Friday, November 16, 2007

I can NOT believe this...

First, this morning I watch a relatively good interview with Dr. Tim Johnson & his wife on Good Morning America, about her Type 1 Diabetes. She was diagnosed when she was in her 30's, a poster adult for LADA. It was pretty much factually accurate, she showed her pump, tested her blood sugar on the air, they talked about a cure, hypoglycemia, etc.
I was thinking alright, go GMA!

Then I went to checked out the website after the show like they direct you to do.
I stumbled upon ABC's On Call + Diabetes.

And this is the part where I hop onto my soapbox.
So I looked around, and found this, which pissed me off. So according to this guy diabetes is caused by diet. Wow, I didn't know that doctor, so you are telling me that when I was 5 I was not following the right diet and I ended up skeleton skinny and this caused my (type 1) diabetes? Please, can you just say Type 2 before diabetes. It's an extra 2 syllables, I'm sure it won't kill you and all your other medical professional friends! I get the fact that Type 2 is the more prevalent disease, but that doesn't mean you can put us all under that same big blue "diabetes" umbrella. Also, some Type 2's are not even overweight!!! I could go on for days...
Now I will step off my soapbox.

12 comments:

Lea said...

I get so pissed off when I see this type of comment. It does nothing positive , only serves to skew the public perception of what people with [all kinds] of diabetes go through. I will be making a comment, for sure. Thanks for posting this!

Naomi said...

Thanks Jillian. I followed your links, and then posted a comment.

We've got an awful lot of educating to do out there...

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Jillian,

Stay of that soapbox. We need more people with D on their soapboxes.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

And, I commented on the article at ABC also.

Lea said...

Hi jillian,
Sure, you can add me. I'll put you on mine, too. I can't believe I didn't find your blog until today- it's great!

Jillian said...

Thanks, I am so happy you decided to comment on the videos.

Lea - Thanks, I do what I can.

Wingman said...

I really enjoy when Type 2s talk to me about developing their disease; especially the one certain idiot from work - HELLO DUDE WE DON'T HAVE THE SAME DISEASE!

Anonymous said...

The interview this morning on GMA was great. They even showed that when she tested she was 308. (I blame the stress)
Tim's wife has a MiniMed pump (515 or 522) which made me excited to see.
Dr. Tim talked about he doesn't really expect a cure anytime soon but a closed loop artifical pancreas he believes is in our future.
It was a great interview!

You know, the website stuff does not really bug me anymore. I am tired of complaining every time someone forgets to say Type 2 in front of diabetes when they should. Just tired!

Anonymous said...

I used to be the same way.. not wanting to let diabetes take up any more of my life than it already had, but I guess my thoughts have changed in the past year or so.. My CDE is a diabetic and she has inspired me to take care of myself, always, as best I can. I guess I want to be able to do that for someone else, too .. I don't want to see anyone suffer complications from this disease that they don't have to.

And as for this entry.. yet again, just two simple words.. and people can't take the time out to say them. It makes a huge difference, and makes me SO angry every.single.time. people really need to differentiate.. but how to make them start??

Donna said...

Jillian,
Here we go again! This is getting ridiculous! I'm on the soapbox with you!

Bernard said...

I left a comment on the ABC News site. All the comments are saying the same thing.

It seems Robert Rizza's e-mail address rizza.robert@mayo.edu, if you want to drop him a note directly. Maybe if we all do this...

Jenny said...

It doesn't seem to matter how many genes they identify that cause Type 2 diabetes, doctors who don't have it themselves just love to say "diabetes is caused by overeating." And to tell people that if they'd lose a few pounds they could get rid of it.

Easier to blame people than do something about the rotten care they give people with Type 2 diabetes. Diagnose 'em a decade after they develop high blood sugars, no treatment at all until they've spent a year or two with an A1c over 8%, then give them ineffective oral drugs that keep them at levels guaranteed to lead to complications. Don't tell them carbs raise blood sugar, make sure they eat bananas, and "healthy whole grains" without insulin, etc. etc.