I have diabetes I am not the disease. She has mental probs she is not a nut.
@Hatley (163781)
Garden Grove, California
January 17, 2013 9:30pm CST
I read a very to uching discussin tonight and it mademe think. A lot of times I prefer to say I have diabetes, I am not a diabetic I am noit a disease I am a person, a human being. This mylotter is very intelligent but takes medications for mental problems and feels that people should treat her the same as anyone else having illness and having to take medications to control that illness. I agree as there is no stigma in taking medications to keep you well and grounded no matterr what your illness is. S o nect time you speakd to some friewnd who has diabetes do not call them a diabetic call them by thir real name , and thety are humans not diseases. The same goes for people with mental disease who take medications til control it, they are not nuts, they are humans with medical problems that are sensible and taking medications to correct their
problems.
problems.9 people like this
26 responses
@allknowing (130134)
• India
18 Jan 13
I am a dyspeptic, as I take medicines for dyspepsia!
4 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi allknowing yep you are on the right track see what I mean it
even sounds silly or funny and while I know having diabetes is nothing to sneer at I am not the disease
I am a hunab being who has diabetes. Other wise I do n ot look any different than anyone else. lol loll
I am a hunab being who has diabetes. Other wise I do n ot look any different than anyone else. lol loll2 people like this
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
18 Jan 13
Yes, people are more than their diseases. However, diseases can play a role in shaping who we are; they can limit what we are able to do, or they--or the fear of developing them--can drive us to do certain things. I know that I definitely have been shaped by the concern that I might develop diabetes like my late father or Parkinson's like my late grandmother, and I have my own health issues to which I must respond and of which I must be mindful.
3 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi wilson yes of course they affect us so I am all the more ready to be known at a 3woman who has diabetes not dkneonw for my diseade as I feel I c an more easily live with it if I am ore than that diabetic a my real name is Mrs. Hatley,. I also have low thyroid and athritis but again I am not an arthritic I am a person.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
18 Jan 13
Some great things to think about, and actually I know a Doctor or two that could really learn a thing or two from this statement, including some nurses in the Health care field as well. Totally it is true we are all humans and people, and no matter what illness or problem we have in life, we are people. We should be treated the same and as individuals instead of classifying and limiting us.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi tina I first learned t think like that at a diavetes class run by a nurse educator She said do not sa y I a m a diabetic as thats limiting you ,instead she I am Mrs. so and so and I have diabetes. that ways you will not lose your identity.After all we are all
human beings and as such we have the right to be respected no matter what health issues we may have.To me mental health is just a health issue and the person must be seen as Alice or Judy or Ben
not as the one with mental problems. We do not usually debase people with health issues
but put in the word mental and people start debasing the one who takes meds for mental health issues.
but put in the word mental and people start debasing the one who takes meds for mental health issues.
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
18 Jan 13
you have an absolutely wonderful point. We are not the challenges that we have. I am not disabled, I have physical challenges. I am not legally blind, I have very poor eyesight. I'd rather HAVE a problem than BE that problem. i hope this conversation will make a lot of other folks think.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi P ointlessQu estions thanks and yhu have put this so muc h better than I have . Y ou have such really great intelligence it would be a shame to call you by some of the physical problems you have. Yet when we see you as Pointless Questions we bypass health and come to know the real you ..Yes a lot of us have the backbone to say hey I am not a diabetic but Patsie hatley who has diabetes. I have lots of facets to my personality and they shape who I am, while my disease does not as its just a challenge I meet every day.
Hi Danish C anadian same goes for poop eyesight .That does not define who you are but is just a health issue you have and bh being called by your real name you now appear whole to others not just a person who has eye problems
.
.
@BarBaraPrz (45594)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Jan 13
Of course I'm not a nut.
I'm a well-medicated cat!
=^..^=
=^..^=
2 people like this
@celticeagle (159538)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Jan 13
THis is a good way to be thinking. My ex has diabetis but I don't think of him as a diabetic. I have family members and myself on meds so I understand that too. I pose a question to you though. I wonder how many doctors do look at their patients as 'the diabetic' or the one with 'bi-polar disorder'.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi cletic good one yes I have heard doctors talk to each ou ther like" howa that d iabetic you are treating?" " oh shes a real pain how about that broken shoulder you have on yo ur list" "OH my broken shoulder is just driving menuts as h e will not obey amy of my instructions" yes they do it all the time and it always m akes me picture a broken shoulders with legs waling aro und. Lol
Doctor!!
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159538)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Jan 13
Yes, indeed. LOL Skeletons with legs. Some doctors can be very inpersonal. I am glad I have one that takes time with me. I don't know what she says about me out in the hall or where ever. But she never treats me like just another patient.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
20 Jan 13
This is all too common an occurrence and society never seems to learn. Despite what you say being common knowledge today with television programmes and newspapers constantly reminding us that being ill is not a flaw, people are still eager to make classifications for sufferers and ignore the obvious. A person with a mental problem is automatically assumed by many to be inferior, until it happens to a family member or friends at which time they defend the person rigorously.
Sadly, I doubt if the situation will ever improve a great deal because people love to find faults in others, although I could never understand the pleasure in this. We claim to be living in an enlightened society, but mankind certainly has a long way to go before they can justify such a claim.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Jan 13
hi asylum yes we stillneed to refrain from denying mental health sufferers their right to be called by their names not by the illness they may take medications to control the problem. The usee who made a discussion about how she felt made me want to cry as its still true a lot of us look down on someone who is taking medications to control their mental health problem. Why not just call them Sue Warren or Joe Nelson not the bipolar or the compulsive disorder woman they are humans with great personalities. Forget their health issues and see the real person with their real name.
umans with great personalities. Forget their health issues and see the real person with their real name.
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
18 Jan 13
Considering how lousy I feel most of the time, I actually take very few medicines. I have known a lot of people with lots of medical problems.
I have never thought of a person as their medical problem, however I have had medical problems brought up and that makes me think of the person I knew with the problem.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to type with a sore on your fingertip? Its HARD!
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
ouch I can really imagine as when I first got this shoulder joint replacement it was hard for me to type with my left hand as it made the musceles connected to the bionic joint really hurt.The physical therapist kept at me, Mrs Hatley you can always do more than you think you can and in a few weeks my muscles I guess decided to accept the steel and plastic joint and decide not
to hurt any more. I then knew I was going t o be okay with that bionic contraption inside my shoulder. I think some doctors do see us as the bad hand, or the broken shoulder or the eye disease instead
of our real name.
of our real name.1 person likes this
@clrumfelt (5490)
• United States
20 Jan 13
That is a very good point to make. In medical transcription class I learned the suffix "ic" means "condition of." So indeed, to call someone a diabetic is to call them "a condition of diabetes."
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Jan 13
hi c1rumfelt Yes I am not the disease , I just have it and I am Mrs. Hatley and diabetes does not de fine who I am or what I am . the same way with mental health issues as the condition is not the
human who has it so we should not label people who must take medications to control mental health problems with the terms the mental woman or man. They are all humans with real names and real personalities so do not label them with anything . they are Mrs. Alberts or Mr. Lyons and not their mental health problems.
and not their mental health problems.
@BarBaraPrz (45594)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Jan 13
Where's the slapping smiley?
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
ha ha oh Dawn love it great tru isms BarBarPrz dont you think Dawn should write a book called Dawn's truisms. and it would be
funny yet have some truth in it too. ah no slapping smiley
often wished we had some knew ones like one for pains or hurting lol.I love it when we can have some f un here too. I have a shoulder ache in my left shoulder the bionic one madeo f steel and plastic so how can it hurt must be the muscles that ache. I have arthritis too
dawn but I will not call myself an arthritic as some actually do and I do not call my self a diabetic as I am not a disease and contrary to what a lot of people think, it does make a differences as we then can think of all the rest of the things in our lives not just diabetes as defining us.
@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
18 Jan 13
dear Hatley,
I don't want people to call me "herbal tea" as I drink too much tea these days (hahaha)
I agree, one should know how to respect people who are suffering a disease- it's not their choice it just happen that they are unfortunate victims.
I've learned something for today and hugs for you ma'm
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi jai ho If I think of myself as the diabetic than everything else I am just comes to a halt but if I think os my self as Patsie Hatley who has diabetes tnan I know I am a real person whoi just is u nfortunate in having a chronic disease D iabetes. I then c an feel whole and not diseased at all.
at all.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
18 Jan 13
Hiya Hatley,
Goes quite deep that one yes indeed because I know people that label other people with you know the one that is always drunk or the one who is lame like they sort of have some kind of thing scorn or something like that a fly to pick on if you like and they like doing it as well.
No matter how many times that if you point out to them that they are a person themselves and they might not have chosen to be in that condition they still keep going on about it.
Now what if it were to happen to them something similar? I truly hope not but I have a sneaky feeling that they would cover up for themselves and still go on about the others.
What do you think? Yes they have names and they are people you are right but try telling the others "the stone throwers" that one.
They will quickly descend on you like a pack of Vultures or something worse.xxx
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16546)
• China
20 Jan 13
I fall in with your views.The one who doesn't call others their real names but what they suffer from must be a nut.Illness may catch up with anyone.We must feel for patients and make much of them instead of " rubbing salt into the wounds "like that type of person.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Jan 13
hi chang I felt so sad reading thie mylotters discussion as I knw that we still need to overcome the idea the those who take medications to control some metnal health isse are real people
with real names not the healht issue that they have. Use their names and do not debase them by calling them the man or womma thats schitzo or bi polar, they are peole with real names not walking dieeases.The two friends of mine here are most intelignet and warm hearted people who deserve always to be thought of as Mrs. So and so or Miss so and so.
ebase them by calling them the man or womma thats schitzo or bi polar, they are peole with real names not walking dieeases.The two friends of mine here are most intelignet and warm hearted people who deserve always to be thought of as Mrs. So and so or Miss so and so.@changjiangzhibin89 (16546)
• China
17 Feb 13
The people who called patient certain disease instead of their real names were destitute of human feeling.They can't have understood how the patients felt when they heard that.If only everyone did as they would be done by.
@911Ricki (13588)
• Canada
19 Jan 13
I completely agree with you, I know many who say things about me because I have to take medication to control my bowels, or hormones. I remember in college my one roomate, use to say I can't use your bathroom because I will get colitis. At one point it use to bug me but now I just roll my eyes, and not associate with those people. Many would catergorize them in the catergory not as an individual person.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Jan 13
HI rICKI YHE ITS JUST SO UNFAIR THAT BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE SOME MALAD WE TAKE MEDS TO CONTROL IT WE GET LABELED AS THE DIABETIC OR THE COLITIS PERSON. again we are not waling diseases. We have names and personalities and need to think of ourselves as Joy Willsonn Or Janet Anderson not as a diabetic or heart case.Those do not define who we are at all.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
22 Jan 13
hi ricki I know but yes they do assume they . I h ate it when someoln who knows I have diabetes start ikn"oh you cant eat that, yuure a diabetic."I got so finally I just smile and say watch me".
@GardenGerty (157671)
• United States
18 Jan 13
You are right, we are all people. we come in all shapes and sizes and abilities and disabilities. We bleed, we cry, we laugh, we hope.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Jan 13
Hi B ardenGerty its dark outside yes I am up at 6'39 am typing away as we do not need to go down stairs yet for breakfast. Yes its so ture we are all just plain human beings not the maladies we may suffer from . I wish that we did bot not have a tendency to denigrate those of us who have a mental problem in need of medication to control it. I have diabetes bu tI am not a walking disease. These two mylot friends of mine have mental issues that they take meds to control them and also what their health issue does not define the
person at all.So come on people just remember their real names and how warm hearted and really intelligent each person is.Do not label those with mental health issues with any name but their own. 5
e but their own. 5
@dfollin (24222)
• United States
18 Jan 13
Hi Hatley, Great point! I never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it that is a very good point.I have high blood pressure and take meds to control it.It does not mean I am strange.I have to eat less salt and foods with sodium.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi fgollin yes I also have high blood presssure so eat no salt and I wanted to be c alled by my ane. Sure I have diabetes but I am not
diabetes I am a person with lots of good and bad points but not a walking disease. I can handle having diabetes as others have other health problems but J am no more strange than any one else. WE all deserve respect and to be c alled by our real names.
but not a walking disease. I can handle having diabetes as others have other health problems but J am no more strange than any one else. WE all deserve respect and to be c alled by our real names.
@jazel_juan (15747)
• Philippines
18 Jan 13
Right, people should learn how to respect other people as no matter what they are going through, or what they have, they deserve it.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi jazel __juan yes we all deserve respect and not to be called the diaberic or the schictzo or bi polar we are human beings who have various health issues and we are not the ailments we have.t
That denigrates a person to just a disease we are real people with many facets to our personalities and we all have some health issues be it mental or physical.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Jan 13
hi JenInTn yes we are not the disease so why call us the diabetic or the lung person or the heart Case.We are human beings with health issues controlled bt medications, not the walking disease. We are not defined by condition but by our names nd our personalities.I hat labeling especially those who take medications to control
mental health problems.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
hi Cutie it was first brought to my attention when I was in our diabetic meetings at Western Medical C enter. the nurse educator
said lets start by saying I have diabetes but I am not the disease so do not call me a diabetic. We learned w e were still good people who just happened to have a health issue that must be treated to control it. The same goes for mental health problems , they are not defined by their mental problems but by their real names as people with mental health issues that are controlled by le, So if we call Jill Jones by her real name we see her as a person with many facets to her personality not as walking menttal health issue. WE all have some sort of health condition we take meds to contol but we are not
our diseases and deserve to be called by our real names.
eal names. @Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 13
he he not really cheeky?" okay Oh I do hope it is benign prostatic
hyperplasiac. My husband was screened for that but was okay then a few months later he was checked and had colon cancer so had to have surgery and it was in the wrong place right near the rectum so they did take out most of his colon, closed him up and he had to have a colostomy,I have diabetes but I hate being c alled a diabetic as I am not a walking disease. Two dear friends here feel hurt by the way people look at them as walking mental health people when they have real names and are real human beings who just happen to have a mental health issue but that does not define who they are.When we are called Joe Smith or Helen Jones rather than the diabetic or the mental health nut then we feel whole and not debased for our health issue.
