I hear a lot about diabetes burnout and diabetes distress these days. Diabetes is a full time job that no one asks for, and there are no breaks from it. Readers Digest tells us that laughter is the best medicine, and I think there’s a lot of truth to that. Sometimes you’ve just gotta laugh so you don’t cry. Humor can make the burden of diabetes a little less heavy.
I always get a kick out of hearing well-meaning comments about things that one should try that will cure diabetes. This type of “advice” can be really funny! While many of these are purported to cure Type 2 diabetes, some are also “recommended” for curing Type 1. Some of my personal favorites include claims that diabetes can be cured by cinnamon, spirulina, aloe vera, hot peppers, Chinese herbs, a raw foods diet with daily juicing, probiotics, adenosine triphosphate, and electro medicine therapies that rebuild the immune system. It also cracks me up when people WITHOUT diabetes assume that there’s already a commercially available closed-loop system which requires no user input, and present that as fact to those of us without diabetes. As if we wouldn’t be readily using such a product if it was available! I wish that the people who believe this stuff were right! But their confidence that these things are effective, or that they exist, is funny to me nonetheless.
On Facebook, someone posted a picture of a sharps container in a public restroom, and commented that they thought it was outrageous that addicts were being provided with a place to put their needles. I couldn’t resist pointing out that people with diabetes are likely to appreciate having a convenient place to dispose of the sharps that are needed to manage diabetes while away from home. The concept of needles only being for illegal drugs is laughable when you think about it.
Speaking of recreational drugs, it’s fun to see people’s shocked expressions when you say something about being high. Their misunderstanding is my amusement.
Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I get to experience it year round. People seem to think it’s appropriate to share horror stories about how diabetes has affected the life of someone that they know or have heard about. I hear these stories and have to find a lighter side to what they’ve said. I have to realize they aren’t educated about how management can prevent these complications.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard…
- “It’s sugar free, so you can eat it.”
- “You don’t look like a diabetic.”
- “But you’re not fat.”
- “Did you eat too much sugar?”
- “Should you be eating that?”
Honestly, if we could fine people for making dumb comments, I would put the money in an account to use towards diabetes management. Maybe someday I’d be able to buy a new pancreas, one that actually works like it’s supposed to!
I’m pretty anal about putting used test strips directly into the trash can, or in a zippered pouch in my meter case if I’m not near a trash can. I then empty it out every night. But I do love hearing about all the crazy places people find used test strips!
Some self-humor that helps me see the lighter side of living with diabetes are:
- Mosquitoes love me. If you sit near me outdoors in the summer, you won’t get bitten.
- I choose my liquid laundry detergent based upon the appropriateness of the container for sharps disposal.
- A paper cut is an opportunity to check a BG.
- The butter compartment in the door of the fridge is for insulin, not for butter.
- Nope, I won’t share my food with you. I’ve already carb counted it and bolused for it!
- Although I actually do change my lancet on a regular basis, I still probably have a lifetime supply of lancets.
So there you have it–sometimes it’s a stretch, but if it puts a smile on your face, it helps to lighten the diabetes load!
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