I will try not to rant, I promise I will try not to rant. These three memes represent the worst side of diabetes, and its not even the disease itself. It's the perception that everything is hopeless, and that nothing can be done to improve the situation. Now, I understand that maybe these are meant in good humour, but I hate to think that out there someone might actually believe the message behind these horrors.
In third
It is bad enough when a random person in your life just doesn't get it. The goodness in me wants to cuddle them into an understanding of the differences between two conditions that shouldn't even share a name. But when you go to the doctor/nurse or any medical professional and get given type 2 information or just plain awful advice, the bad in me wants to strangle them with their stethoscope - or show them what an insulin injection feels like and let them deal with a hypo.
Right, bad Sam. That went very dark, lets calm down and move on.
Right, this one is right in one sense. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and so in a sense unpredictable (although there is evidence that some foods do provoke autoimmune diseases e.g. peanuts). But, you can control 90% or more of the condition with diet and exercise. I am down to 5 units of lantus daily, and maybe a single novorapid if i splurge on a meal. But, eating primal and exercising regularly has enabled me to control my condition and my life rather than riding the roller coaster of more carbs-more insulin. This leads us to my all time worst meme of all.
When I was first diagnosed, I quickly caught on to the idea that if I eat more carbs I have to take more insulin. But, this does not mean that you should up your carb intake. By eating masses or carbs, you get a huge blood glucose spike, necessitating huge doses of insulin which leads to a crash, or hypo at worst. This wild ride causes most of the problems associated with type 1 diabetes needlessly. Eat low carb and you need less insulin, simples. I hope I get some hate for this, because I know its how a lot of type 1 diabetics live, but if I can guide a few towards the primal lifestyle or the paleo diet, then their lives would be greatly improved.
Worst of all, it seems like a lot of type 1's actually think like this. I had been told by a fellow type 1 that carbs are essential for us type 1's. I cant argue against that, but no where near as many are needed as the 200g+ advertised by the mainstream. Oh, and the idea that carbs are essential to prevent hypos I have one thing to say - take less insulin. Its the error of conventional wisdom and misguided medical professionals, but these wild swings expressed by similar memes ("yeah, if my blood sugars could just be in the right range for once, that would be great" and so on) don't have to be the case.
There, those were three of the good-est, baddest, and ugly-est type 1 diabetes memes I found today. I truly hope that more type 1's find the primal blueprint or paleo diet, or in fact any low carb diet that works for them rather than following the convention of type 1 as an unmanageable monster inside us. Put the beast back in its cage so you can focus on the better things in life.
Respectfully,
Sam
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