Myths to do with diabetes frustrate me as much as the next person. I want people to get it right when they are talking about diabetes; I want the media to report diabetes correctly and I want facts presented in a clear, non-threatening, easy-to-understand way. Of course, this is relevant to all types of diabetes.
What annoys me is people who are furious about one myth, but more than happy to perpetuate others.
Some people in the type 1 diabetes community are outraged if they are lumped in with people with type 2 diabetes. Campaigns and petitions have been developed to change the name of type 1 diabetes to avoid confusion between the two conditions. The thought of being thrown in with people who ‘brought this on themselves’ (that, by the way, would be another myth and completely unhelpful) results in Facebook posts, Tweets and blog after blog after blog.
Me – I couldn’t really care less. I have type 1 diabetes, I know it and I’m happy to educate anyone who has no idea about autoimmune diabetes. I’m also too tired and just plain over this discussion, so I try to avoid it. I do acknowledge that if it wasn’t for the significant number of people with type 2 diabetes, I’m pretty sure that the 120,000 of us with type 1 in Australia would get lost when it comes to funding and media attention.
But, for some it is a real issue and they get angry and do anything they can to make sure that they are seen as different from the majority of people with diabetes in Australia – the type 2 diabetes community. And that’s fine. If that’s what your thing to get angry about is, knock yourself out. (My thing changes every day. Today it was that I didn’t get a cup of coffee in me until after 11.30am.)
There are many other myths about diabetes and they annoy me more. Here are just a selection that I’ve come across in the last couple of days:
- If you use an insulin pump you have diabetes ‘really bad’ (wrong and rotten grammar!)
- If you have diabetes, you can’t eat sugar
- If you weren’t so lazy you wouldn’t have type 2 diabetes (genes anyone)
- Diabetes isn’t really serious
- Cinnamon cures diabetes (okay – it was me banging on about that, but I was just trying to justify in my own head eating an apple cinnamon muffin.)
- You can catch diabetes.
- You grow out of type 1 diabetes (blood. starts. boiling.)
I immensely admire and respect the work done by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, but using the term ‘juvenile diabetes’ just fuels the myth that this is a condition that only affects kids. Focusing on children who have diabetes is incredibly important, but those kids are going to grow up and hopefully live long, healthy, happy lives. Where is the awareness and focus on adults with diabetes? The reason the term juvenile diabetes isn’t used anymore is because it doesn’t accurately represent the broader type 1 diabetes population.
Of course I’m being somewhat self-serving. I was diagnosed as an adult and my experience of life with diabetes is through the eyes of someone who has lived with it since my mid-twenties. But during that time, I’ve needed information and services and programs that just weren’t there. Information about pregnancy, body image, parenthood, work life balance – things that are relevant to me at this stage of my life – was quite thin on the ground!
I completely agree and believe that there needs to be programs and activities developed specifically for kids with diabetes. Diabetes in day care and school settings is a critical issue to be addressed; camps for kids with diabetes are brilliant. But this is an ages and stages condition. Why is there not as much of a focus on other periods? Whilst some attention is being given to transition from adolescent to adult health care, what about for men and women with diabetes in their thirties and forties? Where is consideration of women going through menopause or for people at retirement age? Why is no organisation focusing on older adults with diabetes in aged care?
If people want to make sure that the world understands that type 1 diabetes is different to type 2 diabetes, then surely they also want to break down other myths about type 1 diabetes. This is not a condition that only affects children. Half of those diagnosed with type 1 are diagnosed as adults. The majority of people in Australia living with type 1 diabetes are adults.
Break down the myths. Educate people about what type 1 is all about. Just don’t do it at the expense of all the facts.
Is there a myth about diabetes that annoys you?
Diabetogenic 
13 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 21, 2013 at 2:36 pm
Jeann
I was 55 when I was diagnosed with type 1 and was told by an acquaintance
that I couldn’t possibly have type 1 as it was for children!!
People must think that children don’t grow up!
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Renza
Thanks for your comment, Jeann. Hope all is well with you!
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Karen Lang
ah, Renza, you’ve nailed it yet again, and echo my thoughts exactly. Yes, we do grow up, and yes, information and services are sadly lacking for those of us that are children no more. I too was an ‘adult’ at diagnosis (20 years old) and for a little while resented that I didn’t get to attend a camp (I’m only sort of joking) but did have to struggle for a long while to find out information and to find adequate health care, as I was living in rural Victoria at the time. I think people lose sight of the fact that we DO live long, healthy and happy lives, and a large part of that is making the choice to do so, and not be constantly mired in negative thought processes, although this can be a work in progress. 😉 Love reading your insights and perspectives.
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Renza
Thanks for your comment, Karen. Diabetes Australia – Vic (where I work) just hosted a weekend ‘camp’ (retreat) for women with type 1 diabetes. A lot of people diagnosed as adults have asked for camps in the past.
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 4:05 pm
Justin Coughlan
Hi Renza,
I really enjoy your blog and think it’s important that more people understand the reality of T1 and not just the myths.
Just wanted to point out that JDRF addressed the issue about their name a few years ago and only use the acronym now. http://jdrf.org/blog/2011/jdrf-rebrand/
I know it’s a mainly cosmetic change, but I can understand such a large organistion being reluctant to throw away all the brand recognition they have.
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Di Daley
Hi Renza,
Agree totally with what you have said. I was disappointed to see a comment on the Ch 9 news report last night of the Walk for a Cure Day, when someone with diabetes said that Type 2 can be managed but Type 1 can’t. As someone with Type 1 I know that it can be managed but, as you have often said in your blogs, it just takes a bit more effort.
Re your comment about managing Type 1 at different stages of life – I became Type 1 after my pancreas was removed 2 years ago at age 62. My biggest concern is how easy or difficult it will be to manage as I get older.
I had a very rare condition (Multiple benign insulinomas) which resulted in the surgery, and am not your typical person with Type 1 – still looking for someone else who has the same thing.
Keep up the great blogs. They are inspirational for so many of us!!
Jellybean Di
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Melissa
Hi, in the US and the UK at least, JDRF no longer legally stands for the phrase including ‘juvenile’ – they could go further in terms of getting rid of the JD part altogether, but at least the logo now includes T1: http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2012/01/13/7414/jdrf-changes-name-and-logo/
LikeLike
October 21, 2013 at 11:00 pm
pumpinglaura
my GP doesnt think that T1 exists anymore *waves* er hello……
LikeLike
October 22, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Sherl Westlund
Thank you Renza, such a well written article on what seems to be a revived movement. The only way forward is to break down the myths and to stop this game of comparing type1 against type 2, which is worse and who’s to blame.
Recent results from DRF funded research have discovered that there are over 60 genes associated with type 1 and over 40 associated with type 2 and that there are subtypes of both that may indicate clinical features…….. myth debunked !! Another myth to debunk……..there is no such thing as mild diabetes !!
The commonality between type 1 and type 2 is the complications that can arise are the same. I do hope we can move forward on this issue, in the meantime the DRF will continue to fund research into all aspects of diabetes including type 1, type 2, and the complications.
LikeLike
October 22, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Patricia Collopy
I think I inherited my type 2 diabetes from my mother . I wasn’t particularly overweight and working hard when I got diagnosed but must say I have put on weight since taking the medication. I am so in awe of people with type 1 diabetes . I’ve never thought there was any comparison and I don’t know how long I would last if I had to be so disciplined and I thank God I don’t have to give myself insulin every day. On the other hand it’s only now after 15 years that I have stopped being so complacent and that’s because my feet are now painful . It’s very hard to come to terms with a disease that has no symptoms until it’s too late !!!
LikeLike
October 22, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Erica smyth
I absolutely agree. I was diagnosed with T1 when I was 22. I don’t care whether others have T1, 2 or3 we all face possible similar consequences and complications. We are all looking at the role of genetics in the development of all types. Let’s get over the blame game and work together to understand the root causes of why diabetes develops and how we can prevent complications. Here is an add – I am chairman of the Diabetes Research Foundation of WA and we try to collect understandable research results and put them in one spot on our site. Look us up.
LikeLike
October 23, 2013 at 5:29 pm
njd1insulin
I am one of those people who get terribly annoyed about the laziness and misunderstanding that comes from lumping Type 1 & 2 under the same umbrella and I will continue to jump up and down about it. They are different in terms of causation and day-to-day care and risk management approaches. I was misdiagnosed as an adult because this difference is not well articulated or understood, and also because of the interrelated assumption of type 1 being a young person’s thing.
LikeLike
October 23, 2013 at 6:38 pm
njd1insulin
From a public health perspective, the other thing (um, I’m aware I’m having a ranty-kind of fortnight) that concerns me in the blurry delineation is that genes become confused as the scapegoat for Type 2. Sure they play a role and blame is not a useful tool, but there has to be responsibility taken for the impact of how people look after themselves and how industries and government support good food and well-being options and choices – for everyone.
LikeLike