According to the dLife style guide my editor sent me, "diabetic" is used as an adjective for describing conditions, supplies, and other things related to the disease. It is not used describe a person.

Yes, it's really underlined in the style guide-that's how serious my editor is about it! The preferred term is "person with diabetes" or "living with diabetes." Never use the term "diabetes sufferers."

As a writer who has spent the past decade working in print media, where word counts are the law of the land, I haven't been able to grasp the concept of using three words in place of one.

I have no problem referring to myself as diabetic. It's an adjective after all. I'm tall, I'm smart, I'm funny, I'm diabetic, I'm pregnant. All adjectives. I'm not a person with funny tendencies, or a woman who is tall or living with pregnancy (although at this point, I feel the term "pregnancy sufferer" is appropriate). I'm succinct and to the point.

I know that I am not my disease any more than I am my height, my sense of humor or my mental capabilities. This is a topic that gets a lot of chatter in diabetic circles. (I'm using it as an adjective there, but "circles" refers to people, so should it be circles of people living with diabetes?)

Just this week Nicole posted about it and the week before Julia got the conversation rolling. I can see their points, but at the end of the day, to me it's just semantics.

Or so I thought.

Early this week, I had an OB appointment that left a bad taste in my mouth. It took a few days of being pissy before realizing why I'm so upset.

I'm being treated as an adjective. I'm the diabetic OB patient. I'm not Rebecca, I'm not the very pregnant lady in room four. I'm the diabetic. The one who's in danger of having a really big baby because she's diabetic.

Let's get one thing straight. Its fine for me to refer to myself as that adjective, but it's not OK for my doctor to treat me as that adjective. Yet, I suddenly realized, that's what's been going on for the entire pregnancy.

Every single OB visit I have had, since my initial eight week visit, has been taken up with discussing my diabetes. "How's your blood sugar? What was your last a1c. Because you're diabetic we will monitor you more closely. We won't let diabetic mothers go past their due date. Diabetes, diabetes, diabetes. Etc., etc., etc." Then with one hand on the door knob and the other on my chart, "Do you have any questions, no? See you again soon. Take care."

I'm starting to wonder what non-diabetic women talk to their OBs about?

So, while the writer in me may still be drawn to the brevity of the adjective, the person with diabetes in me finally understands the other side of the argument.