Confidence

[CherylEwing]

Hi everyone, I have been a T1 for 15 years now. I am 34 years old.
Does anyone else struggle with a lack of confidence in their body? The ability to be spontaneous, to test your body to the limit, to attack life with enthusiasm, to give it horns??
I have the opportunity to take on a tough 4 day cycling event next year but I feel like I want to hold back. Like I can't take myself there and push to my body's limits.
I fear the hypo's and get despondent with the highs. I am always holding something back just in case. I have become cautious and scared and I hate myself for this anxious person I have become.
How do you cope?
How do I overcome my 'what ifs' and learn to let go?
How do I challenge myself and find my confidence in this body?
How do I dampen the fear in my head and follow my heart?

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @CherylEwing Welcome to the forum.

I felt the same as you a few years back so woke up one morning with the attitude of got to get over this and signed myself up for a skydive, for me this was one of my biggest fears ever, it had haunted my dreams for years !! I thought with type 1 no way, but had raised £650 for JDRF and yes on the day I was petrified and couldn't go to the loo ! Fortunately I had an instructor who made me laugh continuously and so I did it, and now I think yes I can when faced with anything that 'could' of held me back previously, I bought a road bike and go out for an hour a couple of times a week now, hypos do not bother me, I take jelly babies and to be honest I tend to run high anyway.

In your position try and connect with other type 1 athletes ? There are some on the forum, I posted a thread about the London marathon and found other type 1 athletes there, try posting there and tagging posters by adding @ before their name, talking to others about what you think are your limitations and how to overcome them will help, failing that support a charity like JDRF and that will spur you on, think of this would you rather look back and think yes I did it or I couldn't do it because my type 1 held me back ?

 

[IZ THE LEG END]

Hi everyone, I have been a T1 for 15 years now. I am 34 years old.
Does anyone else struggle with a lack of confidence in their body? The ability to be spontaneous, to test your body to the limit, to attack life with enthusiasm, to give it horns??
I have the opportunity to take on a tough 4 day cycling event next year but I feel like I want to hold back. Like I can't take myself there and push to my body's limits.
I fear the hypo's and get despondent with the highs. I am always holding something back just in case. I have become cautious and scared and I hate myself for this anxious person I have become.
How do you cope?
How do I overcome my 'what ifs' and learn to let go?
How do I challenge myself and find my confidence in this body?
How do I dampen the fear in my head and follow my heart?

Hi @CherylEwing,

I am 33, have been diagnosed just over 12 months with LADA.

I ran 5 marathons in 5 days in 2013. So I know about pushing yourself that extra mile albeit I wasn't diabetic at this point.

I was due to run the Isle of Wight challenge interestingly enough this weekend approaching a 106km ultra marathon for charity, When I was diagnosed last year I lost all my motivation, my self belief and interest. In short I just gave up!!!

The months past I couldn't get BG levels to normalise and things went from taking 1 tablet a day to 7 per day and becoming insulin dependant in December!!!

I was devastated, but this was the biggest kick up the a** I needed!!! I got up the next day took my insulin reluctantly and pulled out my running shoes!!!

I have re-committed to running that ultra marathon but in May 2017 now, I am 3 months in to training and feeling brand new!!!

Now with respect to your concerns sites above:

Lack of confidence in the body: Yes I suffer this too, but when you take a step back it's probably the most widespread worry of people in general. I put on 4 stone between 2013 and Christmas 2015, I've lost 1 stone so far... I just cover myself as much as possible, and try to surround myself with people who motivate me and push me that extra mile, I joined a friendly Bootcamp for strength and conditioning... Wow I expected to be the laughing stock I was so impressed, everyone helping each other pushing each along, even to the point at where when they finish an exercise they would come back and carry on where you are!!! As for out and about, running! Well my answer is there I am still moving faster than the ones judging Confidence is built over time I like to think of it like you earn your own confidence, the more you train the more you gain!

Cycling event: perfect you have a target, or goal whichever you prefer to call it!!! That's the best start!!! Sign yourself up and let someone close who you trust and that way you have a deadline, no matter what happens you will make it, I use this all the time, I book a race then tell my mates that way I can't back out, the pressure works for me to get up and go get it!!!

Hypos: have a look at www.runsweet.com some great advice for all sports on here for how to manage your diabetes while training...

For me... I elevate my BG to between 7-9mmol before I train/run/cycle etc...

When I first started back training I would monitor BG every 1-2km and record this later and then I could trend how my BG reacted to different conditions, ie intensity, weather, exercise type.

I always carry a hypo kit, and if your monitoring regularly you won't hit a hypo because you will know how you BG is going to react and you can act in advance accordingly!!! I drop 1 mmol per 2km on average so I use jelly babies I have 3 every 2 km and my BG is steady

So don't be afraid, test it out you will nail it...

Everyone is different and everyone's body will react differently, try cycling with a friend/partner that knows your T1 inside out and how to deal with a hypo and push yourself and record every little detail BG levels and how you felt eventually you teach yourself how to recognise when an adjustment may need to be made... You will get there!

Oops seems I may have waffled a wee bit there!!! Sorry if you have any questions just ask!

Good luck

Hope this was of help

Izzy

 

[IZ THE LEG END]

Sorry, thought I'd share this with you as a picture paints a thousand words so to speak! It's amazing what results you can achieve if you put your mind to it, the picture on the left is October 2015 the one on the right April 2016 so 7 months apart!

I had your outlook, worries and concerns in the picture on the left!

The one on the right, is a different person all together albeit still a long way to go... Stronger, both mentally and physically, fitter, faster and 100000% more confidence...

Set your mind to something and you can achieve anything!

Good luck chin up and go get it!