Tag: diabetes

It took decades for McCauley to decide to tell her story. The play she began writing came to be titled Sugar, a one-woman show that ran in early 2012 at Emerson College in Boston, where she teaches. McCauley wove information about the history of diabetes and its prevalence in the country with stories about her diagnosis and life with diabetes. It’s the emotional stuff doctors skip, and she says it’s just as important as cold, hard facts. “Both are necessary. There should be more telling stories than there is,” she adds. “They’re helpful in a different way.”

Telling total strangers about her diabetes was cathartic for McCauley, and while Sugar doesn’t wrap up nice and tidy with a message, McCauley does engage the audience to make her point. “Many people from the audience said, ‘I’m so glad you’re doing this show because I didn’t know how to talk about it.’ And then other people say, ‘I wasn’t listening to my friend or family member [with diabetes].’ ”

“Robbie McCauley Puts Diabetes on Stage” by Tracey Neithercott in the June 2012 issue of Diabetes Forecast

PSA: Because I wanted to put it out there in its own post.

Note: I will be using the general “you” in this mini-rant.

Just because you know someone who has a chronic condition or other serious, life-threatening and/or life altering disease, it does not give you a free pass to make jokes about it. Especially when these “jokes” promote ignorance and misinformation about the condition/disease.

If the person/people that you know personally make jokes about their condition, that is okay for them to do; it is their condition. They live with it day in and day out.

If the person/people that you know personally allow you to join in in making these jokes, that is okay for you to do around them. Because they have given you that permission.

There are probably a lot of other people in the world who have the same disease/condition that people you know who have given you permission to joke about their condition with them have. These people that you do not know have not given you permission to joke about their condition/disease. There is a good chance that they might find your “jokes” offensive, harmful, and/or ignorant. It is not their problem if your “jokes” offend them. It’s yours.

Just because someone you know personally is okay with it does not give you a “Get Out of Being Called Out for Doing Something Ignorant, Harmful, Hurtful, and Offensive Free” card. It just doesn’t work that way. And “I’m sorry you were offended” is NOT an apology; it’s an insult, really. Because you are saying, with that fauxpology, that what you said is not offensive (with the implication that no one should ever find it offensive, because it’s “just a joke,” right?) when it’s pretty damn clear that yes, yes it was offensive. And it will probably make the person you offended think even less of you as a human being.

This should not be as hard to understand as it clearly is.

impressioniste:

commanderdudebro:

castiel-in-the-phone-box:

magesmagesmages:

ladyintegra:

surrealsadi:

aroihkin:

randomminer:

don’t forget anxiety!!

Everyone who knows me knows someone with lupus, fibro, and chronic fatigue. If you don’t know anyone else with an invisible illness, you know me.

My mother suffers Arthritis, Depression, and probably a few others. Asthma is an invisible illness, which I suffer. It may not be painful, but the coughing and shortness of breath can be terrifying to live with. I also likely have some form of Depression. My best friend has RSD(which is sorta like fibromyalgia, but not), and is Bi Polar.

My best friend has issues with back pain that no treatment or pain meds has helped her with. She’s been to several doctors and they have all told her that there is nothing wrong with her but they haven’t sat with her while she cried from all the pain she felt. She’s come close to being addicted to the codeine that they gave her so she stopped taking them, has had her nerves burnt and has gone through various physical therapy. So far nothing has helped her.

OYD and my other internet friends who suffer from fibro I love you! My mother suffered arthritis all her young adult life. My husband suffers from migraines, one of my best friends from chronic depression.

I love you all.

social anxiety disorder, adhd & athsma

arthritis.

———

Yup.

Endometriosis, PCOS, PMDD, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, obstructive sleep apnea, migraines, asthma, IBS, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, peptic ulcers and severe GERD, tendinitis, panic disorder, anxiety, and depression among them.

My heart goes out to anyone who’s ever heard the phrase, “But you don’t look sick!” And my ears are always open to anyone who needs to vent about it.

Type 1 diabetes, anxiety, Ménière’s, back and hip issues (if I wasn’t lucky enough to have access to a good chiropractor, I’d probably have had to have surgery by now).

I’m lucky in than no one has ever pulled the “At least you don’t have cancer” thing in regards to my diabetes, but if they ever did I would inform then that, actually, diabetes and its complications results in more deaths per year than the combined numbers for breast cancer and AIDs. And no, some complications you can’t prevent by taking care of yourself, because you can do everything right and still have your body turn against you. Control isn’t a magic wand, and insulin isn’t a cure. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

goddessofcheese:

thedailywhat:

You Are What You Eat of the Day: Speaking out on this morning’s Today Show about the reaction that followed the revelation that she suffers from type-2 diabetes, Butter Queen Paula Deen told Al Roker that “a few people were kind of mean about it and hold it against me.”

Deen announced on the Today Show in January that she was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes three years ago, but did not explain her reasoning for keeping the diagnosis to a secret.

Critics took issue with her proactive promotion of fatty, butter-rich foods — which continued despite her illness — and a shady endorsement deal she signed with diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk shortly before her announcement.

Deen’s long-time publicist Nancy Assuncao quit immediately following the launch of her employer’s Novo Nordisk-sponsored “Diabetes in a New Light” campaign.

Responding to disapproval of her actions, Deen told the Today Show she has “always encouraged moderation,” and reiterated her previous comment to Oprah: “Honey, I’m your cook, not your doctor.”

[today.]

Team Dean, idgaf.

THIS. What a diabetic cooks, eats, or does not cook, or does not eat, is nobody’s business but theirs. Their diabetes management is between them and their doctor, not between them and every non-diabetic under the sun (or even other diabetic–every diabetic’s body reacts differently to things because of variations in things like body chemistry and genetics).

More power to her. Haters to the left.

(Source: http://download.macromedia.com/)

Americans earn a failing grade on diabetes awareness, based on survey results released today by the American Diabetes Association. In general, Americans earned a 51% when asked a series of questions about a disease so common that it strikes every 20 seconds. The survey results revealed that many diabetes myths and misconceptions still exist, while the disease’s prevalence continues to rise.

Diabetes.org, “As America Earns Failing Grade, American Diabetes Association Launches Movement to Stop Diabetes." 

It’s nobody’s business, y’all

So apparently Paula Deen has had Type 2 diabetes for three years and has only just gone public with this.

Considering her show is based around butter, high fat, and high carb food, lots of  people are are putting their Judgment Hats on.

My take on this:

1) Paula Deen was under no obligation to come forward with the fact that she has Type 2 diabetes. It’s her health, what goes on with her health is between her and her doctor of choice. It is nobody else’s business, full stop.

2) Fat shaming is bad. I am not going NEAR the comment sections of any postings of this news story, because they will likely be filled with two main things: fat shaming and misinformed Type 2 shaming. And probably a big helping of “lol, only fat people get diabetes.” These are things that make me want to flip tables.

3) There is nothing wrong with high fat/high carb food IN MODERATION as a diabetic. If you are eating it 24/7 without lower fat/lower carb alternatives thrown into the mix, you’re probably going to have some problems. But what a diabetic eats? It’s their business, not the business of every single non-diabetic who happens to know they have diabetes. Seriously, if you know a diabetic, don’t ask them “Are you allowed to eat that?/Should you be eating that?” It’s none of your business and it gets really old really fast.

4) Apparently she’s also doing more health conscious, diabetes-friendly versions of her other recipes. This is a good thing. Apparently she may be getting some money from adds that link to a site with info for a drug that is used to treat Type 2. People are kind of pissy about that last bit. Because she’s making money off something she wasn’t being honest about. Again, no one with diabetes is obligated to disclose to the public that they have diabetes (it is a good idea to disclose this medical fact to teachers, school officials, and employers so they will know what to do if you pass out or something; also, if you let them know, you also should let them know that diabetes is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means a diabetic cannot be discriminated against because of their diabetes).

5) I don’t really care how Paula Deen handles her own diabetes. I’m glad she’s handling it, and it’s no one else’s business how she handles it.

6) I am just annoyed that, because Paula Deen is Paula Deen, there is likely to be an influx of diabetes-used-as-a-punchline-ness. Diabetics do not need this, and the only people who, in my opinion, have any right to debate Deens diabetic reveal are people with diabetes. They live with it everyday, and they have to deal with the way the media handles anything to do with the disease. If there are diabetics who are pissed at Deen for knowing she had Type 2 and continuing to push her high fat/high carb food, then I totally understand their anger/annoyance. Non-diabetics? Not their business.