There is a Difference | Teen Ink

There is a Difference

November 21, 2014
By ellen_w BRONZE, Duluth, Minnesota
ellen_w BRONZE, Duluth, Minnesota
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Yeah, there are many jokes made about diabetes. A classic one would be that you’ll get diabetes from eating too many Big Macs. Being a type 1 diabetic, this is infuriating. I’d like to educate people so they don’t make offensive and oblivious comments. There really should be two different names for these two different diseases. They get clumped together and that is the issue. Formerly called “juvenile diabetes”, type 1 is not caused by eating too many sweet or fat foods. It is an auto-immune disease. That means the body itself destroys the insulin making cells, so people with type 1 need to inject insulin in order to survive. There is no cure. Your friend will probably tell you that their grandma or uncle got rid of their diabetes by eating healthier. This is not the case. Uneducated people would think you have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is defined as being insulin resistant. The pancreas tries to make more insulin to keep pace with the body, but it can’t make enough to keep blood glucose levels normal. It can be reversed by diet and lifestyle changes, along with pills. Type 1 is irreversible. As funny as you think it is, many people deal with this disease and know it well. You wouldn’t make a cancer joke because you know it is unpreventable. Educate yourself before you start laughing about someone’s disease. 



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