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The Emotional Side of Diabetes.

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherinecherub
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catherinecherub

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"Living with Diabetes takes emotional strength. Why? Because this is a tough disease. Diabetes is more than just a simple matter of eating right and taking your medication. Staying strong emotionally is the key to keeping stress and your blood sugar levels where they belong. Unfortunately, people with Diabetes as well as Doctors, often neglect these real life aspects of the disease".

This article covers the personal, social and behavioural side of diabetes and includes,

.....Harnessing your fears.
.....Overcoming depression.
.....Defeating denial.
.....Giving up the guilt.
.....Appreciating the power of pals, (friends).
.....Arresting the Diabetic Police.
.....From discouraged to encouraged.
.....Keeping Diabetes in it's place.
......Taking control of your enviroment.
.....Taking a Diabetes vacation.

http://behavioraldiabetesinstitute.org/ ... o-Know.pdf

I hope that some of you will find it useful.

Catherine.
 
I'd definitely like to take up the offer of a vacation from diabetes.
 
yeah a vacation from diabetes sounds nice, hehe :lol: id take it when i was going to my friends partys so i could eats lots of cakes and stuff :lol: :mrgreen:
 
What a load of dross

Next we will all be jumping up and down and clapping :roll: Living with diabetes is much the same as living without it, life still has its ups and downs.

Diabetes is a walk in the park compared to a lot of other problems. My ex girlfriend had narcolepsy and cataplexy and I would rather have diabetes than them any day.
 
I'm with u Fuji,
Coping with my rapidly deteriorating sight, and realisation that I can no longer cylcle,and am losing my independence, has been a bigger blow than coping with diabetes as a young adult ever was. Given the choice between having Retiinitis Pigmentsa or Diabetes, I'd have the diabetes anyday, wish I had the choice
Saying that, I still count my blessings, and compared to others, including my son, I feel lucky. on a good day.
Jus
 
As a person who has difficulty with Diabetes I found the information interesting.

Shouldnt we just be saying "thanks for that" instead of putting unhelpful comments. Not everyone deals with diabetes in the correct way. Yes there are people with far worse problems than Diabetes, my daughter has a far worse illness, but this site is for diabetics. And personally I am grateful for all information.

Welshbunny
 
Thanks for that welshbunny.

As the OP I am well aware that not all people cope with diabetes in the same way. There are some diabetics who do suffer with depression as well and it has been widely researched and accepted that this can happen.

I try and post articles that will help all diabetics and if some are flippant with their replies that is their right.. Many will read this article, find it useful and not comment so I have achieved my purpose.

Another example of how different we all are. :wink:

Catherine.
 
welshbunny said:
Shouldnt we just be saying "thanks for that" instead of putting unhelpful comments.
Welshbunny
Click to expand...

Don't see how my comment was unhelpful, it was just a personal opinion.

I could equally say your comment was unhelpful because you found it interesting.

Catherine in her OP did say "I hope that some of you will find it useful". Just because I didn't is no reflection on the OP, and as far as I am aware does not bar me from posting what I thought.

Maybe me saying it was dross might well prompt someone to go and read it, they may well find it useful to them so therefore my comment would have been helpful. :mrgreen:
 
I hope it does help but for me no the side effects of diabetes at this point has so down and emotionally twisted. diabetes is fine I'm coping with needles and hypos and the diet but being crippled with neuropathy is just poop
 
I must say that i know there are other conditions etc that are much worse, but at the same time, diabetes has affected me emotionally. For some people like myself, having diabetes can stop you from doing your dream job. I'm 18 and I had spent the last 10 years researching and preparing for when i would be old enough to get to do my dream job. I got uni interviews etc, but little did i know that me having diabetes would stop me from doing this job. I had previously asked if diabetes would stop me when i was about 12 so that i wouldn't get my hopes up and then them be dashed.

I've had to rebuild my ideas and had to look deep inside me to find another career path, that i might possibly like.

Yes there are other other worse conditions, yes i am lucky that i only have diabetes, i've grown up from the age of 6, knowing what it can do to me, the nasty complications it can give me, and if i'm honest, if i didn't have to battle diabetes then i wouldn't be the person i am today. But there are people out there who have their dreams taken away from them because they have a medical condition, that they could not prevent, nor do they massively want.

I'm pleased for the people who haven't been affected emotionally by having diabetes, you must be the lucky ones!
 
Zo Zo
what job are you barred from?
hana
 
It was being a Paramedic, due to a UK rule of not being able to drive in Blue light conditions, there was one place that would use the dda, but it took months and months to get anything done with them, and time was not on my side. (you also have to pay £1000 + to get your C1 done, which is the catergory on your driving licence to drive the weight of an ambulance, people who had driving licences before 1991 i think have it already on their licences). I was not willing to waste that amount of money when i didn't know if i would be fit to do the job anyway!

If i had wanted to go in the army it would have been a different story, as i would have found out when i was younger that i couldn't and thought of something else to do. But as i said in my other post, i had previously contacted a local ambulance service about if my diabetes would stop me and they said no, however now, since ive investigated it, i've found out that the ambulance service would not employ me because of my diabetes.
 
That's really sad to hear Zozo.

Can't they make an exception based on your performance?

Can't give tests to prove that your Diabetes isn't interfering with your work?

I'm sure if your fit enough to work, they can't hold you back. If this is true, your a victim of injustice (or justice) .

I've been told many a time that I can't do this or that, but thankfully have come through.

A lecturer advised me not to take my degree because of my condition. So far, so good.
 
Taken from http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-and-employment.html

Some jobs are exempt from the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, meaning that employers can refuse an applicant who has diabetes.

Driving HGVs, buses and taxis
Armed forces
Fire service
Ambulance service
Prison service
Airline pilots and Airline Cabin crew
Air traffic control
Offshore work

I believe if you want something bad enough you will find a way of doing it, if you give up at the first hurdle you can't want it bad enough. Even if it means moving to another country where you can achive your goals. All depends how badly you want something.

Nothing is impossible, well except sticking your bum out the window, going down stairs and throwing bricks at it. :lol:
.
 
I didn't fall at the first hurdle, i faught for as long as i possibly could. I've managed to move on from it now and am looking forward to train as a nurse instead. I will still always have being a paramedic in the back of my mind, and i've already decided that if things get a bit easier interms of being able to get to be a paramedic, then i may try again in a few years, of course that depends on how i feel with the job i will be doing then.
 
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