Eat Right and Exercise To Keep Diabetes Under Control promised the email that landed in my inbox at about 3.30 yesterday afternoon. At exactly the same moment I really wanted a loaf of white bread with Nutella and butter. Yes. Real butter.

I receive these sorts of emails quite frequently, including this one:

Cure email

 

That one arrived a week ago, so I’m expecting to be cured in about 14 days. I’ll let you know how it turns out, but if everything goes to plan, this blog will be defunct in a couple of weeks. Woot! I plan to then blog about something interesting. Like butter and Nutella on white bread.

There is false hope spread through many channels; each and every day. These days, I snort, ignore, share on SoMe and maybe swear (okay, always swear) at the stupidity of these snake oil cures that promise to fix my faulty immune system in one simple step (or three short weeks).

Once someone told me that I needed to read The Secret because that would not only cure my diabetes, but also ensure I found a parking spot every time I needed to. Versatile!

Why can’t these emails tell me to Drink coffee and apple martinis, and have an afternoon nap every day to cure diabetes (or even just keep it under control)? Or Sit by the beach looking at the waves breaking to keep BGLs under 8. But above 4. All the time.

I have had diabetes long enough and have received enough promised cures to know that these are all baloney and I call bullshit on all of them. But they still annoy me because for some people – people newly diagnosed; people fed up with living with diabetes; parents of kids with diabetes – these false promises provide false hope. When you’re looking at anything to stop the pain, the distress, the tedium, the anxiety of living with a chronic health condition, sometimes you want to believe in a miracle cure.

I’ve unsubscribed from the list that sent me the email yesterday. But I know that tomorrow, or the day after, or next week there will be another promise in my inbox or Twitter stream that promises to fix my beta cells. That I can guarantee.