Hi everyone my names Jim. Most of you might know me already from this online diabetic community. I just wanted to talk about the mindset of a diabetic. What’s your mindset most of the time. I know that when my blood is in range I feel very positive, cheerful, and that everything is alright with the world. When my blood is high I feel as if I have one foot in the grave and my body is wasting away. Fears like blindness, nerve damage, etc. creep into my head when I come to realize the possibility that my blood has been high for over 4 hours or that I’m 22 and I’ve been a diabetic for over 11 years now and I will have complications any day now. I keep decent control but I still go through patterns of something like 2 highs a day followed by some lows, awake or sleeping. When I feel my blood is high I freak out and give myself some insulin with my pump before I even check my blood just so I don’t have to see a high number, its bad I know. I feel that our emotions are linked to our bodies or vice versa.
Most of the time my mindset is anxious and fearful. And I’ve lived with db for 35 years. If I go for quarterly bloodwork and get good results, then I calm down and forget about it for a couple of weeks. But then, the next appointment looms ahead and I get a big gut wrenching feeling of dread.
However…I often suspect that if I did ot have db, it would still be my nature to fret about something else. I think it’s just the way I’m wired.
I think a slightly anxious diabetic is probably under better control than a totally happy-go-lucky diabetic… When I was in college and peeing on one of those urine-test strips (how primitive was that method of controlling your blood sugar?)) and taking one shot a day of NPH… I was very fearful of losing my eyesight someday. Well, now I’ve been diabetic for 31 years, gave birth to two healthy children in my 30s, am almost 50 years old, have not had extremely low A1cs ever in my life, and still have no major complications. I’m very grateful. I’ve had periods in my life where I worked VERY hard at better control, and then there were time periods when for a variety of reasons, I wasn’t in very good control. While tudiabetes is a very good reminder for us of being in good control, I think if you focus on it too intensely every day, you run the risk of burnout. I love to check in here daily, but some days I just don’t need to be focusing as much on the diabetes (I still test and take my MDIs and get my exercise and eat well, I just don’t want to think about it as much.) So on those days I try to focus on something else… I have requested an old comedy from Blockbuster (The Odd Couple), and I am looking forward to watching it and laughing while I get my exercise on my stationary bike. Remember to have fun!
i’d consider myself one of those “happy-go-lucky” diabetics. i ALWAYS try my hardest to be optimist about everything in my life. if i feel high or i am high i get my bs down. i don’t let all of the worrying and stress of complications get to me. i have an aunt and a best friend who don’t take care of themselves and i’ve seen the worst from this disease through them. i think one of the best ways to treat this disease is through optimism. you can’t let it get you down. you have to win the mental battle this disease carries with it or i truely feel you will lose overall. i try to have fun everyday and laugh as much as i can. life is too short and too precious to sit in a dark corner all of the time. i think our emotions are very linked to our bodies. on stress and carefree days my bs is always great and of course i feel great. i try to put thoughts of complications out of my head when they come creeping up. i just tell myself “now’s not the time to worry. worry when it happens.” when/if it does come i will conquor them with the same upbeat attitude. i try my hardest most of the time to have the best control i can on MDI’s and i am proud of myself and my accomplishments. i try to appriciate everything that comes my way.
I bolus without checking sometimes too…just seeing those numbers when you know they are gonna be high makes me so stressed out, it just seems easier to save myself a mini panic attack and do a blind bolus.
Baby, everything is tied in our bodies…If we get stressed, it shows in our BS. You talk about the mind set…this is an interesting subject, I have worked with students with disabilities and having D T1 myself I have made some observations…we have a culture among those of us with a chronic condition, we have our own language, rituals, behaviors that are distinctively ours because we look at what we have and life differently than those who do not have chronic conditions. It is often hard for us to make long term plans as we tend to live one day at a time and we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. We worry about our bodies, whether we can have children, whether we could get complications and whether our death will be horrible and painful. I don’t think that those who are healthy think or behave the same way. As a matter of fact, I have friends who are healthy and get surprised when something like appendicitis or cancer happens to them… they take so much for granted…we know that illness can happen to anyone because we are human and it has touched us. We tend to be more compassionate with the plight of others. The compassion comes from a deep place in our hearts and we have empathy.
Take care of yourself and don’t fret…it doesn’t serve you. Do the best that you can, have fun and live one day at a time. By the way, i have been diabetic 40 yrs. and I did not began to have complications until I turned 40 (ten years ago). The fact is that anything can happen to anyone at anytime. Seek help if you feel that you are getting depressed.
hi all, This is an interesting topic.i find that this is one thing that the health system does not really help much with. they just tell you how to control it and then leave it for you to do. I ahve been diabetic for ten years and think that i would not be the same person if I did not have it. It means you must be always concious, alert and ready for action. these are positive attributes, and for me I know that it has meade me play extra close attention to my health. I get high blood sugars prabably once a day, but they are not as extreme as they used to be and slowly I have got better and better at it. Getting it completely perfect is still a mystery to me? There are so many environmental, emotional, factors which efffect blood sugar! I don’t worry about complications, I never think about it ever. I am living now not in 10, 20, 30 years time. I know that when you achieve overall better health through diet, exersize and less stress your chances of getting complications will definately reduce and your diabetes will improve.
Kathy,
I know exactly what you’re saying. I’m such a stress Monster that if it weren’t this, it would be something else. Sometimes D does almost send me over the edge. I’m only a year into this and what’s to come, scares me to death.
I just got something, I want to share with you, in the mail yesterday. I have taped it where I can see it to remind me. Here it is.
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities, Yesterday and Tomorrow, that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad, it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore live but one day at a time.
Author Unknown
i asked my doctor once what is the most important thing i can do for my health, if i could only do one thing? she answered “choose your ancestors wisely” from there i really had to think. my mother died when i was four (she was 36) my father died when i was 30 (he was 64). i never met any of my grand parents… i should have asked what the second most important thing that i could do… i have been a T1 for more then half my life, and i now have 4 children… 3 of whom are also T1. i worry more for them… i will have to say that i have a lot of fear about the future, even the immediate future. i have had no complications… until my last appointment. then it was my kidney numbers were off, i seem to have some heart issues, there is a spot in my retina… it is all at once i guess
Hi Jim & everyone…I am new to this site…I have had type 1 diabetes for over 23 years. When I first got it I was only 18 and was pretty much a happy-go-lucky" diabetic and didn’t really take care of myself to well. Then I started having complications with my eyes which woke me up quickly to say the least!!! Thank goodness not too much damage was done and now I am much better at taking care of myself and yes I definetly worry more about complications then I did when I was younger.
I don’t think you can ever be 100% percent perfect at controlling your diabetes but if you watch what you do and test your sugars to make sure they are at a decent level and keep you A1C under 7 as others here have said then I think you can worry a little bit less about complications. I now am recently on the Omnipod and it is doing a great job at keeping my sugars under conrol.
Interesting question. What is my mindset about my diabetes. Well, I don’t dwell on what could happen in my future as far as losing limbs, eyesight and life.Life is way to short to waste my time obsessing over such things. I do try to control it but at times am unsuccessful. I watch what I eat most of the time but must admit I have a problem giving that extra push when it comes to excersising. Sometimes, (not always) I find if my sugars are high through nothing I’ve done then I will eat something sweet just to satisfy a craving. I figure if they are going to be high anyway why not? It is still my goal to be the best diabetic I can be. I just have a bit more work to do.
Very interesting topic. I learned a lot from what everyone said. I think the overriding thing in my mindset is that I feel like a failure a lot of the time. I didn’t check, and now I’m high. I DID check and now I’m high. I corrected … maybe overcorrected and now I’m shaky. I didn’t make time for exercise. I gave in to the tortilla chip bag (with or without a bolus, those will get me). This is a disease where what I do/don’t do makes a huge difference, and too often I just don’t comply, or comply without the results I expect. Sigh. And I AM on 20mg of citalopram/day.
Tell your doctor to give you an ACE inhibitor to protect your kidneys. My kidneys were spilling protein and I began to have spots in my eyes (it tends to happen simultaneously) and my doctor put me on Lisinopryl and the problems went away.
I think that the doctor’s answer regarding your ancestors is innapropriate since you did not have control of that. It was not helpful.
If I haven’t said - thank you already, thank you guys so much. What you all had to say on this topic really helped me. I fall hard sometimes but this community ( u guys ) helps me get back up. THANK U!
I was told worrying does a person No good, it holds you back.
I’m a realist. I use systematic rational thought to manage my disease. Everything I do either helps or hurts. So I do LOTS to to help. I’m 50, and I’ll probably die younger than if I didn’t have the disease - so I’m gonna do every damn thing I can to fight it and stay healthy.
Getting wanky about your condition does absolutely no good whatsoever. Face it, deal with it, don’t whimper or whine, and move on.
Just my opinion.
Joe
I don’t worry about Diabetes much. Maybe cuz I’ve had it so long and I still am getting mainly normal Lab tests back. I test often enough to keep things decent. I do not like high sugars for sure but can usually get the occasional high down in a few hours. So I’m not concerned. I remember a high I had for 3 days, back in 2007 and finally I tossed my Insulin. That time I was Real MAD since a 3 day high was unheard of for me since I fear prolonged highs.
Opps! Error. I forgot the highs from higher levels of Pred.(30 mg). Those are killers for me. Recently I said okay to 15mg. but no more than that.
My mindset before was I used to worry freak out now I just take it step by step first I get the feelings of high or low.
Then I get my machine check it whatever the result I deal with it the best way I can.
No point in freaking out because its something that we are going to have to deal with the rest of our life I believe that there are many diabetics that have had diabetes for years and are doing well without any complications and I always keep that positive thought in my mind.
Better to know the number the just to guess and bolus for it.
Keep positive and everything else will fall into place.