What’s the hardest part about diabetes:
exercise?
eating?
or taking medicine (includes testing, shots, pump, etc. lows, highs)
dealing with doctors?
establishing a routine?
What’s the hardest to find time for??
From a outside perspective it would be “taking medicine.” But i really feel like eating is the hardest part. I just hate not being able to eat whatever a want! (yes i know you can work in food, but i’m talking about how our society relates food to everything, for example: eating cake for you bday, eating ice cream after a break up, eating a whole bag of popcorn at the movies, eating whatever you want at you fave restaurant.) I know relating food in such a way isn’t good to begin with, but it seems like a such a chore to try and eat right. Some days are easier then some. I’m a procrastinator by nature so I’m into easy foods, very little cooking, and eating right when i have to (no waiting). The hardest i find time for is exercise, i enjoy being lazy to much! Plus my third shift job doesn’t help me feel motivated during the night. Can’t wait till i’m laid off.
DOMO
oh yeah establishing a routine is super hard for me. I get bored to easily and hate feeling constrained and following a schedule. But routine is key when your on shots. Plus there are so many factors that can mess up a routine: be it working late, waking up to soon, finding time to go grocery shopping, being low, feeling stressed over bills, or even running out of test strips. You get my drift.
Finding the combination between stress, exercise, eating, insulin and other factors is the hardest part for me… Like this week in the vacation I got lazy and didn’t really exercise enough and the insulin I needed to take changed on daily basis… I guess a good routine might help to get there but don’t really have the dicipline at the moment…
i find that taking medicine with my shots and checking my blood sugar, aren’t really as bothersome and hard to find time for. I do hate the pain after a shot of a lantus, ouch! Yeah it’s hard to keep on track. I fall off the diabetic wagon all the time.
Eating by far.
Just last night was an example… we have friends from out of town staying with us, and they all wanted Thai food for dinner. I don’t like to be the person going “hey I can’t eat that so nobody can” so I went along with it even though I haven’t found anything from that restaurant that doesn’t spike my sugars. (they are really nice people and would have NO problem if I said something, but I just don’t like doing that). And in truth, part of me likes having an excuse to be able to eat this kind of food on occasion.
So sure enough, after eating my sugars were up around 160. Which honestly isn’t all that bad for me… I’m not in tight control yet… but still, it’s depressing to have to worry about such simple things like “can I eat a stir fry.” These are the situations where I get angry about diabetes, watching everyone else eat what they want and thinking to myself “why can’t I do that?”
For me once I accepted that I was diabetic, the meds and testing are no big deal anymore. The hardest part for me is the eating. I joke with my doctor that diabetes is a “doctor approved and sanctioned eating disorder” and she laughs and agrees. If you look up eating disorders in the DSM-IV (the go to book for diagnosing mental illness), diabetics who follow protocol and eat properly would meet the criteria for eating disorders! Spending a ton of money on insulin and assorted supplies sucks too. Stress, exercise, lows and high are a pain too. So I guess it is hard to list just one hardest thing!
Eating. I’d always turn to food for comfort when I’m upset or bored. Now that im a diabetic it’s hard. I would say that is the hardest part
sometimes i miss buying big bag of candy and watching movies all night, or going to the buffet and getting all my faves (especially the Chinese buffet). Mt.Dew came out with a new drink that is to die for. I use to mix grenadine (sugary cherry syrup i think) and mix it mt.dew. The restaurant i used to work out had deeped freid chim-cheesecakes (think flour stuffed cheesecake rolled in cinnamon and sugar)… I miss eating chips and salsa (they do weird things to my sugar) I miss just getting full from a healthy chicken salad! Don’t even get me started on Diary queen blizzards…
wow i never thought of it that way. Makes perfect sense.
Hey Domo,
Ask your doctor about switching to Levemir. It doesn’t burn at all. At least that’s one pain you don’t have to deal with:)
Eating, definitely, & everything that goes along with it–planning, keeping on a schedule, counting every carb–& the usual about not being able to eat what I used to. Going out to dinner is not the fun it used to be. Can relate to what Barbra said. We got out with another couple regularly. I feel horrible that it’s always “Can Gerri eat anything here?” Worse when going to people’s homes for dinner & they have to plan something for me.
Our anniversary is next week & two weeks after that is my birthday. First celebrations since I was diagnosed in May. Sounds so whiney, but I got depressed thinking of where I’d love to go out to eat for our anniversary (& about all the great places we used to go to), but can’t now.
eating, by far, not even close. I love rich food, and I am drawn to it. It has been a 34 year struggle. Pass the pizza please.
Oh yeah, thin wheat crust no cheese and no sauce, and no toppings. Oops, I guess that is more like a Frisbee.
Rick
A big cracker!
Personally…exercising is the hardest part for me. The routine, not as bad as it may seem:) eating=moderation, trial and error
i do my lantus in my thigh, and i guess it leaves a bruise. I put about 50 units in, plus i don’t rotate very much on my thigh. Maybe that;s why? Doesn’t leave a actual bruise but i feel it for a while.
we associate eating out as a special thing, but it’s not special if you have to restrict yourself! This guy at work brought in cupcakes that his wife made, drool they were so good! Everybody is pretty bummed at work so even cupcakes can lighten the mood for a while. I’ll admit i had like 4 cupcakes… to hard to resist!
I was on Lantus & it stung no matter where I shot. Lots of people experience stinging/burning with Lantus. I never bruise–thick skin:) Has something to do with the pH of Lantus, I’ve been told. Levemir never stings. It also lasts longer than the 28 days expiration of Lantus.
50 units is a lot. Did your endo mention taking this in several shots? Mine said that it’s better to take large doses in separate shots because it’s easier for the body to utilize that one mega dose.
So true! I handle the day-to-day eating restrictions pretty well, but when it’s an occasion I get bummed. Other than the freedom of being liberated from the kitchen, it hardly seems worth it to go out to eat low carb.
hmmmm i’ll ask her next time. thanks!