D-Myths Lesson 3: You Outgrow Juvenile Diabetes

(Little Sheep, this is for you! ;)

In the olden days, before they knew much about diabetes, they noticed a pattern. People were being diagnosed with diabetes, but it seemed like there were some differences.
Firstly, they noticed that people were being diagnosed at a very young age OR when they were older. They also noticed that the diabetes at the two different ages seemed different. So they decided that there are two different types of diabetes. Maturity Onset diabetes is the kind that older people get (made sense, right?). Juvenile Diabetes is the kind that children get.
That worked for a while, until the idiots came along.

SMI: oh, you have juvenile diabetes. I guess when you grow up you'll outgrow it and you'll have the other kind.
SD: Is your stupidity a transient thing also?

So they had to change the names. Well, ok, that's not why they had to change the name. It was more as a result if the confusion. Picture this scenario:

(A 90 year old man is in the hospital.)
Dr: you have diabetes.
NYOM: I do?
Dr: yes. You have Juvenile Diabetes.
NYOM: I DO??? (excited) maybe they'll start asking me for ID to buy alcohol!

So, as they learned more and more about diabetes, doctors realized they had a problem. Young people can get Maturity Onset Diabetes, and old people can get Juvenile Diabetes. So they renamed it type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is the name for the former Juvenile Diabetes and type 2 is the name for the former Maturity Onset Diabetes. I will explain the difference between them in a later post, but for now please realize that they are actually opposites!
Back to the names for the various types of diabetes types, they have a new problem. They are starting to see that there are more types of diabetes than those original two. Many of you may have heard of gestational diabetes, which is the type you get in pregnancy. I personally think that name is so boring. I mean, it doesn't leave people wondering. So the new names for the newer types of diabetes are much better: LADA, MODY....makes people wonder. Can you figure out what they mean? Maybe we should petition for the next form of diabetes to be called BOSD....
But I digress. The point is, aside from the fact that the term JD is totally outdated, it never had anything to do with the time that you are supposed to outgrow it. The depressing reality is, you never outgrow type 1 diabetes. It is for life. There is no cure. And it certainly doesn't go away on it's own. And please try to understand this now, because I get sad writing it, and I don't plan to repeat it.
So don't bother telling me to grow up. It won't make the diabetes go away....