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Many people with type 1 diabetes feel let down by an organization that they say should support them, and say it’s time for clearer messages about the different types of diabetes.
November is National Diabetes Action Month, with Diabetes NZ launching annual campaigns that shed light on the condition.
This year, many type 1 diabetics believe the organization has gone too far by grouping them with type 2 diabetes in a campaign called ‘Love Don’t Judge’.
Vanessa Pitt, who has type 1 diabetes, said that ‘Love Don’t Judge’ assumed someone would judge her for having type 1 diabetes.
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She said it was “garbage”. “That’s not a problem for the types, so why would we adopt this motto?”
Pitt’s husband has type 2 diabetes, and she said much more “effort and management” went into controlling type 1, which was a lifelong illness 24/7, while she said her husband could stop his type 2 medication with exercise and diet. .
But this is not the case for all two types, who often have no control over the diagnosis of the disease.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot use insulin properly and / or the body does not make enough insulin. Reasons why it could develop include poor diet, inactivity, smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stress, as well as genetics, ethnicity, and old age.
More than 250,000 people in New Zealand have diabetes and 90 percent of them have type 2.
Pitt said that neither type was “more important” than the other, but they were different.
“I have empathy for type two, but I want people to know more about type 1 and that is definitely not seen.”
Type 1 diabetes can affect anyone, especially children and adolescents. It is an autoimmune disease generally caused by the body’s immune system destroying insulin-producing cells, eventually rendering the insulin-producing organ, the pancreas, useless.
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Vanessa Pitt, a type 1 diabetic, says that type 1 and type 2 diabetes needed to be separated, as they were very different diseases.
Having type 1 diabetes includes a lifetime of taking insulin, either by injection or pump, checking blood sugar several times a day, controlling food, and balancing insulin with activities.
Dozens of people with type diabetes in a Facebook group said that type 1 diabetes should be separated from other types of diabetes.
Wendy Turner, a type 1 diabetic, said they shouldn’t group together. “I’m tired of being told I should have eaten better and exercised more, type 1 diabetes couldn’t be avoided.”
A mother of a 7-year-old boy with type 1 diabetes said she was looking forward to the fundraiser for Diabetes NZ this year, “but then I looked at the campaign and was puzzled by how it was about type 2 diabetes.”
Another mother of a young type 1 said it made her “blood boil” when she saw the different types “grouped together.”
Love Don’t Judge “perpetuates the perception that a person with type 1 diabetes made poor decisions that led to ‘diabetes’ as a blanket term,” said one person with type 1 diabetes.
The previous year’s Diabetes NZ campaigns included ‘Know the Difference’ in 2018, which focused on the differences between Type 1 and 2 and ‘Act Now to Live Well’.
Braden Fastier / Stuff
Many people with type 1 diabetes say that Diabetes NZ has gone too far by grouping all types of diabetes together in a Love Don’t Judge campaign.
Diabetes NZ Executive Director Heather Verry said this year’s campaign recognized the impact of diabetes on the mental health of all people living with diabetes.
“This Diabetes Action Month we encourage New Zealanders to be kinder and change the way they think and talk about diabetes. The reality of living with diabetes is that it carries a huge emotional toll. “
He said a 2018 survey found that both types of diabetes experienced discrimination and stigma.
“Although the conditions of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are different, they are both lifelong conditions that cause emotional stress and carry an emotional burden. Understanding and supporting Kiwis living with type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes is something we can all do. “
