Alcoholism and diabetes both run in my family. I inherited diabetes, my sister inherited alcoholism. Inheriting a disease doesn't make one a "victim" though. Its a cross one has to bear and no one else can do it for you.
Both diseases became active for us at about the same time, in our mid 20s. Both of us resisted actively treating our diseases. I was afraid of the effects of taking medication for my diabetes and only starting treating it seriously after my symptoms became much worse and when I started to have some success with different medications. My sister has not found success with her treatment for alcoholism yet. She's been hospitalized twice for pancreatitis, been in detox/treatment twice, and has a mounting list of other symptoms that are spiraling out of control.
I am a new member to this community because I just had a disaster of a visit with my sister over the holidays which I didn't handle very well at all. She is actively drinking but trying to hide it from all of us, unsuccessfully. The issue of alcoholism being a disease came up a few times and I don't get the debate, I guess. My sister seemed to want to say that since it is a disease, we need to see her as a victim of it, which I don't agree with at all.
I don't see myself as "victim" of diabetes, its a disease that I need to deal with. I'm responsible for taking care of my diabetes treatment which changed all of my life routines but is now just a part of who I am and what I do. Same thing with treatment for alcoholism, right?
My family says I'm self righteous and inflexible in general so I apologize if others take that away in the tone of my post -- that's why I'm on here. I'm trying to learn how to deal with this better and this is the first topic on the list.
