Nobody Prepared Me For The Mental Side Of A Type 2 Diagnosis

[helenb1979]

That was me and still have the fear, and how daunting diabetes is I get sad and have a good cry, the thing that bothers me is family they just don’t get it how hard this disease really is and not working around my diabetes.

Agree with you. Xx

 

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh my god that would of scared the **** out of me, that is horrible.

It wasn't much fun, especially as I'd never heard of HbAc1, and wondered why on earth he would say this when the blood test had been on a hot afternoon and I'd eaten ice cream.... Still, it's ancient history now, and although I'm still on Metformin, my diabetes seems to be well-controlled. And I still eat ice-cream!

 

[NoMoreBeerAnymore]

When I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, I thought the hardest part would be changing my diet.

I was wrong.

The hardest part was what happened inside my head.

The moment I got the diagnosis, my mind immediately jumped to the worst-case scenarios.

I wasn't thinking about blood sugar numbers.

I was thinking:

• Am I going to lose my eyesight?
• Am I going to end up on insulin?
• Am I going to lose a foot?
• Did I do this to myself?
• Is my life going to be completely different now?

Then I did what most people probably do.

I started Googling.

I watched YouTube videos.

I read Reddit threads.

And honestly, I think I scared myself even more.

Everywhere I looked, I found stories about complications, medications, kidney problems, amputations, and things that made me feel like my future was already decided.

What nobody explained to me at the time was that there are millions of people living normal lives with Type 2 diabetes.

Nobody explained that the scary complications I was reading about usually happen after years of poorly managed blood sugar, not because you got diagnosed last week.

Nobody explained that fear and information overload can sometimes be worse than the diagnosis itself.

Looking back now, I realize I spent more energy panicking than actually learning how to manage the condition.

I'm curious if anyone else felt the same way when they were first diagnosed.

What was going through your head during those first few days or weeks?

I found having glucose spikes and swings made me feel upset, moody, grumpy. A bit of sensible eating, getting good sleep and taking meds will stabilise me and help stuff the diabetes into the cupboard under the stairs. I totally freaked out when I got diagnosed, at the time I just ignored it for a couple of years. It took annoying co morbidity issues to make me lose some weight, take exercise and actually take the meds the doctor gave me (even though they gave me diarrhoea). Now I normally feel good, but I still feel tired, anxious and frankly **** if I have gone into avoid the issue mode and eat badly, booze, and lounge around too much.