Today I was a bad advocate. I'll put my hands up and admit it. I didn't deal with the situation in the way I could or should have but we all have our limits - and I guess mine were reached today!
I went to get my hair cut this morning. I like my hairdressers because they have a 3D, upside-down desert theme thing stuck on their ceiling. It's weird but keeps me entertained.
I really, really hate having my hair cut for one huge reason: the small talk hairdressers insist on. I know it's part of every hairdressing trip anyone ever makes, but it makes me soooo uncomfortable and awkward. Anyway - the guy asked me about my weekend and I said to him I'd been to a charity event yesterday (Flying With Diabetes). He asked me about why I went etc, and told him I have type 1 diabetes. The following is a summary of the conversation that occurred.
"Have you tried a diet?"
"No, type 1 diabetes can't be controlled using diet, I'm insulin dependent."
"Oh but you should try this one - it's called Simply Raw, people came off insulin in a week." (A quick googles tells me THIS is what he's probably talking about.)
"The people taking part would have had type 2 diabetes, which you can use diet to control."
"No, it was definitely type 1 - they came off insulin." (at this point I was ready to walk out, if only he hadn't been halfway through the hair cut...)
"People with type 2 also use insulin as a treatment, and I can promise you they would not have been type 1 - I use an insulin pump to give me insulin - people with type 1 would die without insulin."
At this point he backed down with "I am sorry".
I was really wound up by his comments - in his defence I guess he really didn't know what he was talking about, but it frustrated me so much. I got kind of shirty with him when telling him it was definitely people with type 2 and he then spent the rest of the hair cut trying to be chummy chummy with me. I could have handled that so much better, but I didn't.
Sigh. I'll keep going back, because they do great haircuts (although I wish I'd had it a bit shorter...maybe I'll go back and get them to reign in the longest layers).
I went to get my hair cut this morning. I like my hairdressers because they have a 3D, upside-down desert theme thing stuck on their ceiling. It's weird but keeps me entertained.
I really, really hate having my hair cut for one huge reason: the small talk hairdressers insist on. I know it's part of every hairdressing trip anyone ever makes, but it makes me soooo uncomfortable and awkward. Anyway - the guy asked me about my weekend and I said to him I'd been to a charity event yesterday (Flying With Diabetes). He asked me about why I went etc, and told him I have type 1 diabetes. The following is a summary of the conversation that occurred.
"Have you tried a diet?"
"No, type 1 diabetes can't be controlled using diet, I'm insulin dependent."
"Oh but you should try this one - it's called Simply Raw, people came off insulin in a week." (A quick googles tells me THIS is what he's probably talking about.)
"The people taking part would have had type 2 diabetes, which you can use diet to control."
"No, it was definitely type 1 - they came off insulin." (at this point I was ready to walk out, if only he hadn't been halfway through the hair cut...)
"People with type 2 also use insulin as a treatment, and I can promise you they would not have been type 1 - I use an insulin pump to give me insulin - people with type 1 would die without insulin."
At this point he backed down with "I am sorry".
I was really wound up by his comments - in his defence I guess he really didn't know what he was talking about, but it frustrated me so much. I got kind of shirty with him when telling him it was definitely people with type 2 and he then spent the rest of the hair cut trying to be chummy chummy with me. I could have handled that so much better, but I didn't.
Sigh. I'll keep going back, because they do great haircuts (although I wish I'd had it a bit shorter...maybe I'll go back and get them to reign in the longest layers).
1 comments:
Hey, if someones being a naive dumbass about diabetes, it's ok to put then right. If they still don't get it, I reckon it's quite ok to get a bit frustrated! I've had my husband's coworkers send the raw diet DVD home with him. He knew it was stupid but wanted to consult me on the best way to handle it. I asked him to go back and tell them what I thought of the "diet" then offer for me to come in and talk/show them all about diabetes. T1. That shut then up! No more cinnamon cures or raw diets or herbal pills to fight against from naive idiots. I told them that their "advice" could actually hurt or kill a T1 diabetic if they were silly enough to listen - so stop spouting it please!
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