Making Time for diabetes

[E-NICE]

One of my major pet peeves with diabetes is how it cuts into my time. I have to try to work every part of my life around diabetes and it is such a pain. I was just wondering how others manage the big D when it come to career, family and other things that diabetes creates scheduling problems for.

[kidvid]

I guess I'm working to try to make good diabetes management one of my habits I just consciously forget about, but still perform all the time. For me - I always used to have time for other habits that weren't all that great; watching TV, surfing the Web, drinking a beer...so I just substituted diabetes management for some crappy habits.

The payoff looms so large it makes me smile!

Joe

[Lynne1]

I got a pump that allows me to skip meals, nags me to check my bgs and allows me to program alarms in case I need to be nagged about something besides checking bgs. It's wonderful. I just have to fit set changes into my life now...once every 3 days.

[Cyborg]

I agree about it being easier with a pump... :tee:

[notme]

After awhile it just becomes part of your life. It is sort of like making time for your children. You adjust and make the time to do what you need to do.

The pump has made it easier on me also. I can eat when I feel like it and not feed insulin.

Try not to let it drag you down E-NICE, just let it be a part of who you are and how you manage things.

[spike]

One of my major pet peeves with diabetes is how it cuts into my time. I have to try to work every part of my life around diabetes and it is such a pain. I was just wondering how others manage the big D when it come to career, family and other things that diabetes creates scheduling problems for.

Consider the impact of not managing your DM properly. You would undoubtably reduce your lifespan by many years if you let it slide, so consider the time you spend monitoring your bg's, taking shots, etc as time WELL SPENT. I feel fortunate that I live in an era with so many products that improve my chances for a normal life span, despite my disease. What I'm saying is, it's all a matter of attitude about how you view the time spent taking care of yourself. Sure it might be annoying to stop to check your bg's. What's the alternative? Make the best of your circumstances is my humble suggestion. Be GLAD you have a meter. Be GLAD you have modern insulins. Be GLAD pumps are on the market.

Chances are if you are female, you spend more time with your appearance than you do DM related activities. IF you are male, chances are you spend more time watching football than dealing with your DM. :)

[Ailsa]

If you have a busy life it is a pain.
Might seem a small thing, but the one that annoys me the most is cooking & serving dinner & then having to take 5 while you test & have a shot. Meanwhile your dinner is cooling & everyone else is sitting there waiting for you. I really resent it.

[spike]

If you have a busy life it is a pain.
Might seem a small thing, but the one that annoys me the most is cooking & serving dinner & then having to take 5 while you test & have a shot. Meanwhile your dinner is cooling & everyone else is sitting there waiting for you. I really resent it.

For that 5 minutes you say you need, you can cut that to under a minute if you pump.

[xMenace]

I talked to another long term friend yesterday about my eye condition. He didn't know I was a diabetic. That's happenned a lot this month. I suggest that much of this inconvenience is in our heads. What the rest of the world sees is a very small glimpse.

[SueM]

Well on working it out diabetes takes up less than 20 minutes of my day.
So can't really see a problem.
Diabetes lives with me not the other way round. :)

[Noemie]

I agree with SueM. And I have prefilled pen and feel about them the way Spike feels about the pump.
How long have you had D? Maybe you feel this way because u r not yet at the point in ur life when it 100% part of u.
I've had diabetes for 13 yrs and i cant imagine myself not bein D. And im not even complainin about it no more lol.

[E-NICE]

I have been a diabetic for three years. It is a family thing for me, my mother, great grand mother and both grandmothers all died from diabetes. So to say I have had bad feelings toward diabetes even before I got it would be an understatement. That could be why all this gives me such a problem.

[Noemie]

3 yrs u r still new at this.
I know what u mean, it's a family thing as well in my family. My dad was a T1.
But it's different, we benefit from much better health care and material than they did, more accurate results when we have tests, and all. I wouldnt compare my diabetes to my dad's cause he was dxd in 1960, i was in the 90s, so the research had made huge progress in between.

[Mick]

I manage a demanding career as a special education teacher, father, husband, and diabetic. As far as time, diabetes comes in last as a demand in my life. I spend way more time cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, grading tests and correcting homework than I do managing my diabetes. Or even thinking about my diabetes. Having gone 41 years with this disease, I guess it's become totally second nature--it's just something I do, like brushing and flossing.

Michael

[Stuboy]

i haven't been doing it long, but i dont really find it a problem. It's something i have to do and i htink i've just adopted it into my life.

If anything, it's given me a chance to have a proper routine. and it's also made me eat better (as in, three meals a day, i used to skip breakfast and sometimes lunch too)

[EazyE77]

i haven't been doing it long, but i dont really find it a problem. It's something i have to do and i htink i've just adopted it into my life.

If anything, it's given me a chance to have a proper routine. and it's also made me eat better (as in, three meals a day, i used to skip breakfast and sometimes lunch too)

I'm with Stu on this one as well. I used to have a very odd eating schedule and just did not take care of myself in the long run. Since being diagnosed I have gained a much better control of myself *always room for improvement though*. Stu and myself have only been Diabetics since mid to late summer and like he said it has just become a part of my life and most of the stuff I really don't think about. One thing I could suggest as far as the cooking then having to skip off for a few mins to test and give yourself the shot would be try managing the time where you allow yourself a few minutes before you start cooking depending on what you are having that evening as the time differences could play a factor in that. I've tested and given my shot then waited sometimes 30 minutes up to as long as an hour before I ate and didn't see anything wrong in the outcome. Never know it may work for you and you'll be able to serve it and sit right down with your family and enjoy the meal right away.

[amccrazgrl]

Having diabetes isn't bad at all.
I think its one of the easist things to manage.
It could always be worse.

[Gangrel]

What everybody else said......

Besides, it can be fun to freak people at work out by pulling out a tiny needle and seeing burly ex-football players run away because they don't like needles. ;)

[grace girl]

I've had it for 6 years. I've just adapted to it; you learn and keep moving. It has improved my life in some ways. I eat better, and as a result so does my family. I take better care of myself. It caused me to stop and take stock of my life when it happened, and as a result I've made some changes that are really non-D related that have made me much happier and might not have happened if the D hadn't come along and caused me to think that way.
I think we all have days when it seems like just one HUGE hassle...never want to see another needle, etc. However, there are so many things that are worse! I can still live my life how I want to...I can run and draw and paint and play with my kids. The things that really matter in life haven't been negatively affected by this...in fact I think my change in outlook has made them better.
As for dinner, you just find a way to make that work, too. I have a great husband! When I go to shoot he has the kids setting the table and getting everything ready so that when I return we all make our plates and sit down together as a family.
There are ways to make it blend into your life, you just have to be willing to be creative and let go of the anger about. I went through that, too.:) :)