How has diabetes changed the way you eat?
Probably to the better, certainly with regards to my breakfast!
In general going gentle on the amount of carbohydrates I eat and count them as routine before/during any meal I eat. Its a second nature habit by now and no hassle at all after a couple of years.
Has it affected day to day activities?
Not really. Except in the earlier years when just newly diagnosed, as at that time you were more unsure on certain therapy issues around the disease. And Internet did not exist at that time to lookup answers or connect with like-minded via social forums like today.
Some very physical activities or trips into the wild do though need a little extra planning, to bring extra supplies of insulin and sugar if you need.
Do you become more prone to depression after being diagnosed with diabetes compared to before?
Not anything for me, but sure there are always already prone individuals that may get harder hit with such mental challenge if they also on top get a life long chronic disease to battle with. I would consider that quite logic and human if such link exist.
Does diabetes affect relationships in any way?
Not for me, but I am potentially also a very open and direct person. So nothing hidden or surprise for girlfriend, family members or friends around me. On a deeper level, you have of course to consider that your spouse will have to accept living with a person having a chronic disease. And no matter what and how good you are to control your own condition, they will be affected and involved from time to time in supporting you with this. Especially for those unfortunate diabetics that go on to develop any of the long-term complications that can appear.
Do the dietary changes seem to come unnoticed or noticed?
Starting out many years back, it was quite a big change. From a fully free choice of all, to be given a meagre diet to be followed strictly every single day for the rest of your life. Luckily things/knowledge/understanding have changed all that during last 10-15 years (both regarding the disease dynamics and also around nutrition in general), where we are now able to eat/choose almost whatever we want to eat. Just avoiding the stuff with pure sugar added actually. Personally I never liked sweet sugar stuff, not even as a kid before I got diagnosed, so not really feeling I am missing out on anything. Certainly not today.
