An impossible burden in an already complicated life?
All these and more are normal reactions at the start. They are temporary feelings on the road to adjustment. They are not the truth.
Recognize them, then challenge yourself. What do I have to do to begin to feel different? Adjusting to illness is a form of grieving. Often it brings up feelings from other, past losses. You may have to learn to accept what you had put off accepting. Let this be a time of emotional healing.
You deserve to come to the conclusion that diabetes is a part of you, the same as the color of your hair, the size of your nose, the shape of you face.
The Stress Press
Every life has stress. Your diabetes intensifies it in 2 ways.
Diabetes lowers your usual emotional tolerance when glucose levels are too high or too low. This means you feel a resentment or a problem with extra impact.
Emotions can impact your glucose level. Then raised or lowered levels trigger more emotion.
Together these factors can make you like a driver who presses the brake, then the accelerator, back and forth. You get down the road, but the ride is jerky. Just ask the passengers.
What to do
Practice relaxation techniques
Balance work and play
Seek out supportive people
Learn when to say no
Laugh often
Changing your emotional lifestyle
The dietitian teaches you to eat the way all people should eat. The same is true with your emotional dealings. You will have a smoother ride once you manage things well.
Are you a stoic, who quietly puts up with jerks at the expense of tension in all your body systems? Time to speak up.
Are you a trigger temper? Time to learn what triggers you, how to be more accepting of yourself and others.
Are you weighed down by life's events? Time to learn what you can control, what you can't, and let others in.
What emotional dilemmas are you avoiding or obsessing over? Develop a strategy to deal.
When to consult a counselor
Sometimes diabetes is complicated by depression, by anxiety, or by an eating disorder. If you have given an honest effort to bring emotional reactions and glucose level into balance and you are not succeeding, psychotherapy may be the answer. Ask yourself if it has gone on too long, or if the stress feelings are too intense.
