06/16/2020
By Marianne Evans-Ramsay, RD, CDE, LD, Wentworth Health Partners Diabetes Services
Life doesn’t stop because you have diabetes. At times diabetes self-care seems unmanageable. We may experience setbacks with other health issues or injuries, changes in our health insurance, the needs of ill family members or demands from our employer or changes to our employment. Our enthusiastic efforts with self-care start to fade when it feels like a marathon amid the challenges of our daily lives.
Sometimes the best we can do is to address the very basics of taking medications, eating three time per day, checking our blood sugar at a minimum of once a day, and squeezing in a 10-minute walk. We may feel like the best we can do is tread water when demands on us pile up.
When you find yourself here, and likely you will at some point, it may be time to look at supports in your life and see whether it may be time to ask for help. Supports can be external, such as co-workers or friends, family members, support groups, or online communities. Support can also be internal. Internal supports include using positive self-talk, affirmations or prayer to help keep you centered. In addition to supports we may need to reflect on life balance. Reflecting on what our needs are for sleep, being out of doors, simplifying our life. How are you coping with stress? This is the holistic view of you as a person living with diabetes.
Join the Sweet Support Podcast, and hear Marianne Evans-Ramsay and Megrette Fletcher, two dietitians specializing in diabetes care, as they explore the struggles of a plot twist in your diabetes self-care or When Things Fall Apart.
To learn more, listen to our Sweet Support Podcast or call Wentworth-Douglass Hospital’s Diabetes Services at (603) 740-2887.