Diabetes Blog Week: Diabetes and the Unexpected

This year is my first year participating in Diabetes Blog Week. I’m excited to be part of this annual diabetes event and share my perspective.

Diabetes can sometimes seem to play by a rulebook that makes no sense, tossing out unexpected challenges at random.  What are your best tips for being prepared when the unexpected happens?  Or, take this topic another way and tell us about some good things diabetes has brought into your, or your loved one’s, life that you never could have expected?

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Having diabetes for so many years I’ve become accustomed to the unexpected. Diabetes has a way of throwing curveballs when you least expect it. It makes things rather difficult and frustrating at times.

Here are my best tips for when the unexpected happens:

Be over prepared

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been somewhere thinking that I’m not going to need to change my pump site— and it fails. How convenient, right? So now I just bring everything that I could possibly need “just in case”. Just enough to spare me if anything unexpected happens. It’s certainly more of a hassle to carry around extra weight all the time, but the stress of “what if” is therefore not an issue.

Take a deep breath

I have a way of wanting to control everything that goes on with my diabetes to the point where I’m actually doing more harm than good. When unexpected occurrences arise, I’ve learned to now take a deep breath—and handle it calmly and carefully. It’s taken me awhile to be patient, but adding stress to the situation and making quick judgments only makes it worse.

Ask for help

This is probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to learn to do. I always want to feel like I can handle the world and whatever comes my way. But sometimes when my blood sugars are off—and I need assistance getting my supplies, or a snack nearby. Having an extra hand actually makes me feel more at ease and I’ve learned it’s okay to ask for help.

Create back up plans

I’m not always sure if diabetes will cooperate or how my body will react upon each day. Diabetes comes with a lot of uncertainty and unknown. So of course I think of well “if this happens, I have this plan.” But say, for some reason that isn’t effective—I also have this plan for back up.

For instance, I have a dexcom, but what if I don’t hear my alarm, then my husband will be alarmed and call me or run home to check up on me. Creating back up plans creates a more stable safety net and helps living with this disease a little less worrisome.

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Diabetes comes with a bunch of twists and turns, up and downs, highs and lows. But I take what I’ve learned in the past and I apply it to the future. No matter how unexpected diabetes is and the challenges that do arise, I will continue on living beyond it.

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