Is diabetes a disability or an illness? Or both?

One of my buddies has recently been diagnosed with diabetes - the one where he only has to pop pills to sort it out (no injections or anything). He reckons that's it for the rest of his naturals - diabetes is a one street and once you've got it you don't ever go back to not having it. Which makes some kind of sense.

But to hear him talk he might as well be on death's door - really, you've never met such a sick bloke in all your life and he has to wear socks 24/7 for some reason.

So just how debilitating is diabetes; would my buddy survive being thrown in to ditch for being such a wuss or would it kill him or something? He's obviously being a drama queen and going hell for leather in pursuit of sympathy, but to what extent?

Just how serious is the sort of diabetes he has got? Where is the line between going over the top about it all and dealing with it for what it is?

Any guidance at all would be very much appreciated, especially from other people with that sort of diabetes and who know what it's all about in a practical, everyday sense.

If he's only taking tablets and not on insulin injections then he is definitely not a Type 1 Diabetic, which is the one which can attack your immune system.

Sounds like he has Type 2 which is most common and usually caused by bad diet or excess weight if not hereditary. Type 2 Diabetes is an illness that can be controlled. It's not a disability. It won't ever make him bed-ridden and he won't lose the use of his brain or limbs due to Diabetes. He might need injections later though and if he is overweight he needs to lose it otherwise he can get cardiovascular diseases.

But Diabetes is nothing like, for instance, MS, which is a debilitating illness and progresses into a disability.

He sounds like an attention seeker to me, I have mates like that. Crikey I just had heart surgery and my mate was whining on at me today about her bad headache! Tell him to get a sense of perspective.

To be honest I'd rate it as a Condition

If its Type 2 diabetes, it is easily managed by healthy eating,not being overweight and doing regular physical activity

My boss has it, and she's never,ever off work sick.

It depends on how bad it is to be a disability if it's not bad it's not a disability but if you can prove it's really bad.

This is a good web page if you want to understand your friend's condition: http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/2700026...

And this is why he is worried about his feet: http://www.diabeticfoot.org.uk/

diabetes would be a illness but it is a life lond disease

It is an illness but can often lead to a disability, many people would count it as a disability due to the fact that for some people it rules their lives..

He has to wear socks to protect his feet, diabetic have to be careful abou there feet because diabetes effects the nervous system and the person my not notice harm to there feet until they get an infection.

He is going over the top just a small bit because in this day and age it is a very managable illness, he is a type 2 diabetic which means he is still producing small amounts of insulin but it could be worse, he could be totally insulin dependent(type 1), Diabete's tho can be harmfu if not treated properly even in your friends case, if blood suger levels get to low or too high they can go into a coma or even die. as long as it is well managed it is harmless really

I am type 2 diabetic and it is with me for life and at the moment I am on 3 Metformin tablets a day and it is under control . Your friend is not near deaths door if he is on tablets. He does have to keep his feet warm and wash them a couple of times a day. Diabetics really do have to look after their feet as it is possible to get gangrene and have to have feet or legs amputated. He must keep his sugar intake right down but it is not the amount of sugar diabetics eat that causes the problem but the body not being able to produce enough natural insulin to deal with it. That's why severe cases have to be injected with insulin. Even with treatment diabetes gets progressively worse and can cause kidney problems and lead to heart attacks and blindness. Physical exercise is also very important for diabetics. If he is sensible and cuts out as much sugar as possible and exercises then he should not have too much of a problem. Diabetes is on the increase in the UK and the number of sufferers is in the hundreds of thousands. His doctor or practise nurse should offer to keep an eye on it and in UK any finger pricker sharps and glucose testing strips are free on the nation health. If he has a finger pricker then he must have a yellow box to put all used sharps and testing strips in. The box is free by prescription and IT IS ILLEGAL TO PLACE THEM IN A DUSTBIN. When the box is full the chemist will dispose of it by sending it away for incineration..