A Letter To Reader's Digest.

[Read part two here: http://www.textingmypancreas.com/2011/04/second-letter-to-readers-digest-you.html]

Dear Editor(s) of Reader's Digest magazine,

Your publication has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

A Reader's Digest could always be found in the pocket of the driver's door in my mom's car. She'd read while she waited for my brother or I to burst out of the doors at school, when a piano lesson or soccer practice went longer than planned, or during any other stolen moments of the day. She found encouragement, humor, and relatable experiences in the stories you've told.

As I was growing up, my mom would dog-ear the pages with the stories she wanted me to read. Lessons she'd want me to learn. Chuckles she'd want me to have. Now as an adult, RD still provides those things for me.

Your magazine was a trusted source of information during my childhood and beyond (I'm a current subscriber), and I know that many of your loyal readers must feel the same way.

That's why I'm writing you now. Because, dear Reader's Digest, you've gotten something completely wrong. And that trust has been broken.

Sidenote: aren't these people a little bit old for piggy-back rides?

You see, diabetes is a part of my life too. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child in 1986, back when glucose meters were bigger than Kanye West's ego and the coolest way to carry your insulin and syringes around was in a fanny pack. I've spent the last 25 years of my life living with an illness that is very recognizable, yet so frequently misunderstood.

People don't always understand that yes, I can eat that; yes, it hurts every time; and no, the type of diabetes I have can't be controlled alone by diet, exercise, cinnamon, willpower, prayer, or a lucky penny thrown into a well. Many people don't even know that there's more than one type of diabetes. Type 1 is an auto-immune disease, which means that right now, there's no "reversing" it. Keeping my blood sugars "stable", as you phrased it, does not reverse what my immune system is doing to the insulin-producing cells in my pancreas. Increased exercise and different food choices won't "cure" me.

People don't always understand that just because living with diabetes doesn't look difficult, doesn't mean that it's easy to manage. It's far, far from easy. And it's not going away until we find a cure for it - a real, biological cure.

So here's where you come in, Reader's Digest. Because from all appearances, you've really messed up.

There is no cure for diabetes. Let me say that again: there is no cure for diabetes. Not for type 1; not for type 2; not for any type. (Your failure to specify what type of diabetes you are addressing is also troubling. One can assume you mean the more commonly occurring type 2, which makes up about 90% of the diabetes population, but how will the general public know that?) While the symptoms of type 2 diabetes may be "reversed", the disease itself doesn't go away. Tightened glycemic control may ward off complications, but the insulin resistance that defines type 2 remains. For life. There's no reversing that, currently.

There is an entire community (online and off) of people whose lives have been touched by diabetes. We spend a great deal of our time and passion living in spite of, and advocating for, diabetes. Living with it is hard enough - now imagine having to do that AND live with all of the misconceptions that get thrown around.

Sadly, Reader's Digest, you've thrown another one into the pile. And you've riled us up, a bit.

For all of your loyal readers - the ones that regard RD as a trusted source of information - I have to say, you've let them down. Diabetes, in any form, is not reversible. Manageable? Absolutely. Controllable? Mostly. But "reversible"? No.

People trust you to bring them credible information. People will take what you print to be the truth; to be indisputable facts, because they're "in print". People will make assumptions about me, and about every person living with diabetes, based on what they learn from publications such as yours.

Words are important. I wish you had picked better ones.

Kim Vlasnik
A person living with type 1 diabetes since 1986
And rocking it, I might add

P.S. I'll be keeping a running tally at the bottom of this post of responses you should be reading about this, Reader's Digest. Keep checking back - I'll continue to update this list.

* * * * *

For anyone who wants to write Reader's Digest directly regarding this upcoming diabetes issue, here is their contact information (taken from page 8 of the May issue):

Letters to the Editor:  letters@readersdigest.com

                                                or

                                React, Reader's Digest

                                PO Box 6100 

                                Harlan, Iowa  51593-1600

                                "Include your full name, address, email, and daytime 

                                phone number."

I have emailed them a shortened version of what I said here, and also included a link to this post.

* * * * *

Posts in the DOC (diabetes online community) you should read about this issue:

The Princess and The Pump:  http://www.theprincessandthepump.com/2011/04/i-found-cure.html

Me and D:  http://jess-meandd.blogspot.com/2011/04/dear-readers-digest.html and http://jess-meandd.blogspot.com/2011/04/ridiculous-hawmc-day-4.html

Diabetically Speaking:  http://diabeticallyspeaking.com/2011/04/04/no-cure-for-stupid/

Tightrope Tango:  http://tightropetango.blogspot.com/2011/04/readers-digest-finds-cure-not.html

Every Day Every Hour Every Minute:  http://countrygirldiabetic.blogspot.com/2011/04/here-we-go-again.html

Thread on Juvenation.org:  http://juvenation.org/forums/p/10810/162285.aspx#162285

Mind fluff:  http://mindfluff.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/et-tu-readers-digest/

Diabetesaliciousness:  http://diabetesaliciousness.blogspot.com/2011/04/just-got-off-phone-with-director-of.html and http://diabetesaliciousness.blogspot.com/2011/04/so-readers-digest-i-talked-very-briefly.html

VictoriaCumbow.com:  http://victoriacumbow.com/?p=487

My Diabetic Heart:  http://www.mydiabeticheart.com/?p=543

A Diabetic Life:  http://adiabeticlife.com/?p=191

Post on TuDiabetes.org:  http://www.tudiabetes.org/profiles/blogs/letter-to-readers-digest-in