Learning that you have diabetes will come as a shock to many. Not everyone will know how to handle and cope with it moving forward but it is something that many live with and have found ways to manage it. It won’t be easy at first, but there are things you can do to help make the battle a little easier.
Knowledge and Information
Starting your journey in living with diabetes, you might not know where to start and feel overwhelmed. The best thing you can do is to learn as much as possible and gain all the information and knowledge that you feel you need in order to feel confident in living with diabetes. Many people are able to function and lead normal lives, but lacking the knowledge can lead you to feeling emotions of anxiety and fear of the unknown. This is why understanding diabetes is the best way to combat that anxiety as it will put you in a position to know how to handle changes and situations as they arise helping you feel confident.
Getting the right Equipment
Having the right equipment to help monitor yourself is important. This will make your tasks that much easier if you don’t have to worry about or second guess the items you use to measure things. You want to make sure that you get the right glucose meters, for example, using online resources and read more on the tools to provide the information you need. Some features that you should be looking for are the accuracy, the ease of the meters, and the portability. There is a lot of different equipment out there, and being a smart consumer will make everything more efficient and hassle-free.
Developing Routine
It is important to develop a routine. In order to do this, you will want to plan everything and consider how much time you need to set aside for things like measuring your blood sugar, taking insulin, or even making appointments. Once you develop a routine that you are comfortable with, everything about handling your diabetes will be that much easier. You will know how to manage your time and make the adjustments to fit your life. You will be able to work around the new changes and understanding how this is just going to be a part of your day moving forward will be easier.
Healthier Diet
One of the biggest changes and challenges for people is a change in their diets when it comes to functioning with diabetes. Your health is even more important to monitor now if you weren’t already doing so. Use many resources available to help learn about the changes you need to make in your diet when adjusting for diabetes. Because so many people have had to learn how to live with it, there are many recipes and food options and substitutes out there that are suitable for you and can help make your transition that much easier.
More Exercise
Exercise is one of the most important things in addition to health to help maintain your diabetes. You want to ensure that you are getting enough activity in your day to help reduce your fats and sugars and make sure everything is manageable. It is easiest if you have others around you that also promote more active living. There are many ways to stay active, through sports, active leisure, and recreational activities, to joining a gym or taking classes. All these options should make getting and staying in shape a little easier.
Other lifestyle changes
Your health consists of both your eating habits and your active lifestyle choices. This is not solely dependent on exercise, but other decisions also shape your ability to function with diabetes. You want to make it easier by making smart decisions like cutting out cigarettes and tobacco, balancing your life away from screens and inactivity, and getting enough rest and sleep. Everything you do plays a role in leading a healthy lifestyle, which can help make diabetes that much more manageable.
Supportive Circle
Learning how to live with diabetes is especially harder if you are starting out and doing it alone. This is why it is important to establish a good supportive circle of family and friends. This means that your family or those that you spend the most time with, as well as those that you trust and rely on, will be around to help you with the majority of the adjustments early on. They can help with monitoring, appointments, injections, reminders, and anything else necessary for your daily life. It is important to inform your friends in case of emergencies as well as being supportive if all your other changes in your life.
Living with diabetes will be a life-long battle. It will get easier with time and it is important to not be deterred by the difficulty especially early on. With the right practices and knowledge, functioning with diabetes daily will be something you get used to and learn to live around without hesitation.