Have you been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes? Here are some tips.
Diabetes comes on us without warning, is incurable, and potentially life threatening. However, there is so much information available today, along with support, that can make diabetes take a back seat in one’s life.
It can be quite a shock to discover you have type 2 diabetes (or type 1 for that matter). Below are a few small pointers to make your life a little easier, and to make you feel less alone.
Commit yourself to you.
One of the problems with diabetes is that with the correct medication and monitoring, you are almost left to yourself. It’s not a disease that keeps you in hospital until you recover. You have it for life. The fact that medicine is self administered and blood glucose levels self monitored means that contact with your doctor is kept to a minimum. In the early days, this can be a concern. So what you need to do, is put yourself at the centre of your concern. Be careful not to marginalize others, and don’t become self-absorbed, but the fact is there is a lot of information available and you need to explore it and discover how best to look after yourself.
Take charge of yourself.
Whilst your health professionals can interpret the details of their regular medical examinations, outside the hospital or doctor’s surgery you are on your own to a certain extent. You owe it to yourself to take charge and boss yourself a little bit. The medication given you will help considerably, but you need to take an interest. By, for example, making a writtten log of your blood sugar levels throughout the day, you will begin to discover what sort of foods have an adverse affect on you. Everyone reacts differently to their diabetes, and you need to have the self discipline to keep a check on yourself, you’ll feel better for it.
Get your family involved.
Probably the most important support group is your immediate family and / or friends. You need to keep them onside with you. It can be easy to be very angry at having diabetes at first, and those who are closest to us often have to bear the brunt of our displeasure, so please be careful not to appear to be blaming them, or making rediculous demands. Just have some quiet conversations and explain why you need certain things and what they can do to help.
Meet the experts.
You probably have a medical team, who individually, in this target driven world, are under huge pressure, and simply cannot spend the sort of time with you that you would like. I guess the impotant thing here is to be glad that you don’t have to spend all your time in hospital! However, your health care professionals are there to help you. Never be afraid to pick up the phone if you have doubts or anxieties. Get to know them, treat them with respect, and you will have a solid team behind you.
It’s very important not to let diabetes get you down. Try not to live by the thought that “diabetes makes one depressed”, as this only serves to reinforce a sterotype. By talking to those directly and indirectly around you, you can experience a better sense of wellbeing, rather than a sense of being left alone, although when you think about it, being left alone and monitored is better than spending your life in a hospital bed!
Toby has been living with type 2 diabetes for almost 2 years now but is determined to enjoy a near normal life. Have a look at his latest website giving the best deals on round table cloths at http://www.roundtableclothsreview.com