Hi everyone my name in Tina i just joined today. I am 52 and have been a diabetic since i was 8 months old. I am on the medtronic 760G and CGM. I have reached a point that i am just so burned out and was hoping that you all might have some ideas on how to get past this burn out point.
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Burnout is real! I have found that therapy has helped me through my latest experience with burnout. So sorry you are going through this. You are not alone and I hear you.
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Mindfulness meditation helps me not get caught up in my thoughts and gives my brain a little rest—even just 5-10 minutes.
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@Tina4 – Welcome to TuD. I have many suggestions but I don’t want to overwhelm you!
First of all, treat yourself with kindness. Consider the advice you might give to a dear friend who is struggling. Cut yourself some slack.
Pay attention to sleep, nutrition, daily moderate exercise and mindfulness.
Do some reading/viewing/listening about good sleep hygiene. One of the resources that helped me is Matthew Walker. Here’s a short 8-minute YouTube video with a brief overview of the topic. There are many of his videos on YouTube; I found all of them worthwhile.
Pay attention to what you eat! It directly affects how you feel about yourself. While I prefer the low carb keto-style way of eating, there are other ways of eating that also work. The important thing, however, is to cut out all processed foods out of your diet. If it comes in a package with a list of unpronounceable ingredients, it’s probably not good for you. Absolutely avoid any style of eating that combines high carbohydrates with high fat consumption – the Standard American Diet (SAD).
Look into fasting – it’s a cheap and available way to help your mood. There’s a reason why every one of the world’s great religions endorses fasting. Check it out!
If you are able, walk a little every day, even 15 minutes is enough, especially if it is outside under the trees. No heroic athleticism required, just a nice steady pace.
Spend some time every day with a mindfulness practice of your choice. It can be as simple as a structured breathing pattern or even meditation. Prayer is soothing to some people. Or you could sit on a park bench and simply take in the sights and sounds – fifteen minutes is all this requires. By the way, singing is also a mindfulness practice, either by yourself or with a group. All of these activities soothe the parasympathetic nervous system – your rest and digest side of you that may be neglected.
Ok - I’lll stop here. You don’t have to do everything! The critical component is starting. When your body starts to respond to this kindness you are giving it, you can’t help but feel better.
What I’m suggesting is that you make a start and then persist. This is a life-long project. Feelings will follow actions. Your burnout is real and the only one who can help you is you!
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I agree with @terry4 and will just say, take a breath, it will be ok. Truly, you can do it. It’s easy sometimes, sometimes not. But you can do it.
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I found that being on a pump that has a loop and algorithm really helps me with burn out.
On days where I’m just not feeling like being on top of it, I know my pump is going to correct it. It won’t be as good as what I can do, but knowing I have a backup really takes the edge off.
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I think Timothy’s idea of a pump on a loop where you don’t have to do as much work or think about it as much would be a good idea.
Unfortunately we can’t walk away from our disease to take a break. If we do try we get sick. It can take a toll. Give yourself a break, whatever you do, it is important. I don’t know what numbers you aim for but maybe ease up and loosen your control. Not to the point it’s hurtful or dangerous, but enough you can take a few more breaths.
I know I take breaks about once a month when I switch my CGM, I take off a day from my dexcom. It allows me to ignore more what is going on with my numbers which I usually react to pretty quickly. So if I go a little higher than normal, I don’t necessarily know until I test. I still test before I eat and a couple of hours after I eat. But I let it go. It makes it feel like a “free” day. Technology is helpful but it also has it minuses.
Good luck and hugs.
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Welcome,you have gotten some very good advice . I hope this helps. Nancy50
Is it primarily diabetes related?
I think covid has added stress in many ways, and many routines disrupted.
Are there 1 or 2 things to focus on first?
Acknowledge there are other things, but consider them as on the back burner for now, if possible (write them down on a “tackle later list”).
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Wow thank you .
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hear you! 100%! I am someone with perfectionist tendencies and in my last role I definitely experienced burnout.
Every morning I would keep waking up to check what time it was and how much more time I had left to sleep (which disrupted my sleep), I kept ruminating about what I had to do the next day, I was eating more, always tired and didn’t want to socialise (had to force myself).
It’s hard to admit when you are experiencing burnout because for me I didn’t want to be seen as anything less than a perfect work. Except we are human and not robots! I realised that everyone is so focused on themselves they really aren’t judging you for needing to recharge your batteries.
I think it’s so important that you love your job because for me a lot of my burnout was coming from a high-paced workplace but also incredibly stressful work.
What worked for me is to ask for support from anyone I felt comfortable; friends and family. I also found that The Perfect Dbol Cycle for Beginners in 4-Weeks or 8-Weeks it was so important to have support or open communication with your boss. It was so easy for me to just say yes to everything or look like I was doing fine but I found it so hard to admit that I was crumbling.
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Tina, I have been doing hypnosis and meditation videos for stress on YouTube. Michael Sealey, Jason Stephenson, the Mindful Movement, The Honest Guys. Michelle’s Sanctuary, and The ASMR Psychologist are good.
I started when my kids and grandchildren were living with me soon after COVID started and I would be so stressed and worn out from lack of sleep, endless chores, and lows and highs from getting distracted. We were all under stress. After being stuck in quarantine situations in her home country for months, my son, his wife and small boys had moved back to his home here. They had lost their teaching jobs there because of COVID and my son had to get technology training quickly to start over here. My daughter-in-law once fell down in tears because I yelled at her when the toddlers were playing on my car driver’s seat unattended. My blood sugar had been low and my son and I had just had an emotional encounter over who was watching my daughter’s baby and he was was casting blame on his wife for not entertaining all the kids at the park while he did online math tutoring.
Anyway, my patience got better in these tense situations with regular afternoon time to myself, listening on headphones to soothing voices. It has continued to help me handle my frustration with erratic blood sugars and medical and pharmacy providers…and on days when I say “I can’t do this anymore!”
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