I don't really have a problem with it either way, although there are some labels like that I'm bothered by. For instance, I have a huge problem with the R word when talking about someone who has a cognitive disability.

But what do you call someone with obesity? A person with obesity or FAT? In my mind (and I'm both fat and diabetic--lol), fat is a much more hurtful label than diabetic. At least with Type 2 though, I think there is just as much "you did this to yourself because you're a weak person" as there is with obesity.

I find this discussion really interesting, since I've always been taught to use "people with diabetes" instead of "diabetics." We don't have a word for people with heart disease, or people with cancer, and I wonder why there's one for people with diabetes? ~Lynn @Glucerna

I got my husband one of those bracelets that warns he has "diabetes"...on one of them, then the second one says "diabetic"...

I had thryoid cancer 7 years ago...I hated the "survivor" label...(probably because mine was not life threatening and caught early) but it made me uncomfortable.

I say if labels help you get treatment, great...if used to discriminate, no way.

Huh. I never knew that some didn't like to be called diabetic. I've referred to myself as such before. I didn't see it as defining me but as defining a condition I have that I must control. That doesn't mean it controls my whole life either, it simply means that I'm turning down your cake or whatever not because I don't like it but because I have diabetes. It just doesn't bother me to be called a diabetic.
Oddly enough, I never noticed discrimination against those with diabetes, and when I was diagnosed with it I didn't feel stigmatized until a couple of weeks later when my husband of all people was adamant that we weren't going to tell his family. He never said he was ashamed of or disappointed in me, but when I asked him why he didn't want his family to know he said they just didn't need to know. And after 36 years with him I can tell what he's NOT saying as well as what he is saying.
I agree with Gayle, I have lots of labels like mom, grandmom, middle aged (! lol ) female, diabetic. Together they all define me, but no one label is a complete definition.

I went back and read the 13 comments at the end of the article. None of them had an issue with being referred to as diabetic.
We've become so hyper-sensitive.

I hate how people say you got Type 2 by eating when most people who get the disease have a genetic disposition to it. My grandfather and all of his brothers, and even one of his nieces had the disease. His Niece had Type 1 and he and his brothers all had Type 2. My grandfather used to work 12 hours a day, he ate a very healthy diet, and he still got Type 2 Diabetes. It's not cause by eating cakes like some of the Type 1 people say when they don't want to be lumped into the same category as they are in. I have seen more negative and hurtful posts towards other diabetics by the Type 1 crowd than any other group of people I've come across. I don't mind being called a diabetic. After all, that is the disease I have. It's just better to ignore people when they have their opinions about your disease when they are healthy and do not have any diseases, I have chronic pain and have to deal with family members and friends bashing me for using prescription pain medication to reduce the burden of my pain level. I don't really care what people call me. I am also 90 pounds overweight, and I live a very inactive lifestyle due to chronic pain.

I agree with Liz. All my neighbors, friends even the folks at Kroger know I am Diabetic and I like it that way cause if anything happened to me they will get me help. However, now I am on Oxygen 24/7 and have problems worse than Diabetes.

It must be where I live but everyone is so nice and helpful and they dont know what my problem is, they just smile and want to help me out.

I am 82 years old; I bet I have been called worse things than a Diabetic...LOL

Lets face it everyone talks about be politically correct... well ... I am a Diabetic and been on Insulin for 46 years.

yes there are labels that hurt but as others said don't understand why so hyper sensitive sometimes just over a word and political correct sometimes goes too far

Lynn - maybe way back when and even now there was a stigma with diabetes - people did this to themselves, etc but now they are finding out this is not so. This runs in my family, I was very active, ate right, very moderate, not many sweets, not even overweight but yet the alien within found me and for some reason this "label" made people feel ashamed or ws afraid of this disease.

Shoot I read an article that says if a person ate peanuts or peanut butter, it would cut my risk of getting diabetes 31%. I live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and I love peanut brittle and buy it when I can so how come I got this disease ROFL

just wondering if you were reading my mind , I have yet to come to face the truth so i just say i am prediabetic .

I never knew this will hit me and i will have issues with food.But i must say this group has helped me quite a bit and more then my doc i come here to get my issues solved .

Barbell, may I ask, what do you consider to be "a little high" for glucose readings?

And Barbell, I'm curious about this comment: " If I was truly "diabetic" then metformin would not have made me so sick."

A lot of medications have side effects. My doctor cautioned me about taking the metformin with food always to minimize those side effects, and I haven't really had a lot to complain about--but I know people with infections who have side effects from antibiotics (as one example). Can you explain?

metformin does cause side effects and some people cannot handle this drug, as with all drugs and your sentence if I was truly diabetic, then the metformin wouldn't have made you sick, does not make sense.

Reply #10 reminded me of a quote i once heard...

7 things negative people will do to you. They will...
1. Demean your value;
2. Destroy your image
3. Drive you crazily!
4. Dispose your dreams!
5. Discredit your imagination!
6. Deframe your abilities and
7. Disbelieve your opinions!

I've never considered being diabetic a problem or much of anything I suppose. I was dx'd at age 51, I am now 53. That being said, I've been living with it since I was 6. My mother, then my brother, then my dad, then two of my sisters. The first time I gave someone an insulin shot , I was 11 years old. I learned early what to do and what not to do for hypo and hyperglycemic attacks. For many, many years (when I was thin) I had hypoglycemic attacks. I remember my 8 year old son spooning sugar water into my mouth after church one Sunday and leading me to the front of Walmart another time to open a candybar to give me a bite. Now I'm 200 pounds and 5'4' and diabetic. I've never thought anything about it. Just dealing with it as I go.

Labels, I do not care at all what people think about why people get this annoying problem. I have it and I have to deal with it. Life is what we make of it. It is just one more thing to deal with. It is definitely hereditary. My sister, father and other relatives have it. They were all diagnosed before they were 50. I was 63. Go figure.