Mental Health
It is imperative to be in good mental health as an individual living with diabetes. Whether you feel an emotional struggle in keeping up with care of your diabetes, or do not know how to react to an initial diagnosis, there are healthy ways to express your emotions. Below, you can explore mechanisms by which to healthily express some common emotions: Denial Denial is most often felt as an immediate response to diagnosis of diabetes. This is a normal reaction— a diagnosis is a lot to digest, even in the span of a few weeks. Denial can seriously threaten proper care of your diabetes, however, if it is prolonged.Some of these potential dangers can result from:- Neglecting blood glucose testing
- Failing to follow your meal plan
- Engaging in destructive behaviors, such as overconsumption of alcohol and smoking
- Forgetting to check the body for sores, especially the feet
- Create a plan with your healthcare professional, and then have a journal, whiteboard, or chalkboard where you can visually see your goals for treating your diabetes
- Don’t be afraid to reach out to family, friends, or a diabetes educator to speak about how you’re feeling
- Loss of pleasure
- Change in sleeping habits (insomnia or sleeping more than usual)
- Change in eating habits (consuming much more or much less food)
- Loss of energy
- Short attention span
- Guilt
- Suicidal thoughts