Published March 20, 2023

Why Are We ‘Fighting’ Type 1 Diabetes?

Healing Comes From Compassion, Not Battle

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Summary: Raised in a family of linguists, language has always been central in the author’s life. Recently, the language around Type 1 Diabetes caught her attention. Observing the prevalent metaphor of ‘battle’ and ‘fight’ in discussions about diabetes, she reflects on her own journey to acceptance and peace with her body, advocating for a healing shift from conflict to compassion.

I was raised in a family of linguists. Both of my parents studied languages at university, as did myself, my brother and my sister after them. We’ve always played with and thought about language in our family. Recently, the language of Type 1 Diabetes has been playing in my mind.

The ‘Battle’ Of Type 1 Diabetes

I have noticed that, when I speak to fellow Type 1 diabetics, they often talk about their daily fight, their battle, the war that they’re waging. They talk about winning and losing with their Type 1 Diabetes. They talk about their thirst for victory, their desire to win (or just not lose!).

At diagnosis, we hear about how our immune system has ‘attacked’ our beta cells. We learn about the ongoing fight we will have with our blood sugars from that time. We learn we need to be brave and strong to take on this fight. And we’re most certainly told we won’t always win.

One quote I found that wonderfully highlights this fight dynamic that is so intrinsic to our view of diabetes in the modern world. Bret Michaels, the lead singer of Poison and star of VH1’s ‘Rock of Love’, has Type 1 Diabetes. He was once quoted as saying:

"Every day is an absolute battle. I don't care what anyone says. You have to wake up and say to yourself, 'I accept that I have diabetes, and I'm not going to let it run my entire life."

You can hear the conflict in his words. The fight, the ‘me versus my body’ that exists here. I know I had it too. I used to cry to my parents as a child that I didn’t want to do this fight anymore, that my diabetes would always win. I definitely saw my diabetes as something other than me. It was an alien force in my body that needed exterminating or at least suppressing.

Put Down Your Sword, Dear Commrade

I’ve noticed, as my life has progressed, this battle doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I no longer see my body as faulty. I don’t feel I’m at war with it anymore. Sure, I don’t always like it. I do still look in the mirror and not always like what I see. But I have developed a respect for my body now. And I think that respect is key in returning to holistic health – the kind of health that I feel is required for healing to take place. Everyday now, I reach for health in all areas of my life – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I no longer want to change the body I have. I’ve come to a place of peace and welcomed diabetes into my state of being.

I feel the battle with our bodies needs to be stopped if healing is ever going to occur. If we believe that we are fighting our bodies, then peace cannot exist in our cells. Our body will replicate the fight-or-flight response that mirrors our language and belief systems. So healing will take place in a body that is at peace.

Reduce The Fight, Reduce Inflammation

There is some support in the medical literature for the idea of needing peace in the body for healing to occur. This, after all, is what ‘inflammation’ is – the body telling its immune system to respond to a foreign object, germ, bacteria or other irritant. One cause of inflammation is stress in all its forms. So reducing stress, including the emotional stress of the pain, anger and frustration caused my diabetes, will reduce inflammation in the body.

So next time you talk to your body, make it words of love and peace. Show it gratitude and appreciation for all that it does do right. And forgive it for the diabetes it currently has. I honestly believe it’s the best option the body had to choose from at the time that it developed.

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Natalie Leader

Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

Why Are We ‘Fighting’ Type 1 Diabetes?

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