For me, managing my diabetes is relatively straightforward. I take my basal insulin, I count my carbs (kinda) and I bolus. And my outcomes are basically good relative to what I should expect. But there are the “other factors.” Unfortunately, my life intervenes. I travel, I have been home only a couple of days over the last three weeks. I have disturbed sleep and suffer from sleep apnea. And then there is my job, just like many of you, I have my job. And it is a source of stress in my life. Today I woke at 4:15 am to get ready for my meeting today. I had a hundred people arrive for the meeting that started at 8 am and all kinds of things went wrong. I didn’t get finished til late tonight. And then my wife wants to have a talk about “our life.” So I am sorry about the tardiness of this post. Sometimes our lives just overwhelm us.
Another great post! And may I add that you wear that Bacon shirt very well…
Brian, I can SO relate to this. I just went to a funeral home here in NJ for the 3rd time in 6 weeks. My good friend and next door neighbor is dying of kidney cancer and it’s just an awful thing. My life today bears very little resemblance to what it was before the catastrophic events of the past few years. I’ve bitten my nails and cuticles are bleeding this morning. My blood sugar this morning was 320.
320?
I set my insulin to give 1.7 unit from 12-4am. That way i wake up most time very low,
occasionally i have to take some snacks to avoid low in the night
I’ve been advised many times to take up meditation or to use other techniques to deal with the mental stress. I know it would be helpful, but I haven’t. These mental aspects cause our blood sugars to go all over the map and they also drive us crazy because our diabetes care takes the back seat to our lives. I hate getting old, I hate losing friends and I really hate seeing my life turn into a mess at times.
It’s so funny when you said 90% of diabetes is mental. I had to laugh because I was talking with some doctors (in a clinical trial) about what I wouldn’t give to have something that would free up all the brain power I use for my diabetes. Whether it is a bionic pancreas or stem cell, something. And than I said if there was something that could do all the thinking for me, I could maybe learn to play a piano, or write a symphony, or write a book, or cure diabetes. You get what I’m saying because this disease is mainly mental and I feel like most of my brain power is being sucked up managing my diabetes. Eating a meal isn’t just sitting down & enjoying, it’ the math gymnastics. Nothing is easy, everything is complicated and while I don’t think about the diabetes every waking moment, much of it at this point done subconsciously. 90% probably a good number although there are days when it’s even more.
I retired five years ago. Removing that demand on my time and personal energy, diabetes has been easier to manage. I’m not a gregarious person and my social life is on the thin side. I can honestly say that my diabetes responds better when I give it all the attention it needs.
Whenever I engage socially, my diabetes treatment suffers to some degree. Multi-tasking does not suit me well. I know that life is more than diabetes and I know a good social life is a healthy thing. Your post makes me examine this issue again. Balance - the holy grail of diabetes.