Diabetes is not an obvious illness if you don’t want it to be. I’ve come to learn that you can do your injections every single day in front of someone and they just won’t notice. The places I find myself stabbing my limbs makes me chuckle sometimes… on the tube, at the bus stop, in a club (that did raise a few eyebrows). I’m the kinda girl that doesn’t care at all; diabetes is a common enough thing, and if you can’t take me with diabetes then there ain’t much chance of us getting along! But meeting new people – I’m talking about dating – and getting to the stage where you want to introduce them to this crazy world can be tricky. Confident as I am, whipping out my Novorapid across a candle-lit dinner table can kind of kill the mood if the poor innocent bloke isn’t expecting it. But as I’m yet to meet the man of my dreams (sigh), it’s something I have to deal with – some months more often than others!
Join me on this journey… you’ve been on a couple of dates, you’ve so far either not been on one that involved food or you’ve dodged off to the toilet just to save the effort of inquisition. You’re thinking this is a guy you’re kind of going to see a little bit more… so you casually drop it into conversation at some point so they at least have heard the word “diabetes” right? I failed to do this recently; for some reason I had it in my head that the guy in question knew I had Type 1. So there we are, at the dinner table, and I say in the jokey, “witty” manner that I’m so good at, “I’m just going to take some drugs”. Out comes my very official looking pen and I happily start to dial up. The look of horror spreading across said fella’s face as I obliviously counted my carbs and figured out my dosage was a picture. Brace yourself for the next bit. He 100% earnestly, in a slightly terrified tone, looked me in the eye and said: “Is that heroin?” I looked up to notice his eyes were wide; he’d gone a worrying shade of pale and was looking around the restaurant to see if any waiters had ‘caught’ me.
Now I don’t expect every person in the world to know the ins and outs of the condition (the number of times I’ve been asked if I’m injecting sugar… seriously) but are you kidding me!? Admittedly it says something about the guys I go for, but how do you react to that??
I distinctly remember the exact same thing happening in an episode of Byker Grove. I was definitely in primary school when I saw it, which means it was a good 15 years ago. Admittedly it was post PJ and Duncan Byker Grove but still, we’re talking 1990s. All that time ago, and the situation was equally cringy. Those script writers were way ahead of their time!
I knew not what to do so just kind of giggled and said “Does it look like I’m enjoying myself that much that I need Class A substances to get through it?” He looked a little confused, so I almost shouted at him, “Diabetes. I’m diabetic,” in that ridiculously over-pronounced tone you use when you’re talking to someone foreign, as if saying it slower is magically going to increase their English vocabulary. I honestly might as well have been talking in another language for the look I then got back. I admit I was being a bit over-dramatic when I added, “I do this so that I don’t die.” Okay, okay, unnecessary. I honestly think the poor sod was torn between alerting staff to the illegal substance user they had in their establishment (which, by the way, wasn’t McDonalds but we’re not talking Michelin star here. Should have known it was never going to work when he took me there) and legging it out the door.
He calmed down eventually when I had the chance to explain. We only lasted one more date, and to be honest I think he was still in shock. I knew it had to end.
Fair enough, this has only happened once and if you’ve never come across someone with diabetes before why should you know what it is? But Jesus, dating enough of a bloody minefield without adding the fact I shoot up four times a day into the equation. Still, it’s a talking point for me. Or an escape route for him! Diabetes aside, I’m quite a feisty one. If you can’t keep up, all you need to do is take me to McDonalds on a date and you’ll never hear from me again. Unless I’m drunk. In which case, hand me the Chicken McNuggets and I’m yours.
I paint a classy picture, hey.
Low carbing Day 2…
- Breakfast BS 4.7, Novorapid 3
- Lunch BS 8.4, Novorapid 4
- Dinner BS 7.4, Novorapid 4
- Bed Lantus 25
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[…] I have included Jen (who I worked with briefly in my radio days) because she’s a good example of choosing a specific niche, which you know loads about. Jen is diabetic and her blog Young, Fun and Type 1 answers a specific problem her readers have: can you enjoy your roaring twenties with diabetes? And how? (See her post on dating with diabetes for an example). […]
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