Sometimes, you don’t even realise that you’re burning out from diabetes until you’re at the tail end of it. You do what you need to get by the day, rinse and repeat. The biggest question is: how did I not realise that I was going through a diabetes burnout? And how long has this been going on? I failed to see the little things I was doing to cut corners with my diabetes management. Funnily enough, it was only after I started feeling better since making changes that made me realise that I had put my health on the back burner for some time now.
What was the catalyst for the turn of these events?
My endo appointment coming up in the next couple of weeks.
I realised I had to get myself organised. Since moving to a new area and starting placements and dealing with a whole new set of agendas and changes, this was the last thing I felt like doing. I needed a re-referral to my endo from my GP. After procrastinating my new GP search after my previous doctor left my clinic without notification, I decided this was the perfect time to begin my recruitment. One of the medical centres around me is right next to the gym. I decided to pay them a little visit after my first try at recruiting a GP and ended up taking up membership there. At double the price I used to pay at my uni gym, this was my incentive to prevent being slack with exercise. I’ve got absolutely no excuses now.
It also dawned on me that I had been getting very tardy at recording my BGLs. There are massive gaps in my BGL recording app between breakfast and bed. I did think about just using a meter that can easily download my readings. But I wasn’t really happy with any of them at the moment. Also, I really loathe having strips in little bottles. They take up so much space and make a whole lot of noise when I’m running with them in my spibelt. Yes, I am extremely pedantic and fussy like that.
I even somehow stopped taking my morning Lantus dose and never gave it a second thought because my sugars held absolutely fine throughout the day. So I have started being more diligent in recording my sugars for my endo to help sort any patterns and also to show him that despite cutting back on half my Lantus dose now, my sugars have been holding steady.
Thinking back, I had also avoided diabetes forums on Facebook and haven’t jumped onto #OzDOC chats on Tuesday nights. This could have been because I haven’t got time for a start but a part of me wanted to avoid being reminded of my health and diabetes. Interestingly, I have been a bit more active on social media in the last few days, posting things up like joining the gym and exercising. The encouragement and support I received definitely helped carried me along. So, this morning, I browsed through twitter and found comfort again in watching the constant support and chatter within the DOC. Of course, this was boosted by a very sexy 5.5mmol/L after finishing my first BodyPump class since forever ago. I beamed and thought to myself: I’m finally getting back on track, I’m proud of myself and life is great.
Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way! The smallest gesture may be the biggest encouragement to someone struggling.
HangryPancreas 