Frustrated with day to day management
When you have diabetes, you will quickly learn that its care entails careful attention to detail. While this is true, there are also payoffs to mastering the details, including feeling better.
It’s normal, though, to get tired and overwhelmed by dealing with the details day in and day out. You are not alone in feeling this way. However, it is important to learn to recognize these feelings of frustration and find healthy ways of coping with them.
Here are some specific tips that will help you cope with some of the most challenging aspects of managing diabetes day in and day out.
Coping with dietary changes
One of the things you can do to manage your diabetes is to eat healthy and manage your weight. However, sticking to a healthy meal plan is also one of the hardest things for many people. These tips can help you to start eating healthier:
- Learn more about how to eat healthy. Do you know how to create a meal plan based on healthy eating principles? You can use the Changing Life With Diabetes online Menu Planner to help you create a 7-day menu complete with recipes and a shopping list. You may also want to get help from a registered dietitian. Ask your doctor for a referral or contact the American Dietetic Association at 1-800-877-1600 ext. 5000 or eatright.org to find a registered dietitian near you.
- Adopt a healthy meal plan that is realistic. No one – including you – can eat right all of the time. So don’t expect to be perfect. Know that you will bow to temptation now and then. When it happens, though, get back on track as quickly as you can.
- Many people eat as a way of dealing with stress or as a reward for reaching a goal. If you do this, better ways of dealing with stress might include yoga, meditation, talking on the phone, or other activities that help you to relax. Healthier rewards might include buying a non-food treat or doing something fun.
Coping with a lack of motivation to stay active
When you stay active, it helps to keep your blood glucose levels in your target range. Many people find it difficult to stick with an activity plan month after month, year after year – even when they know the benefits. But, if you do stick with it, you’ll enjoy some powerful benefits to your mental and physical health, so your hard work will be worth it.
Sometimes the barriers to exercising seem to outweigh benefits. If this is true for you, these tips may help you stay active.
- Find fun ways to stay active. One of the most common reasons people give for avoiding exercise is that it is boring. Some people enjoy walking. Others enjoy dancing or working in the garden.
- Make being active a natural part of your life. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park in the furthest parking spaces. Walk your dog around the block instead of letting him out into the backyard. Your “active” minutes will soon add up.
- Track the effects of exercise on your blood glucose levels. Regular activity can have a positive effect on your blood glucose. Keeping a written record of your blood glucose before and after activity should help you to see the benefits in black and white. And when you accept that being active is worth the effort, you’ll start to look forward to it.
- Be safe. Before beginning or changing your physical activity level, be sure to check with your healthcare provider. Before you exercise, it’s a good idea to check your blood glucose. Don’t exercise if your blood glucose level is too low. Also, be sure to keep a high carbohydrate snack or glucose tablets nearby when you exercise, in case your blood glucose level drops quickly. Be on the watch for symptoms of hypoglycemia and respond quickly.
Coping with the demands of blood glucose monitoring
Keeping track of blood glucose today is fairly quick and easy. However, many people who have diabetes fail to monitor as well as they should or stop monitoring at some point. If you do stick with it, though, you have the tools to manage your diabetes in a much more proactive way. You can see how what you eat and do and the medicines you take all affect your body.
You may struggle with monitoring because the “hassles” seem to outweigh the benefits. You may not really know what to do with the information you get from checking your blood glucose. Talking with your healthcare provider is the best way to overcome this barrier.
Here are a few more tips to help you stay on track:
- Recognize that your blood glucose readings are just information, not a pass/fail grade on a test. Your blood glucose meter is not your enemy and it does not sit in judgment of you. It is nothing more than a tool that can help you identify patterns in your diabetes management that will enable you to take actions toward managing your diabetes.
- Make it as easy as possible to remember and do your blood glucose checks. If you find that daily life gets in the way of doing your monitoring, try setting alarms or writing yourself notes to remind you when it is time to check.
- If remembering to take your monitor with you is a hassle, get more than one monitor. That way, you can keep one wherever you need it during the day.
In summary
Remember, managing your diabetes can be easier when you are able to stick with your diabetes care plan over the long term. Coping with the challenges in a healthy way will greatly benefit your health. There is a lot you have to do when you have diabetes, but you can do it. If you stick with it, you are sure to find that life – even with diabetes – can be good.
