There are a lot of responses people can give when they find out you are a diabetic. There’s the “Oh, so how long have you been diabetic?”, “Is it the bad one or the better one?” or “Oh, okay, my (friend, father, mother, sister, brother, etc) is diabetic too!”.

There has to be one reply that is my pet peeve. It’s the “Oh, I’m sorry”. And, yes, I know they are just trying to be nice, but really, it’s not their fault that I’m diabetic. Heck, it’s not even my fault.

 Wilktionary describes an apology as:

apology (plural apologies)

1. What you say when you regret saying or doing something affecting others.


2. A formal justification, defense.

The other times that I hear it is when I’m having a tough time with my diabetes acting up and my husband gently hugs me and says “Aww, honey, I’m sorry.”. I know he means well, but truly there was nothing he did wrong. Just stupid diabetes acting up that day. He said it the a few days ago when I was having lots of lows. We had gone to bed and an hour later, I woke up low again. I told him and went to get the juice. I came back, got in bed again and he reached over to hug me and said “Aww, honey, I’m so sorry you have to deal with this.”. It was night time, I was tired, and I had enough of his apologies for something he didn’t do. So, I told him not to ever say “I’m sorry” when it is in relation to diabetes again. I told him that next time he wanted to say “I’m sorry”, to keep it to his self and use that energy just to hug or hold me. Let me know he’s there to support me, not that he’s sorry for me.

So, just for the record, if you ever meet me, and for some reason don’t know that I am diabetic (which, if you are reading this, you should already know that little detail), please don’t say “I’m sorry” when you find out. And if you already know me, don’t apologize if you know I’m having a bad day with my diabetes. There is nothing for you to regret saying or doing to me. All I need from you is just to support me… let me know you’re there for me, just as I would for you.