How to cope with Diabetes?

When you are diagnosed with a chronic illness such as diabetes, you must face the fact that there is no cure. Despite the millions of dollars spent in research to better understand diabetes and the ongoing advances in treatment options for it, a person with diabetes has to realize that it will accompany him for the rest of his life. Such news turns out to be more stressful than it appears to be. Then, how do you deal with it??? Read more to know…

1. Daily care: Daily care is the primary commitment you need to make. All the efforts are needed to focus to keep your sugar levels and cholesterol in place. Keeping your blood glucose level in your target range, in particular, can help you feel more energetic and alert, enabling you to participate in and enjoy the other parts of your life. So keep monitoring at regular intervals. The tests can be easily available at your private medical clinic. A lot of reputed clinics like IPSA Medical based in London offer complete diabetes screening tests.

2. Learn about diabetes: Knowledge is power. All aspects of diabetes care require a certain amount of knowledge: Meal planning requires some knowledge of nutrition; being physically active requires knowledge about what’s safe for you to do, how to do it, and what gear or equipment you need; monitoring your blood glucose level requires learning not only how to use your meter, but also how to respond to the readings you get; and taking medicine requires knowing how to take it, what doses (amounts) to take, and when to take them.

                                                    

3. Planning is the key: Having a daily routine – with fairly regular meal times, activities, and bedtime – can make diabetes management easier; you can pretty much do the same thing every day. When you break from your usual routine, however, keeping your diabetesin control will require more planning. Activities such as vigorous exercise, eating out, staying out later than usual, drinking alcohol, etc., are likely to disrupt your blood glucose control unless you make some changes in your diabetes care regimen.

4. Manage your sick days well: Getting sick with a cold, the flu, or some other common ailment is inevitable. And because even a common cold can affect blood glucose levels, everyone with diabetes should have a written sick-day plan that spells out how to care for their diabetes while sick. If you do not have such a plan, let your doctor or diabetes educator know you’d like one, and arrange an appointment to develop one.