Often time’s people have asked me how I manage good diabetes control with a busy schedule and I always tell them that it’s because I stay ahead of the game. I know that diabetes is not a game, it’s a very real, shitty disease. However, if it were a game I would win hands down because I refuse to give up. With this in mind I’m always trying to find ways to deal with it and manage it with ease. If that means spending time preparing packed lunches, typing food into MyFitnessPal for carb counting, having spare supplies of everything in my car (apart from insulin – if it came to it I could just use the insulin from inside my pump to inject with), then so be it.
Even if you’ve been diabetic for 10 years or ten days you have something to work with. What happened yesterday that could be altered today? What could be changed and why?
If you tend to go high during a certain time of day – Is your basal insulin correct? What did you eat, is there a chance that you may have miscalculated the carbs? Did you eat more than you bolused for?
If you go high everyday because you’re stressed with an insane workload, don’t blame the workload. Accept that you have the ability to lighten the workload or to increase your basal insulin to manage the highs that are caused by the stress.
Likewise, if you’re constantly going low after a certain exercise – don’t blame that particular exercise and avoid it forever, especially if you enjoy it, take the time to figure out what YOU have to do in order to prevent it in future.
Diabetes is no one’s fault so don’t place blame. None of us asked for it and we would rather not have to deal with it. Accepting that your management is a direct result of your action might be harsh at first, but it will eventually lighten the burden of placing blame on others. – On social media, I once witnessed someone blaming a food company for her high blood sugar, but it’s not their problem. The company didn’t force anyone to buy the food, eat it and bolus for it.
If you take anything away from this post, please understand that you have control. Even if your HBA1C is currently off the chart, you can bring it back. Even if you’re unfit, you can get fit. It’s all about understanding the steps you have already taken and what steps you have to take next.
Finally, I don’t want you to get me wrong in thinking I have perfect diabetes control because I don’t. I have those days of very poor control too, and believe me, there have been times when I have been so busy that it seemed like entering the carbs into my pump was a time consuming task in itself, but I always use these experiences as a learning curve so I can manage better in the future.
You can learn more about managing diabetes in this post here.
Take care
Rowena x
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I normally don’t leave posts, but I found your words inspiring. It’s fabulous that you have everything seemingly under “control.” Control is a great feat (almost impossible) for type 1 diabetics. I’ve been T1D for over 25 years. And, in all these years, my highest ha1c was 6.5. It usually is below 6.2.
But, your words hit a nerve. For as much as you think you are “in control,” you are not! Don’t kid yourself. Anyone else reading post knows that you’re a slave to your glucose meter, insulin pump, insurance company and let’s not forget insulin (thanks Eli Lilly).
Hi Eli. I’m sorry you feel that way. It sounds like you have managed your diabetes very well over the years, with a lot of hard work and dedication I’m sure. I know that its incredibly time consuming to manage diabetes, but i refuse to call myself a slave to diabetes. Yes, it takes my time, but I am still free to do whatever i like as long as i look after it.