Obesity and Diabetes/It Never Seems To Matter That I Don’t Have Diabetes
Probably the most aggressively frustrating part
Of being obese, is that
Everyone you meet
Assumes that you either
- Have diabetes, or
- Are in the process of getting diabetes
It never seems to matter
That most people
Are not doctors, or endocrinologists
All it usually takes
For a stranger to feel confident enough
To talk down to me about diabetes
Is them seeing my fat body.
It doesn’t matter that
Even before I transitioned, I had bloodwork done
Every six months, obsessively monitoring
All the parts of one’s blood that indicate
Insulin, glucose, and any resistance or issue
Dealing with these things.
I’ve had people with
Type one diabetes
Explain to me
How they take care of themselves, and how
That is the reason
They are not obese–
It never seems to matter
That I don’t have diabetes.
I’ve had people with type 2 diabetes
Warn me of my impending consequences–
It never seems to matter to them
That my A1C is 4.8, or that
I’m not insulin resistant, or that
I don’t have any of the symptoms
Of a pre-diabetic, or any of the indicators
A pre-diabetic has in their bloodwork.
It never seems to matter
That I don’t have diabetes.
Often people with type one diabetes
Or people with a loved one
Who has type one
Will talk to me as if
They have conquered a problem
That I have not, that they have
Accomplished some sort of
Health goal, that I have not.
It never seems to matter
That I don’t have diabetes,
It never seems to matter
That that’s not how
I gained weight, and it
Definitely never matters
That there might be other people like me.