“There are lots of people who think they are sick and who are not sick.” – Dr. Charlie Mayo
People with diabetes are not sick. We are healthy people who happen to have a chronic condition. I get so frustrated when I see research studies advertising for “healthy subjects” and I am not considered “healthy.” I am discouraged when I get the impression that schools or employers or other agencies consider people with diabetes “sick.”
When I teach the family of a child with newly diagnosed diabetes, I emphasize the fact that he or she is not sick. He or she should be treated no differently than their siblings or friends who don’t have diabetes. I think it does a great disservice to people with diabetes (and the general public for getting the wrong message) when we are treated as different, weaker, or less healthy than those without.
And yet those with diabetes often perpetuate this thinking. By taking on the “sick role,” people with diabetes can mislead those who don’t know much about the disease. By pitying themselves or crying, “poor me,” and presenting themselves to the world as sickly, frail individuals, they paint a picture that is not one I want to be a part of.
I was once approached by a physician who was about to give me a new employee physical. She entered the room and said, “How long have you suffered from diabetes?” I answered, “I’ve had diabetes for twenty-five years, but I don’t suffer.”
But here’s my struggle: In order to secure funding for research; in order to find a cure so that future children and adults don’t have to deal with diabetes, we have to convince those with the money that we’re suffering. We have to emphasize the negative side of diabetes – the painful, inconvenient, expensive daily tasks; the deadly complications.
I recognize that these are incredibly important issues. I just cannot dwell on them in my daily life. I choose to align myself with positive thoughts and approaches. I work with many people who don’t feel this way. I do not discount their challenges with diabetes and with life. I believe there is a way to rise above, though. For some that may mean finding a counselor or therapist; for others a social group or one close friend; still others may need medication. Some people need to figure out what really matters in their life and turn their focus toward that. Whatever it takes, finding something or someone who helps lift us up and get us pointed in the right direction can make all the difference in our being healthy rather than sick.