetic”, one of my coworkers told me that if I eat right, I would not have diabetes, my mother thought that if she gave me nuts to eat, that would take care of a hypo, my absolute favorite-my human resources manager told me that she was denying my intermittent FMLA (so I can stay home on those fun serious hypo days), “Because your condition is not serious. If your condition changes, you can fill out paperwork again.” !??!?!?!?!?!?!? NOT SERIOUS!???????????? Oh, I so wanted to slap the crap out of her!!!!
thank you for your words.
How about slap a lawsuit on her. I believe that the ADA dictates that your doctor make that call, not some uneducated bean pusher. Worth looking into.
My favorite just came a couple days ago.
him: so you probably don’t like to talk about your diabetes
me: no, i do. That’s why I work in the field. To educate.
him: because i have a virus too that I don’t want to talk about
me in my head: OH LORD WHERE IS THIS GOING
him: i have herpes, so i totally get it.