​​​Miriam E.Tucker

Don't You Hate it When People Say...
(Diabetes Interview, August 1997)

"You take four shots a day?  You must have a really bad case of diabetes!"

"Are you allowed to eat that?  (No, the diabetes police are coming to arrest me right now.)

"What do you mean, you need to eat sugar?  I thought diabetics weren't allowed to eat sugar!"  (Why people so often use the word "allowed" in this context, rather than "supposed to," or something else is a little baffling to me.)

"So will you pass out if you eat sugar?"

"Oh, I know all about it.  I'm hypoglycemic myself." 

"Don't you get diabetes from eating too much sugar?"

"Do you shoot up or pop pills?"

"Oh, I'll probably get diabetes too.  My grandmother had it." 

"Yeah, my aunt had diabetes and she died a horrible death after going blind and losing three toes." 

"So, you're okay as long as you take care of yourself, right?"

"I could never give myself a shot--I'm needle phobic!  (So am I, but I'm even more death phobic!)

"I know someone who was cured of diabetes with acupuncture.  You should try it."

"This cake is sugar-free, so you can eat all you want."  

(Feel free to add more to this list.)
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