Let’s be completely honest: when you tell someone you have diabetes, their brain suddenly drops into an alternate reality where they are a world-renowned medical expert.
Suddenly, everyone from your second cousin to the barista at your local coffee shop has an opinion on your pancreas. And nine times out of ten, that opinion is deeply, profoundly stupid.
Living with diabetes is exhausting enough without having to politely nod through unsolicited medical advice from people who think insulin is a type of protein powder. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me a ridiculous question about my health, I wouldn't just be able to afford my continuous glucose monitor—I’d own the entire pharmaceutical company.
Grab a low-carb snack, and let’s count down the top four dumbest things people say to us, completely unfiltered.
1. "Should you really be eating that?"
The Vibe: The Food Police.
The Reality: Unless you are my endocrinator or my mother, please remove your eyes from my plate.
This usually happens when I’m holding something normal—like a slice of toast or a piece of fruit—or when I am actively chugging a juice box because my blood sugar is dropping to basement levels and I'm trying not to pass out.
- What you wish you could say: "Should you really be commenting on my pancreas? Because last I checked, your medical degree was printed on the back of a cereal box."
2. "But you don't look diabetic!"
The Vibe: The Accidental Compliment (That’s Actually an Insult).
The Reality: Ah, yes. I forgot that a broken endocrine system comes with a highly specific aesthetic. Am I supposed to be wearing a cloak? Carrying a cane shaped like a syringe?
People have this outdated, stereotyped idea of what diabetes looks like. Newsflash: it looks like regular human beings managing a complex internal math problem 24 hours a day while trying to stay fabulous.
- What you wish you could say: "And you don't look like a medical expert, yet here we both are, completely shocked by the universe."
3. "My neighbor’s dog’s uncle cured their diabetes with cinnamon and celery juice!"
The Vibe: The Essential Oil Evangelist.
The Reality: If a spice cabinet could fix a dead organ, the medical industry would be out of business. If cinnamon actually cured diabetes, I’d be swimming in a vat of Cinnabon rolls right now and living my best life.
Stop telling chronic illness warriors that their life-altering condition can be fixed with a grocery list. We take actual medicine prescribed by actual doctors.
- What you wish you could say: "Wow, cinnamon! Gosh, let me just call my doctor and tell him we can cancel the insulin and buy some Apple Jacks instead."
4. "Is that the bad kind?"
The Vibe: The Judgemental Division.
The Reality: Let me clear this up once and for all: there is no "good kind" of diabetes.
Whether it’s Type 1, Type 2, Gestational, or anything in between, none of them involve a party. Every single type requires immense mental bandwidth, constant monitoring, and a lot of emotional resilience. Asking if it's the "bad kind" just implies that one version is a walk in the park, and trust me, none of us are strolling through the park without a bag full of emergency fruit snacks.
- What you wish you could say: "No, it's the magical kind where my body turns into a human calculator and I get to stab myself with needles for fun."
We Have to Laugh, Or We'll Cry
At the end of the day, most people say these things out of pure, unadulterated ignorance rather than malice. But that doesn't mean we have to sit there and absorb the exhaustion of it.
We deal with the finger pricks, the alarms, the tech failures, and the brain fog. The least the rest of the world can do is let us eat our snacks in peace.
To my fellow diabetics reading this: what’s the wildest thing someone has ever said to you? Drop it in the comments below so we can laugh about it together.
If you would like to get your very own copy of " My Bitter Sweet Struggle " click on the following link:- https://payhip.com/b/8Y2j0