Some people with diabetes feel uncomfortable telling about their diabetes, or about performing their self-management in public. Instead of monitoring their glucose and injecting their insulin in public, they would rather do that in a more private place, without other people seeing them. Sometimes this ‘private’ self-management works out fine, but often it means that people cannot really ‘’be themselves’’ and don’t get the support/space they need to perform optimal self-management. It might even lead to situations with people experiencing a hypo, without telling the people around them, or postponing insulin injections/glucose measurements.
People who are anxious about telling about diabetes or showing their self-management, usually fear that others might feel negative about their diabetes. They might feel that ‘’people will see them as being different’’ or ‘’that they won’t belong anymore..’’ When fear of other’s opinions is the main reason that you perform your self-management in privacy, then it would be better to try to change that. Since diabetes self-management is such a big part of one’s life, it is not good to hide it from others… In a way, you are hiding a part of yourself, which in the long term will not feel good.
Of course there will be annoying people who have a negative or strong opinion on diabetes (usually they really don’t know that much about diabetes), but usually, these people are not our dearest and closest relatives/friends. Your challenge then, is to disclose about your diabetes to people that you are close with, and to ‘’hide’’ it from people you don’t really like/who totally don’t understand. If there are close relatives or friends that have negative opinions on your diabetes, it would be good to discuss it with them. Being it such a big part of your life, it is important that the people who are close to you understand what living with diabetes means to you. Start with the person you trust most, and start with changing just 1 self-management task (either blood glucose monitoring, or injecting insulin etc.). Hopefully, you’ll notice that the people who are important to you have understanding (and even respect) for the fact that you are taking good care of yourself, by self-managing and not hiding your diabetes.
Author: Manuela Plössnig
Negative emotions when (not) monitoring your blood glucose
You reported to have negative emotions when (not) monitoring your blood glucose. Know that you are not alone. Many people with diabetes will develop negative emotions about monitoring glucose, mostly because they focus too much on the outcome of the measurement. Basically, people ‘punish’ themselves emotionally, when having high or low blood sugar. And thoughts will automatically pop up, such as ‘’I should have done this..’’ or ‘’I should not have done that…’’, blaming themselves for not having the best glucose levels.
Our advise? STOP IT NOW! Blaming yourself is ALWAYS counterproductive, and will not help in optimizing your glucose levels nor in increasing your glucose monitoring. When blaming ourselves, our brain is ‘’negative’’ and functions less optimal: we simply cannot perform at our best anymore. It might even lead to a stress reaction, that increases blood sugar…. So, the best you can do is stop blaming yourself.
Focus on your behaviour, in stead of the outcomes/numbers. When you have done a fingerprick: make yourself a compliment. Well-done!! Regardless the outcome. You were able to contribute to your health in a positive way: you monitored your glucose. And when the outcome was not what you hoped it to be, it was even more important that you monitored. Good!
If you want to change your negative feelings about monitoring, try to make yourself a compliment every time you do it. It is even more productive when you let others (help to) make you a compliment!