Something that really irritates me...

Sorry, I just had some quick thoughts and I felt the need to write it down.

It drives me crazy that people who know nothing or close to nothing about diabetes think that they are qualified to pass judgment on the way that I'm running my life. I mean we all hear the regular "should you really be eating that?" from our friends and coworkers, I generally just smile and say "yeah, I can really eat whatever I want as long as I take insulin for it." But I mean really, do these people think they know more about my disease than I do?

Then there are the ones that hover around while your checking your blood sugar, like it's really there business. "How is it? Are you dying?" I don't know about everyone else, but to me my blood sugar is personal. If my sugar is good, great, I don't care if everyone looks at it. But if it's a little high or a little low, I don't need people looking at it and freaking out that it's low or trying to give me a lecture about taking proper care of myself when it's high.

Ugh, I must sound like the world's most bitter diabetic, I'm really not. All diabetics know how this feels though, am I right? It's my disease and I just wish that people that didn't really understand it didn't try to tell me how to run it.

Another thing that drives me crazy are the people that cringe or look away when you're going to give yourself a shot "If I had diabetes, I wouldn't be able to do that, I would just die!" How dramatic is that? Yes, if you did have diabetes and were somehow unable to have the balls to do your shots, you would die, literally! They make it seem like we're so brave or something just because we stick ourselves with a little piece of metal a couple of times a day. It isn't really all that brave if you consider the other option, its not like we wake up in the morning and think "Hmm...I think I feel ready to do my injection today, I'm prepared." You just do it!

I don't want people to feel sorry for me because I'm diabetic, but a little empathy would be nice. Put yourself in my shoes, think about what I do go through with this disease and don't say things that you wouldn't want to hear in my situation. If you were living with a chronic illness, would you want someone who didn't know anything about it trying to give you advice? Think about it...