Getting Back On Track With Your Diabetes Care

Listen, we would all like to say that we are always on point when it comes to maintaining diabetes health. But in reality, it is very common for people to fall of track from time to time.In this article we are going to look at the most common reason that people fall behind in their diabetes diligence and what you can do TODAY to get back on track with your diabetes care.The most common reason that people neglect their diabetes health is due to…DENIAL. Now you may not consider yourself to be a person that lives in denial. Fine. You also may not consider your lack of diligence towards your diabetes care as a sign of denial. Fine.

But let me ask you this. Why? Why, if not for some form of denial, have you neglected all or part of your diabetes care? Is it because you are stupid? No. It is because you are lazy? No. It is because you want to die? No. Well…there aren’t many reasons left other than your mind began to use denial as a coping mechanism.

Denial is the norm for someone newly diagnosed with Diabetes. It is a way of coping with bad news and a way for our brains to accept things little by little. Diabetes care is a huge responsibility that is thrust onto a patient without much wiggle room. You can kind of see how or why a newly diagnosed patient may exhibit denial.

But what about those of us who have stayed on top of our diabetes care for a long time? How is it that we can suddenly find ourselves slipping back into denial? It’s not like one day you wake up and you completely deny the fact that you have diabetes. No, denial is way more insidious than that. It may start out like this:

• I can’t make my doctor appointment today…I’ll call sometime next week and reschedule
• A couple of cookies isn’t going to kill me
• I don’t need to check my blood sugar level…I can feel when something is wrong
• I have diabetes but it’s not “that serious” because I don’t have to take insulin
• I ran out of my medication but I just don’t have time to go fill it…I’ll get it another time

Now, before you know it you haven’t gone to the doctors in weeks, you’re not taking your medication, you’re not checking your blood sugar level which would give you an indication of what your avoidance is actually doing to you, and you are not eating well.

Then…the shame sets in. After a while you will realize that you don’t feel good. So now, you are slowly coming out of the denial but because you let yourself get back into this situation you are feeling shameful. Shame and guilt are your enemies. They will keep you doing the same destructive things out of embarrassment and fear.

How To Get Back On Track With Your Diabetes Care

Now that you have come out of your denial you need to take action. Just a few steps in the right direction will get you back on track with your diabetes care.

Call Your Doctor – The first thing you are going to want to do is call up your doctors office. Let them know that you have not been very diligent about your diabetes care lately and as of this instant you are getting back on track. Get the first available appointment with them.

Start Taking Your Medication Again – If you have either been kind of lax with taking your medication or you have failed to refill your medication the next thing you would want to do is start taking it again. So go to the sink and get yourself a glass of water or head to the drugstore and refill that prescription.

Start Monitoring Your Blood Sugar – Just test it. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? You’re going to see that because you have been completely avoiding all of your diabetic responsibilities that you’re blood sugar is extremely high. Well, so be it. You gotta start again somewhere. Just because you avoid testing your blood won’t make the high level disappear.

Wow…look what you’ve accomplished already. You have started testing your blood again, you have started taking your medication again and you are scheduled to see your doctor. You’re not too far off from being completely on top of your diabetes again am I right?

Diabetes Meal Plan – To me, this is the hardest part at first. Changing our diet can be a very difficult thing to get used to. But…if you are testing your blood again like you should be, you are going to really see the impact that eating a diabetes friendly diet has on your blood sugar level. Keep in mind that it takes people about 27 days of continuously doing something to make it a habit that will stick. Use this as a motivator. Do you really want to get up to 25 days of eating healthy, go off your diet, and then have to start training your brain all over? Me either.

Start Talking – Now, there would be no way that you could slip in denial if you were seeking out the constant support that you need for your diabetes. The reason I say this is because when we are talking about our diabetes we are keeping the actual severity of the situation fresh in our minds. This helps avoid the situation where we convince ourselves that “it’s not really that bad” or “this bite won’t really hurt”.

In my opinion, the support in dealing with diabetes is the most important factor to getting back on track and staying there.

So there you have it. Even though as of this morning you considered yourself to be a train wreck…you are back on track baby!