If there ever was a serious and life-threatening disease that made it to the tail end of thousands of casual jokes, its Diabetes. I see it in Instagram captions, hear it muffled between laughter at the cafeteria table. It’s the “erhh my god this cake is so sweet it’s gonna give me diabetes” every time someone’s dessert arrives. It’s that annoying joke middle schoolers can’t seem to get enough of, the one about Jackie and candy bars and math. You know, the one that combines every stereotype of a disease that affects almost 415 million people worldwide into one humorless ball of nonsense I’m destined to hear at every birthday party ever.
It’s frustrating. For people like me who suffer from this disease, it hurts to see everyone so casually mock the thing you struggle with daily. It hurts to hear those stereotypes passed on, especially when they’re not grounded in any concrete fact. So I’m going to try to fix them.
Diabetes can be delineated into two major classes- Type 1 and Type 2- both different in terms of cause and treatment. The latter, Type 2 Diabetes, is most commonly affects people above the age of forty-five. It is when the cells of the body grow insensitive to insulin- an essential hormone for the body to use energy. While one factor to its development is poor diet, Type 2 can be caused due to genetic factors, physical inactivity, old age and a stressful life.
So no, candy isn’t the one cardinal sin all diabetics are guilty of.
There are other things that feed into the development of this disease, and the root cause is often not identified. Which brings us to the second class- Type 1 Diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes is a disease that I and thousands of kids around the globe have been diagnosed with at varying stages of childhood and adolescents. It is an autoimmune disease, where the body self-mutilates and kills off all it’s insulin-producing pancreas cells, leaving a system whose cells can’t absorb the most vital form of energy.
No, it wasn’t because we ate too many cookies when we were toddlers.
In fact, the cause of type one diabetes is unknown, but it leaves thousands of us in a life that is suddenly blown into a whirlwind of blood sugar checks and insulin shots, the dizzying panic of low blood sugars and the stressful highs, all as we try to manually replace the complex body system that should’ve just been working fine. Type 1 diabetics take insulin for the food that we eat, via shots or an insulin pump, and contrary to popular opinion, we can eat what we like! And that includes donuts and pizzas and cinnamon rolls and gummy worms. So yes- to the question I’m asked at least once every week-
I can eat that cupcake even though I’m diabetic.
The sugar in it does the same thing to your body as it does it mine- it’s just that while your body produces its own hormones, I have to take mine externally.
Diabetes is a condition that affects millions of people over the world. The treatments vary from person to person, depending on their type, and so do the causes. It’s hard to be a diabetic- it’s always at the back of your mind. You have to remember to check your blood glucose, know exactly how many carbs are in everything you eat. There are times when your blood sugar goes impossibly low and you need to get to food before you pass out and need to be taken to the ER, and then there are times when your blood glucose is high and you feel too sick to function. Diabetics are also at a higher risk for complications such as kidney diseases and neural atrophy. And not to mention, with the insulin and supplies and doctor visits, it is a great financial burden for some.
Making fun of a disease that deeply affects the lives of so many people isn’t acceptable. While I know these jokes and generalizations aren’t malicious, they are misinformed. But that can be changed. Here’s a chance to. There are a lot of things people with diabetes have to face, and constant ridicule and misinformation- from the media and the people in society- shouldn’t be one of them.
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