#NHBPM – LOL
Some would say diabetes should never be a funny subject.
Within the diabetes online community, there is an understanding that laughter and humor help us get through life with the condition.
Instead of getting mad over wasting a test strip, I laugh when I impatiently place my blood on one before the blood glucose meter is ready. Instead of getting sad over a high blood glucose reading after a meal that I knew would return such a result, I laugh over previously convincing myself that sushi will not make me go high this time. Instead of being alone, I laugh over the funny stuff that happens to the other people within the community.
Some of the bloggers with a knack for making us laugh about a tough subject include Jacquie, Kim, Kerri, and (for a switch in gender and diabetes type), Bob. It is not that they are always making fun – each of them have had touching serious posts as well – but each of these bloggers have a special knack for bringing out the humor (even the dark humor) of diabetes.
And then there’s Twitter, a spot where diabetes humor might look, well, funny to those on the outside, especially those tweets about Target causing low blood sugar or about Blunt Lancet.
Laughter is just another coping tool besides supporting each other through tough times that we use within the diabetes online community. It does not change the fact that diabetes is tough, regardless of type, and it does not change the fact that a cure would sure be nice.
This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days.
Posted on November 20, 2011, in #NHBPM. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
If I couldn’t laugh I don’t know how I’d get by, with diabetes or anything else in life! Thanks for the nice comment.
Oh Rachel, humor sometimes surfaces in the most surprising ways. A few weeks ago, the dialysis tech was having trouble getting the needle in my vein. Our conversation went like this:
K: I’ve had it with this shit. I wish I was dead (dramatically).
DT: You know, some days, I do to.
K: Say what, some days you wish I was dead? What’d I ever do to you?
DT: No, some days I wish I myself was dead. Not you.
K; But I said it first./
By the time we were done bantering back and forth, we were both nearly suffocating from laughing so hard.
Humor is a useful tool in helping manage diabetes by adding perspective—not that there is anything funny about having diabetes. But a little humor may help you see from a different perspective. Humor can help you build the confidence to know that you can deal with diabetes. Plus, laughing lowers glucose levels!