While doing some diabetes research, I just ran into this seminal classification article again:
It strikes me how recent it is, and how little knowledge it implies. 1979: like yesterday. So we know so much more than we did then (and before), but, at the same time, I feel that we still know so little about this disease.
Here is another pearl from a 1932 article in JAMA:
“The question of low or high fat diet and of low or high carbohydrate diet in the treatment of diabetes is not yet settled in the minds of the majority of men who treat diabetes.”
Barach, Joseph H. “Lower fat diet in diabetes.” Journal of the American Medical Association 98.15 (1932): 1265-1266.
In 1979, while in college, I was happy to learn I was no longer a juvenile, but a “Type 1”. However, I recall during transition, they often would use Type 1 insulin-independent diabetes, rather than just Type 1 diabetes, so I tended to say that also.
But I don’t recall it making much difference, since most people said huh, and we explained that Type 1 was the kind that kids got, or simply went back to saying juvenile kind. Or depending on context, went into more details.
I did not learn about LADA and other forms of diabetes until much later.
Keep in mind that my treatment at that time was a single injection of Lente each morning. So my diabetes was only discussed with a few people. No BG testing yet, only an occasional urine test to log for the next Dr visit.
How things have changed!!!
And the best part is that you are here to talk about it, and according to your avatar you can solve a Rubics cube, so you are amazing in more ways than one!
I did not learn about LADA until I joined this list about a year ago.
Speaking of which, when did they stop referring to “brittle” diabetics? I liked some privileges that came with being brittle. (Although I came to suspect it was probably shorthand for “I’m a lousy general practitioner and I haven’t a clue what to do with this kid.”)
“Reaction” is another one. I think my dad is the only person left alive who calls lows reactions.
That’s crazy! And I have to say, I scoff at the line about men treating the disease. It’s interesting that it has taken so long to figure out the diet components as well.
I was just in a center for wound care with my mother this week, when one of the nurses jumped to the conclusion that EH must’ve had diabetes since he was a kid, because T1 is juvenile onset diabetes. I explained that he had had it since he was 27. She was really surprised! This woman has been a nurse for 10 years in wound care - most patients have diabetes. She was obviously familiar with how diabetes could affect healing.
She gave my mom the best shake down anyone has ever about having T2 diabetes and the consequences of not managing her blood sugars. I could’ve hugged her, because hearing it from a doctor or nurse holds a lot more weight with my mom then hearing it for me. But I just scratched my head because this obviously smart woman in the medical field was pretty confused about T1. She even asked me if I was sure he had T1 and not T2. 
Let’s face it…people who don’t deal with Diabetes (either T1 or T2) on a daily basis, or who have no relatives/close friends with the disease, they really understand practically zero about the disease (unless they’re trained medical professionals…and even then they don’t always have practical knowledge of the disease). I hear it on a nearly daily basis from a friend or family member. It’s gotten to the point that it’s so often, I’ve even given up trying to explain and educate them.
Lol. He’s been misdiagnosed for how long now? hehehe
That really sucks, I am amazed not just by the misinformation that has worn you down in such a short time, but it has also worn me down as well, and we have only been dealing with this for a few years. I shudder to think of the patience required to have this disease and explain it to people for many years.
I also now understand why when I have shown interest in people’s pumps and things they have basically shut me down, just out of sheer tiredness of explaining the same thing over and over.
The people that frequent these forums are really intelligent for the most part in that they WANT to learn. They WANT to gain insight into the disease from every angle. The disease of Diabetes if pretty straight forward after you learn it…but it really isn’t simple to people outside the spectrum of those who don’t take an active interest in truly learning about it. No matter how much you “tell” someone about it, or try to “show” them…there seems to always be this fog around their brains when it comes to the subject of diabetes. That’s what I’ve found anyway.
I generally avoid any and all conversations about diabetes unless I expect someone to be a part of my life for a long period of time.
You get all sorts of crazy responses. My older sister told a coworker that she had two sisters with type 1 diabetes. Her coworker turned to her and said, “your mother must’ve fed you terribly as children.”
Most responses aren’t that bad, but it’s such a complicated disease that it can seem a bit overwhelming on where to start when you begin explaining it.
It’s just ignorance. Ignorance that disappears with knowledge…but knowledge takes time. Unless you live it, the knowledge desire just isn’t there.
@ClaudnDaye and @Chris Wow! Thanks for sharing! I’m so sorry that you guys are both so worn down, but I recognize how hard it is to explain the same thing again and again. I’m trying to figure out if EH and I just don’t have very much exposure to people who don’t understand, or if I never grow tired of explaining the same thing over and over again. Or if I’m just not smart enough to realize that nobody else gets it. Hehehe!
I think one of the most frustrating things for me is the misunderstanding between type one and type two - and moreso the awful information that I have recently read online recently about type two management.
And yes, even people in the medical profession regularly screw it up. Some are fantastic, but I have had a physician’s assistant recently tell my mom that anything under 300 is OK, and another doctor say that anything under 200 is OK. When, in reality, out of control blood sugar is what has caused her to have a wound which will not properly heal.
Thanks @TravelingOn, but I’m not worn down! I’ve just learned to “temper my enthusiasm” when it comes to explaining diabetes to people (who are not close to my everyday life…including blood relatives.)
@ClaudnDaye You crack me up! And I can totally tell you that I now understand what you mean. Learning to temper my enthusiasm would probably be a smart life skill. LOL!
The funniest thing about this, is that I imagined you in the parking lot of some store giving some random person the pitch about T1 diabetes.
The OLD ME would have…the NEW ME just points them to fudiabetes.org. If they stick around more than a week and they express interest and ask questions…then I’ll stand in the parking lot and explain things to them if they want me too. 
I heard an old-school nurse using that one recently - I have to say not a big fan. It is like saying - I had a reaction to the sausage I just ate - I mean what kind of reaction?
It is kind of me with a disease like MS. I kind of know what MS is, I have an acquaintance with MS, but apart from that my knowledge is pretty limited. But, I like to learn so would be happy if someone edumacated me about it.
I think this goes for most people and most ailments. And why would they know more than they might pick up from TV? I mean, lupus is pretty common, but I know practically nothing about it. I might say, “Does that mean you have to stay out of the sunshine?” and the person with lupus would roll their eyes and go to their lupus forum and gripe about how ignorant people were.
There’s also the sad fact that for whatever reason, people often just aren’t interested. Or it scares them or reminds them of their mortality or something. I was recently chatting with a neighbour and mentioned I was diabetic, and she started telling me about this nifty cool device a colleague had that showed his blood sugar continuously and wasn’t it amazing what science could come up with, and I slipped my receiver out of my pocket and turned it on and said, “You mean like this?” And it was weird, she glanced at it for no more than a second and then she changed the subject. It was just. So. Weird.
I recall hearing “insulin reaction”, rather than just reaction. And people would think that meant I was allergic to insulin at the injection site. And if I said I needed sugar or candy, they would object and say, “No, you can’t have that.”
The horror!