D-Responsibility
There are lots of responsibilities that come with being a diabetic. I have made a list of the responsibilities every diabetic should know. I am sure some people would suggest more and take away few I had listed. This is a good starting point.
Acceptance
Acceptance is a very powerful lesson. It is one of the hardest things to do as a diabetic. It is the act of totally agreeing to a situation without any reservation or doubts. It will require you to put aside old beliefs and acquire new beliefs. It is about discovering how you have changed physically. You will have to change mentally. It will change your lifestyle. These feelings of uncertainty will dissipate when you have accepted the situation and all the rules that are involved. Because we are no longer fighting our diabetic condition attention can now be focused on other pathways to advance the acceptance in our lives. It takes a lot of energy and reckless thought to keep fighting something that we can not control. People can fight fire with fire for only so long. Denial will not make your condition go away. While you are busy pretending nothing is wrong, the high levels of glucose will still cause damage to your various parts of your body. It may take years but your body will start to struggle with its functions. You many lose your eyesight or have to go on dialysis. When this happens don’t blame diabetes for your choice to be in denial. Ask yourself is there a winner after all the fighting? The winner is the one who has gained acceptance in their lives. It takes a certain amount of maturity to come to this conclusion that all fighting and resistance doesn’t have a purpose anymore. At one time, the fighting did have a purpose. It meant you were not going to let anything come and take over. But when the value of the fighting has diminished than what do you do? What do you do when you have an enemy that has a name but not a definite cause or a definite cure? What do you when all of modern medicine has failed to provide proper prevention? What do you do when your body has itself own agenda and it’s not what you want? What do you do when you notice your body is breaking down before your very eyes?
Write down your fears of acceptance. Talk to a friend or therapist and get another point of view.
Love Yourself
To love yourself is to know yourself. Taking care of yourself is loving yourself. Even though you have a chronic disease you can still treat yourself and be good to yourself. Loving yourself also includes doing the actions to take care of your diabetic body. Testing glucose levels and taking medication is very important. Starting an exercise program and healthy food diet is also loving yourself. Try to control the amount of stress your life. In the end, who can you depend on take you to the doctor appointments, to feed and clothe yourself? Loving yourself is about being the best for you and your body. Should you love yourself any less because your body is changing? You should love yourself more!
Know your Type…
“I remember asking a gentleman what type of diabetes he had and he told me the “insulin resistance” type. I kindly explained to him that Insulin Resistance is a symptoms and not a type of diabetes. It is a condition that occurs in both types 1 and type 2 diabetes.”–Chrystal
It is your job to know what type of diabetes you have. It is the first thing a doctor or any person will ask you. Your treatment will be dependent on it. Therapies for a Type 2 diabetic will normally not work on a Type 1 diabetic. There are exceptions. I have heard of cases in which the exact condition was hard to determine. If this is the case than question your doctor as to why they can not give you a designation. Ask are there tests (C-peptide/GAD) that can be done to help this determination. Perhaps you may have one of the rare types of diabetes (MODY). There is a new designation called LADA 1.5 that can mimic the symptoms of Type 1 and Type 2. If you don’t take this seriously than the doctor will not take this seriously.
Do not be scared to seek a 2nd opinion. If you receive treatment from a general practitioner than go see a diabetic specialist called an Endocrinologist (Endo). If you are unhappy with your Endo than try to find another one. Try to find a Diabetic clinic in your area. These clinics will have everything a diabetic will need to help maintain the mental and the physical aspects of diabetes. Plenty of diabetics have seen multiple doctors in trying to find the “right doctor” for treatment. This is no different than any other ailment. A patient wants to be with a doctor they trust is doing the best for them. This is your health! Therapy is very individualized. So if you don’t know your designation then receiving proper care will be difficult.
Health Advocate
Be your own health advocate. Don’t depend on the doctor to know everything about your body because they don’t. They don’t know how it feels living with diabetes. Be proactive about your life with diabetes. Who else is going to care about you, love you unconditionally, and move you to the higher ground? The only person is you. You should learn and be knowledgeable about your condition. You should be proactive about your condition. This will help you stay alive and keep you from suffering. Being your own advocate will bring respect from your doctors and people around you. With the internet the information is readily available at your finger tips. Ask questions. Knowledge is power!
Know other Types
Don’t just know only about Type 2 diabetes. Learn the basics about other the types of diabetes. You will be able to discern fact from fiction. You will also have the ability to question your diagnosis if think there is an issue. You will be able to correct people that are not sure about diabetes as a whole. A little knowledge never hurt anybody.
Medication
I met a woman who told me that her husband was having awful diarrhea and had was having tests done on his GI tract. Later I found out her husband was diabetic and taking metformin. I told her that GI tract irritation is a common side effect of metformin.–Chrystal
It is important to know about the medications that you are putting into your body and how they work. After all your body is a temple of love and respect. You don’t have to know intricate details but at least know what parts of the body they will affect and what side effects they can cause. It is important to ask if your current medication will be affected by any new medications. There are some medications that are available in combinational packing. Instead of paying for 2 separate prescriptions you will only purchase one. Ask the local pharmacist or Endo if there are certain foods that will interfere with the effectiveness of your medications. Ask your health professional will need to take other medications that indirectly affect your diabetics like blood pressure , cholesterol and fiber medications. This will help with your dosing and if your medication needs to be adjusted. It is common to adjust medication because therapy is always a work in progress.
Hypoglycemic and Hyperglycemic Episodes
“Type 1 Diabetic Bret Michaels has openly discussed how his dropping blood glucose levels cause an accident in which his luxury car was totaled. He is lucky to be alive.”
It is your responsibility as a diabetic to be prepared for hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic situations. Being prepared would involve having access to foods/beverages to consume if you feel you are having a hypoglycemic event. You can get glucose tablets and gels at the pharmacy. Sometimes just carrying a piece of candy may do the trick.
Most diabetes can feel a change in their body when the blood glucose levels are getting low. Test yourself when you think any changes are occurring in your body. Don’t assume the feeling will pass and everything will be ok. Testing is the only way you learn about your body and begin to develop new parameters for your body.
Know and understand what is considered a low blood glucose level for your body. The best way of learning this is by testing your blood glucose levels. So there is no magic number for everybody.
If you are driving and you feel your blood glucose levels dropping, pull over! This is a big issue in the diabetic community. Some states will not give driver licenses to diabetics because of these types of situations.
State Benefits and Work Laws
It is always helpful to know what laws are available to help and protect people with chronic diseases. I do know that diabetes are covered under the federal Disabilities Act. There are diabetics that face discrimination in the work place. Employers don’t mind giving smokers a “smoke break” but they may feel time to recover from an inject of insulin not important. I personally had a supervisor that “badgered” me for paperwork while I was injecting myself with insulin in front of him. The disclosure of your health condition to a potential new employer could result in longer unemployment.
Learn about benefit programs in your state to help with obtaining supplies and insulin. In the state of California, diabetics are considered disabled. This may not give you the right to request a special parking plaque but there are things an employer can make available to you if needed. I would suggest to do research in your own state or country as to what benefits are covered.
Eating Healthy
Nutrition is so important to a diabetic. Your food intake is one of the few things you can control. Choosing better foods will make you feel better and allow you to have more energy. The old ways of nourishing yourself will have to change because ultimately they will not improve your health. The whole point to healthy eating is to help your body to work smarter and function better. Nobody is suggesting that a person must starve themselves and not enjoy their food. I am just suggesting some changes in your everyday food regime.
First read about nutrition and what foods are healthy for the body. There are lots of websites and books that offer healthy alternatives to foods high in carbohydrates. You will be surprised to learn that some foods are not as wonderful as you once me thought.
Make a plan of action with your food. Try to eat smaller portions of food during the week and then have a slice of cake on the weekend. Notice I didn’t say the whole cake. Eat more veggies. Drink more water. The rule is everything in moderation.
Exercise
Exercise is vital for every person especially diabetics and one of the few events that is under your control. Walking around the work place is not exercise. Exercise is an event that you can decided to do. It is recommended that a person should take 10,000 steps a day. Get a pedometer at the local sporting goods store and see if you are moving 10,000 or more steps a day.
Exercise is a great way to make your diabetes more manageable. You are helping your body to become stronger. Exercise can come in many forms. Find a particle sport or something that you like and do it! Please understand I didn’t say train for the Olympics but just simple exercise. Walking around the block to unwind after work is one of the best ways to start exercise. Make it a family event and go walking around the block or school track with the kids. The walking will improve your insulin resistance. There are plenty of training videos on Youtube that you can work out with for free. Yoga and belly dancing are other great ways of exercise and can be low impact. If you have mobility concerns than exercise from the waist up! Work your arms with boxer style punches. Get can goods or a bottle of Tide and use as weights. Pump the arms. There are lots of creative ways to stay physically fit.
Important Note!
Exercise can cause you to become hypoglycemic or your blood glucose levels to fall. So when you do exercise have counter measures available just in case this occurs. Glucose tablets and gels are available at the local pharmacy. Carrying a small bottle of orange juice is another alternative.
Support Groups
Surround your self with a wonderful and engaging group of people that will support you. This is another situation that you can control. Support for diabetics is paramount. There are so many Type 2 diabetics that do not receive the love and support from there own family members. Don’t be scared to look outside the family circle to find an emotional diabetic outlet. Nobody really understands how you feel when you have to change your lifestyle besides another diabetic. People that are non diabetic do not understand and most often chose to be ignorant of diabetes. Most cities will have some type of support group for diabetics. There are lots of support groups for Type 1 diabetics. If you are not able to find a local support group then go online. There are several diabetic community websites that will offer resources, understanding, information, from other diabetics. Most of these sites were created by diabetics and not medical institutions.
You should have a medical support system. This should include a few of the following Endocrinologist, Dietitian, Diabetic Educator, Diabetic Nurse, and a Counselor. Diabetes is not a disease that you can treat alone. At some point in time you will have to seek medical advice. I will always recommend that a diabetic seek the medical advice of a Endocrinologist. If you are a person seeing a general practioner and are happy with the care then stay with your doctor. If there has not been a change in your blood glucose levels or your levels are still uncontrolled then you need to see an Endocrinologist. They can offer new treatments and tweek your medicines. For the most part, Endo treat diabetic patients and their ailments. The longer your blood glucose levels are uncontrolled the more damage you will be causing your body.
Most diabetics are not aware of how nutrition affects their lifestyle and diabetes. Some of the foods in different cultures are not considered healthy but they are apart of the ethnicity. Some of these old traditions will have to be revised. A dietitian can help you to make better food choices and explain the nutrition labels. Make sure you do your own research! There is a plethora of online resources about foods and sugar.
