AIBU to try and get any references to 'diabetes' changed to specify if it's Type 1 or 2

[Nancery]

'Diabetics' due to their obesity are apparently going to cripple the NHS. These headlines, and subsequent articles, are often in the news but are especially so at the moment. Most references to 'diabetes' link it with lifestyle, in a negative way. And there is a lot out there.

I am a Type 1 diabetic. I'm not diabetic through my own fault, my pancreas doesn't work. I am fit and healthy and have never had any hospital admissions due to it despite having it for over 35 years.
Regardless, I have had work colleagues be disparaging, acquaintances, obstetricians, numerous GP's and nurses - they have all commented on my lifestyle as if I am Type 2 and it's my own fault (the lack of knowledge on Type 1 in the medical profession can be quite frightening.) The media also refer to it, at least in headlines, as 'diabetes'. I used to be very open about being diabetic but I now am quite ashamed of it (despite it being nothing to do with lifestyle) and tend to explain the differences whenever I can (much to the boredom of whoever is listening!)
AIBU to try and get people to try and refer to the type they are talking about? Even if it means contacting the publication that referred to 'diabetes'? I know it's not as headline friendly but surely it's worth a try?!

YANBU, my dad has type 1 diabetes. He was so fit and healthy (military man) and his pancreas just stopped working overnight. It irritates me when there's all this negativity about diabetes in the media with no distinction as you say - people do presume his lifestyle caused his diabetes but that's not the case, he was as healthy as can be. It sort of stigmatises type 1 diabetes.

YABU to insinuate that everyone with type 2 is to blame for their condition. Not everyone with type 2 is obese - ethnicity and genetics are also risk factors.

I can understand why you feel stigmatised but it's not a case of type 1 vs type 2, it's more an issue around educating people to understand that diabetes can affect anyone.

It hugely does! I realise putting the type in front of whatever you're referring to makes it a bit long winded but there's a massive difference (I also realise not all Type 2's a huge to, before I offend anyone)

YANBUnreasonable, but sadly YABUnrealistic. The press cares little for accuracy. It seems journalists can't even use Wikipedia.

But not ALL type 2 is lifestyle related either. It's tricky - I get that - but don't you think people with T2 feel dreadful with all this negative talk around their condition too!

Hi Nancery, don't worry about being boring about explaining the difference. I wouldn't have known if one of my student days friends hadn't taken the time to tell us all about what to look out for and what to do if she had a hypo. Good thing too, she did one on the way home from the pub one night, scary but between us we got her sorted.

DP has developed type 2, the natural consequence really of continuing to eat and drink like a rugby playing farmer even after he gave up playing rugby and sold the farm in favour of something slightly more sedentary and less stressful than running a dairy farm with the constant fear of the quotas. What he has to do and the drugs he has to take are so different from the type 1s.

I agree, I wish the two conditions had different names.

I do, FarFromAnyRoad, hence I referred to it in my last post. It must be equally crap for them

YANBU at all. My child was diagnosed when he was just a baby and the ignorance out there is astonishing. My child's life was made very hard through primary school years with all those around him thinking that he was diabetic because he "ate too many sweets". I really thought that in 2015 things would have changed by now, but we seem to have gone the opposite way due to the hysteria surrounding type 2.

The fact that these very different diseases have the same name makes me very angry indeed.
Life as a type 1 is hard enough as it is. It's so important for my child to let people know that he is diabetic incase they suffer from a hypo etc, however it has now become something they feel ashamed of due to the incorrect media around us.
Even the terrible change for life campaign initially used the blanket term "diabetes" and was made to change it.
I try to comment on articles etc when I see it used incorrectly but often feel like I'm a lone voice it has to be said.

YANBU

Type 1 and type 2 are different and that should be recognised. Whilst type 2 is not directly caused by any one thing risk factors are being overweight, diet etc and far too often people assume the same for type 1 as well.

Type 1 is unavoidable, you can't predict it or avoid getting it. It's an autoimmune disease and often develops after a virus. There needs to be more awareness of the differences to avoid confusion but whilst they both are lumped under 'diabetes' then unfortunately people will confuse the two

I should probably add that I also understand that not all type 2's are self inflicted like the media would have you believe. They are very different to manage though. I also think that because type 1 so often affects children and type 2 rarely does (although I understand that is starting to change) that the media are doing type 1 children a great disservice by treating their very difficult condition in this way.

I'm type 2, but insulin controlled. It annoys me that people judge that as the obesity type.

It runs in my family. I've gained a few pounds recently (I'm pregnant) but at one point I was a size 10, running half marathon distance at least once a week. It's not just down to lifestyle. Even type 2.

Hi SaltySeaBird I'm aware that not all Type 2's are obese etc, sorry if I've wound you up.

Jasmine my mum has also had people ask 'what size' I must have been to have developed it at 4, and had comments like 'what on earth did you feed her?' as if it was funny.

i thought type 2 could be autoimmune as well? i am higher risk due to another autoimmune condition

I appreciate how you feel, but this sort of attitude is rife.

I had breast cancer and cringe every time I hear it being linked to obesity (size 8), smoking (nope) drinking too much (probably now, but not before diagnosis). I breastfed, ate healthily, was only on the pill for a year, in total, exercised regularly - none of the 'risk factors'.

Yet still, there is a slight element of finger pointing that in some way I contributed towards having BC.

Shrug it off, there is nothing more you can do.

YABU

i tell very few about my type 1. I physically can't take any more questions about whether I ate too many sweets as a child. Never mind representing my country at sport, involving high levels of training and eating well, I must have lived off shite. Nothing to do with an autoimmune condition triggered by being attacked by a nest worth of wasps, no I chose to become a drain on the NHS resources.

I blame the media, not type 2 patients, not all of those people have eaten too much and never lifted a finger either, but something has to give.

The two conditions are different. They could easily be called something else, at least because many type 1 have to go through childhood and the teenage years with the condition, ruining their confidence if they get this rammed down their throat every day.

Rightly or wrongly, it seems a better option for me to have a hypo and end up in an ambulance than ending up lamping the next ignorant prick who asks me if I lived of pizza and chips and ending up in the nick. So I tell the bare minimum of people. End rant.

Not in the least bit U. DS1 has had T1 since he was 5. I didn't know much about the difference myself until his diagnosis, so it's not surprising that the general public doesn't know. But I am heartily fed up of the stigmatizing of people with diabetes (and coeliac - we don't get doughnut or pizzas on prescription either , despite the Daily Mail's best efforts to make people believe that yesterday).

YABU. The doctors think I am late onset type 1 as I'm not overweight and fell ill very quickly. They say there's no point doing further tests as I'm diabetic and need insulin 5 times a day. Testing to investigate what type adds nothing to my treatment. What am I meant to say?

I'm just glad they found out what was wrong because I'd gone from 11 stone to 6 stone before they worked it out.

^ I don't think it should just be shrugged off. Of course there is more that could be done! The media right now are hugely contributing to the ignorance of the general public and that should be changed, for the benefit of both type 1 and 2 diabetics.
When you have type 1 diabetes it is for life. If you get it when you are a baby you will have it to deal with until the day you die. Every single day. It's relentless. You need to always be on top of it. It's never going to go away. It can't be cured. You can't "reverse it" like so many people seem to think due to type 2s doing that with their diabetes. It can kill you at any moment.
The fact that many health care workers don't even have a clue about the two different types is terrifying it has to be said.

I think you make a good point op. My dh is type 1 and people just assume he must be type 1 based on his appearance (slim and very healthy looking). I hadn't thought about it but I'm guessing if he was overweight people would assume he's type 2.
Diabetes itself is quite a complex condition and the treatment of the two types is completely different. However the details really aren't important to explain to people who have no experience.

Hmm I see where you are coming from but the concept of good illness/bad illness doesn't really sit right with me.

Heart disease and cancer and many other illnesses are caused either by lifestyle or genes or other causes. I agree it's generally pretty poor if people are blamed for any condition, especially if it was not caused by their own bad choices. But it's not only the case for diabetes, and it doesn't mean it should have a new name. We don't have "genetically pre-disposed" lung cancer vs. "smoked too much" lung cancer.

AuntyMag that's really interesting about your DH. My experience, and this includes HCP's, is that 'diabetes' is just one big thing, and different types doesn't come into it. (Actually HCP's just assume Tyoe 2, my diabetes nurse said it's because the majority are Type 2 but the general public don't really seem aware, they just think you 'have it really badly' if on insulin)

Yanbu. Another good reason to differentiate IMO is because I find it hard to get DS friends parents to take it seriously because they think it's like type 2. For example, if he goes for a play date for an hour, I send him with instructions not to eat anything and drink water and with glucose in case he has a hypo. I'm fucking sick of it being minimised and the parents saying 'oh don't worry, he'll be fine' and not even letting me explain his hypo symptoms. Then I find out they've fed him orange juice and sweets and his glucose levels are through the roof.

As a result I can't risk him going on a play date so I always have to host.

If anyone ever dares to suggest DS has type 1 because he ate too many sweets, I won't be responsible for my actions.

I totally understand what you are say MrsBobDylan. My experience is exactly the same. I have lost count of the amount of people who when finding out that my child is diabetic will say "oh so is my granny I know all about it, I have to buy her special jam etc". Of course their relative always has type 2 diabetes and they don't have a clue about type 1. It is such a serious condition and I really find that unless people actually live with it, they generally don't have a clue.

For those saying that it shouldn't have a new name, my problem isn't just that type 1s are being blamed for having something they could have prevented when they couldn't. It's the fact that they are two different diseases that require quite different treatment. To me, it's dangerous not making people aware that they are quite different conditions.

I have to say as well that if I see one more person playing a diabetic on tv have a hypo only for someone to inject them with insulin then I'll want to cry. When that is the kind of thing being fed to the general public, it's no wonder they don't have a clue.