Every now and then I mention in this weekly email that I am diabetic. I do that because I hope it gives insight to some of the choices I make. But, it has a a side-effect that I want to share.
Once or twice each month somebody will email or call me to talk about my diabetes. The conversation usually goes like this.
Hi Pete, I read in your email that you are diabetic.
Yes
I can cure it!
Oh. How?
Well, have you tried Mannatech/Nutratech/Herbalife/Sportron/Balltron/or the Cosmic Discombobulator?
Can’t say that I have.
It cures diabetes.
Oh. I assume you mean Type 2 diabetes. I have Type 1. They’re completely different diseases with a common symptom. All our urine tests sweet, like honey. (Diabetes mellitus is Greek for sweet urine.) I can’t help thinking how tough being an ancient Greek doctor must have been Ha. Ha.
Ja, well, I cure all type of diabetes.
Oh. You do know that mine is hereditary and my cells that produce insulin all died in 1971? That means that the entire scientific establishment, including folk that have devoted their lives to finding answers for diabetics, are convinced that there is no cure at this time?
Ja, well, that’s all part of the global conspiracy to make the pharmaceutical industry rich by impoverishing the health of the masses. Now, about your diabetes, I want to send you a sample.
Thank you, but after almost forty years as a diabetic I have managed to keep all the long bits attached, and all the working bits functional. In other words, I am doing OK and I rather like the balance I have achieved right now. You’re asking me to put that at risk, and I am not comfortable with that.
Ja, well if you want to live in pain and discomfort you can do so. I can prove that I can cure diabetes.
Why don’t you send me that information?
Why is it that when my doctor speaks about the subject I listen far more attentively? S/He has spent a lifetime studying these issues, treats a bunch of very varied people with the same challenges I face, and knows how quickly things go wrong when you mess with the equilibrium.
Why is it that when another Type 1 diabetic raises the issue I listen carefully? S/He has walked many miles in my shoes and feels the same as I do.
And that’s the secret to sales. Doctors know this. They ask a lot of questions long before they offer any answers. It’s called a bedside technique. They do it because one hundred years ago they had to have an edge when they told you that they were going to cut your left leg off. Or that they were going to drill a hole in your skull. Or that seventeen leeches three times a day would solve your problem. All without anaesthetic! That was selling!
Hi Pete, Did you get my email with all the information I sent you?
Thank you. It looks like an interesting answer. But it didn’t mention any Type 1 diabetics.
Yes it did. There was that Feng Shui fellow in Urumqi province in China.
Indeed, he was a Type 2 diabetic. I am a Type 1.
What’s the difference?
I rest my case.