For patients with both diabetes and a psychiatric disorder, resolving your mental health issues is vital to managing your diabetes care. For some people medication is necessary; for others, holistic practices like meditation and yoga help. Sometimes it’s a combination of the two. Just about everyone can benefit from weekly or biweekly therapy sessions. But…… Continue reading Balancing the chemical equation: Diabetes & Mental Wellness!
Diabetes Care or Codependency?
“Jane, own ” a Codependent Person with Diabetes Meet Jane. Jane is 25 years old, and got engaged last year. She has Type 1 diabetes, and is currently on medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Jane came to me to address her fear of checking her blood sugar. She also expressed concerns about her…… Continue reading Diabetes Care or Codependency?
Diabetes: Don't tell me what to do!
A few years back, a parent came to me in crisis. The parent’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Kristen, was struggling to care for herself, and didn’t seem to care. Kirsten was failing school, on the verge of being held back, not checking her blood sugar or taking her insulin consistently, and contemplating suicide. Kristen had Oppositional Defiant…… Continue reading Diabetes: Don't tell me what to do!
The Impact of Alcohol & Drugs on Diabetes!
Your life isn’t turning out exactly how you imagined it would. First, there was the depression, lethargy, and lack of willpower that made each day a fog. Then, your closest friends and loved ones began to drift away—or was it you that shut them out? It’s hard to remember. Then, the final blow: your diabetes…… Continue reading The Impact of Alcohol & Drugs on Diabetes!
Managing Attention Disorders and Diabetes?
It’s five past nine, and you’re late for work again. Clearing a space among piles of accumulating paper, you begin gathering the things you’ll need for the day: briefcase, keys, lunch and you check the clock. Time to check your blood sugar. Then, your eyes flit to the kitchen sink—you should wash those. An hour…… Continue reading Managing Attention Disorders and Diabetes?
Stop The Diabetic Binge
Trying to stop a diabetic binge is like trying to keep your hand on a hot stove—it’s tough and against your natural instinct. Our body’s natural instinct is to withdraw the hand when we feel the heat; your body’s natural instinct, when your blood sugar is low, is to eat. Therefore, if your blood sugars…… Continue reading Stop The Diabetic Binge
The Diabetic Binge
Hypoglycemic reactions cause many problems for people with diabetes. It’s important to take 3-4 glucose tablet, or juice drink to counteract the hypoglycemia. However, many “overcorrect” for the low blood glucose—and start to binge. What Is a Diabetic Binge? It is when you continue to eat after eating the appropriate grams of carbohydrates, has been…… Continue reading The Diabetic Binge
Building Your Diabetes Health Care Support Team
Without support, diabetes is painfully hard. Total independence is not a good Idea. In my previous blog, “How Denial Impacted My Life as a Diabetic,” I talked about the impact of denial on my life. Maybe if I were less independent, I would have avoided some of my sufferings. Now, the important question is, “How…… Continue reading Building Your Diabetes Health Care Support Team
How Denial and Diabetes Impacted My Life
Now, I am going to discuss how denial changed or didn’t change me, as well as the impact denial, had on my life. Where in my previous blog, “Diabetes: Losing Your Way of Living Life,” I talked about denial and the impact it had on my diagnosis day. The diagnosis was a death sentence back…… Continue reading How Denial and Diabetes Impacted My Life
Diabetes: Losing Your Way of Living Life
In my previous blog, There’s No Such Thing as Bad Blood Sugars; I addressed thought management around high and low blood sugar episodes. But what if you don’t have diabetes? When I was growing up, life was grand. I remember playing with my father in the backyard on the swing set he built. It was…… Continue reading Diabetes: Losing Your Way of Living Life