Lies is probably too strong of a word considering when I was diagnosed when I got diabetes (1992). But lies is what they were. Everything I was told. Of course, it was based off of lack of knowledge. But you know what they say about lies, if you tell them enough, they become accepted as truth. But then again, new stuff comes along and disrupts those lies. And it also disrupts the thinking of the people who were told the lies.
Again, lies is probably too strong of a word, but that’s what they were. All the "you can’t do that, you can’t eat" stuff, lies. Anyone diagnosed these days if told they couldn’t be an athlete would laugh at the doctor and tell them that they’re full of nonsense. And food…honey, honey was going to kill me when I was little, it was the one thing that successfully came out of my diet without me taking a second look at because it was death sitting in the belly of a bear waiting to be consumed. Seriously, I couldn’t eat peanut butter and honey sammiches anymore. And if I saw someone eating one, I just had to look at it longingly. Couldn’t go near honey. I tell you what, the people that told me that, they were lying. Honey is good if a person is low, honey sticks in backpacks make for a great treatment of a low blood sugar, and also, I can take insulin for honey, imagine that…
What I was told for so many years is very much ingrained in my head. And much of it to me, is nonsense. I think about when I was younger, and when I was told all that I couldn’t do and couldn’t have. I rebelled against diabetes at that point by not taking care of it, because if I couldn’t do anything while I had it, why should I take care of it. In retrospect, what I should’ve rebelled against were all the nay sayers. I should’ve gone out there and done all the things they told me I could do and I should’ve eaten the food they told me I couldn’t have. It would’ve made for a much more mentally healthy Courtney.
For now, I’m still working on climbing out of the web of lies that was woven for 15 years.
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My daughter was diagnosed when she was eight, right before Halloween. I remember sitting with her watching other children come to our door trick-or-treating and she just sat there crying because she would NEVER again be able to eat candy. At least that’s what we were told to tell her. Things are different now that she is 24 and can adjust her insulin to suit her diet–not the other way around.
Hi Patricia
That’s the way it was for me when I was diagnosed at age 11. At age almost 28, I realize, I can adjust my insulin to suit my diet, which is great, but there are still times where I struggle with all the “can’t do’s” and “can’t eats”.
Oh man, what a tangled mess of garbage we have to undue from our younger days!