Okay. So type 1 diabetes has come into your world or has been there for a while. You have heard all the doom and gloom about “complications” and you are overloaded with all the things you have to do 24/7/365 to keep yourself alive …. but what about you?
If you’ve lived with type 1 diabetes for a while (or even a day!), you’re probably sick of hearing how you can avoid “diabetes” and how to reduce the risks associated with “diabetes” by watching your diet and doing some exercise and … and …. but wait a minute, that’s Type 2 diabetes. That doesn’t apply to you, now does it? You got stuck with the auto-immune disease that hit you like a ton of bricks out of the blue with no chance to fend it off with diet and exercise. And so few people understand that so you may as well be the only one. Yes?
So how do you deal with it? Do you struggle? Do you watch your blood sugar levels like a hawk every minute of the day, afraid to risk losing your toes because you let it creep up to 15 before you knew it was happening? Do you stress day and night over the endless possibilities associated with life with type 1 diabetes?
At JCB Health Solutions, our type 1 diabetes expert has lived a long life carrying the t1d load (with way more comfort now than she used to!) and has a son who has done the same for more than 15 years so … how are they doing? Chez does what she has to do to stay healthy and doesn’t stress and worry about why things happen because she has learned that stress and worry are more of an issue to long-term health than an occasional high or low blood sugar level. She copes well because she has learned to eliminate the stress and have her emotions and mindset in line with her aim to live a long, healthy, happy life so she can calmly monitor blood sugar levels and diet and exercise and all the emotions that go along with it all. Chez’s son wishes he didn’t have type 1 diabetes (of course!) but he is “okay” with it because he’s learned from his mother. Chez’s advice to her son is to be happy but to keep himself as healthy as he can so that one day, WHEN there is a cure for type 1 diabetes, his body will not have suffered the complications of having a pancreas that doesn’t produce what it is intended to produce (insulin in case nobody told you!!) and he can get on with life.
Chez can help you and your unconscious mind (the bit of you that dictates everything that goes on in your world whether you know it or not) to do the same so that type 1 diabetes doesn’t win the battle. Be in control of your life. Be a happy person who just happens to be dealing with life with type 1 diabetes.
More information can be found on the Type 1 Diabetes Emotional Support Group Facebook group here.