Good Advise, Bad Information

Did you know, 

that according to the American Diabetes Association,  

Type 1 Diabetes only accounts for 5-10% of all diabetics?

 * * *

This means I've run into an awful lot of confusion...

Which, unfortunately means I can't tell you how often well intended people give me advice that makes me want to gouge their eyes out.  Yes it sounds a little drastic I know,  but it continues to be the one thing that makes me see red INSTANTLY.

Here's how the conversation usually goes...

Casual Acquaintance:  "Hey I was reading the other day about diabetes and did you know that you can totally reverse diabetes with exercise and diet?"

Me:   about to say something back but can't get a word in... 

Casual Acquaintance:  "Have you ever thought about changing your diet?"

Me:  "Well, that's interesting.  You must be talking about type 2 diabetes which is a different thing completely."

Casual Acquaintance: "Oh no, you should really try it.  Your kids wouldn't have to take insulin anymore and they would feel so much better."

Me:    Speechless. Trying not to let my blood pressure go through the roof.

Casual Acquaintance:  "I can let you borrow some cookbooks if you'd like."

Me:  Completely frazzled.  "No thanks, I'd rather eat crap and let my kids suffer.  But I appreciate your advise.  Really I'm just too lazy to try anything like that."

Casual Acquaintance:  Speechless. Watching me walk away.

In this conversation you can also substitute feeding them better food with taking some herb I've never heard of or a variety of other fantastical ideas.

I swear this sort of well intended conversation would happen on a weekly basis when most of my kids were in grade school.  At first it would leave me in tears.  The advise giver was so sure I knew absolutely nothing about my child's perilous condition and insisted I just needed to be given better information.  I could understand their mistake had any of my kids been overweight but they were all really skinny.  Never did I encounter a person who listened long enough to realize there really were two very different types of diabetes out there.

My first plan of attack was to educate people in a kind way that they were mistaken.  But when well meaning folks wouldn't listen I would end up in tears.  Did they really think I was doing this to my kids on purpose?  Then when I realized no one wanted to hear that my kids actually had an incurable disease,  I soon resigned myself to quickly end the conversation before it got anywhere.  Years later I just decided to frustrate them back by acting as if I didn't care if things could be changed.  Silly I know.  But after 15 years you get worn down and stop playing nice.

But, I've got to change my ways.

My solution is to force the disease namers to change the official name of Type 2 Diabetes to something completely different.  This would avoid the nasty mix-up that used to get me so riled up.  So I've thought of a few possible names:

• PDD- Pancreas Deficit Disorder
• Hypo-Pancreatic-Something-er-other

But my favorite one is...

• Pa-Cranky- that's for a cranky pancreas that isn't up to speed.

That should help right?  Different name means different disease, and that means different cures right?  Which should mean people will stop telling me to feed my kids better or to try some bizarre herbal concoction, right?

Then again, who's really gonna let me change the name? 

Then I realize the poor folks dealing with Type 2 have their challenges as well.  So that leaves me with about the only thing I CAN change:  my attitude.  And any advise on that, well, I'd certainly listen to.