Intensive Management vs. Emotional Burnout

This post was prompted by a fellow Diabetes Warrior Parent, who wrote about "When is Too Much, Too Much?" Thanks for the inspiration Reyna from Beta Buddies

That phrase echoes my experience three fold.  I have gone OCD on diabetes in the past. Testing too much, analysing like a crazy mad scientist, CGM, Pumping, weighing, measuring, counting the carbs right down to a half gram. 

Was my Control improved?  Absolutely. Was I happy? Absolutely Not! 

Diabetes was dominating my every waking moment more then it should.  Which brings me to the conclusion that sometimes simple is nice. Now I should add that I definitely advocate for intensive diabetes management, but not at the expense of emotional burnout. And, It really is a fine line.

Now my one Type 1 daughter Rowan, went from MDI, to Pump, now back to MDI.  Why? Primarily for physical reasons, as her pump sites were looking a little on the lumpy side (Hyperlipodystrophy) Also, It too was necessary for mental sanity. We were micro-managing her diabetes and pump.  I was getting texts 3-4 times a week from her school informing me her readings were wonky. Now I am lucky to get one once a  month. We've simplified things dramatically, and as a result, we are feeling some emotional reprieve and her control has improved.

As a parent of 2 children with Type 1 it is very easy to chase numbers, over react, change things, basals, boluses, testings a gazillion times a day, worry or cheer. All this at the will of the results on the CGM or in our case the Meter.

I do know how exhausting this is, and how every reading isn't just a reading, it represents sooo much more then that. It is a Mark, or measure as to how well we(as parents) are managing our innocent vulnerable child's Diabetes. And some of those reading can emotionally crush us.

This insurmountable task of managing as an external pancreas takes a huge toll on us emotionally. So can we simplify things, or at least mentally simplify things? Good Question. And something I encourage all of us Parents and PWD(People with Diabetes) to reflect on. I know my awareness about Quantity vs Quality is evident often. I think it is a Nursing thing, when a person who is told they can live 3 extra months but need to spend half that time sick with no quality of life. What is the point of living if the disease or illness dominiates our life to the point that our quality of life is severely hampered. Not this guy, no freakin way.  I want to prevent longterm complications for all of us but I also want to live Life!

I love the saying KISS, or Keep it simple stupid.  Now before you all swear at me, I am not calling anyone stupid other then myself, cause somehow I make things more complicated then they need to be. My regime for example, always improves when I stick to a simple plan. Eat sensibly,  measurable carbs, test 4-5 times a day, look at the trends weekly and tweak.  It works and no I don't do this all the time, and Yes I often drive myself to the brink of insanity. But lately it is about finding the balance between quantity and quality. Life should be all about diabetes but about Life and Diabetes on the side.

I do know this though, Simple works. I don't mean simpler technology, my pump works better with 4 basal rates as opposed to 8. It is a fabulous device. But I know that I can over complicate things by analyzing things to frequently, over thinking decisions, second guessing my self.

The complexity in diabetes management is taxing on the brain and the trick is to ask - How can I balance all this physical stuff(testing, injecting, pumping) with the Life, so that it doesn't out balance quality of life and lead to burn out?

That's the balancing act for us folks living with diabetes daily.

Trev

Let me Out of the Hamster Wheel!

It's the end of yet another day as I sit here at my computer and think; where does the time go?

Then I pictured a shrunken me staring out a cage, running on a hamster wheel. But really getting nowhere.

Strange thought I know. Just being honest. 

I just think life is ass backwards sometimes. Like, I drop my children off all day, work nine hours and see them for a fraction of my day after I am mentally exhausted. Not right, but reality.

Diabetes, has simply sped up the hamster wheel, how? Well, in many ways.  

As a parent of two Type 1's I am spending much mental energy, and physical energy testing, problem solving and worrying about their diabetes care, let alone their general well being, which makes the world seem to spin that much faster. Throw in my diabetes management, 2 full time working parents, 3 other kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and a rabbit, it's a little crazy. 

Yes, I know, I made my bed and now I must lye in it(or something like that, can't remember the exact saying) I am responsible for my own choices in life, and I can live with that. With one acception, diabetes. We didn't choose this. But we must buck up and deal with it. 

I say ass backwards because, work is first, family second in our society in terms of time committment. It should be the reversed.

Hopefully the hamster wheel slows a little so I can jump off, and chill out on the hamster hammock, or take a hamster dip, hell I'd settle to just stop for more then 30 minutes, to peer out at a nice hamster view.

Funny, I always envisioned life a little less stressful as a kid.  Now I understand why my dad would come home from work, grab the newspaper, and kick his feet up and ignore us on occasion. He was flippin tired.

Well, time to go pick up the off-spring!  Until next time.

Trev 

Never Let Diabetes Hold You Back!

This is my fifth Contributory Blog to a Project organized by Karen at Bitter Sweet and Friday's Topic is: The Most Awesome thing Done despite having Diabetes.

I have lived a great life and done many amazing things I am proud of.

I think for me, I have never considered diabetes as part of any decision. EVER.  

I've:
-Completed my University Degree
-Married a gorgeous woman created  five beautiful children, yes they are all ours and yes we made em.
-Trained in full contact Muay Thai boxing and received my certificate to instruct others.
-Traveled, and worked in isolated, airplane only access, communities in Northern Canada.
-I now work with others everyday who deal with Diabetes, which is fantastic!

I don't consider myself a Diabetic, I am a person living successfully with Diabetes.

It(The Big D) has never been in my mind when deciding how to conduct my life. Hopefully I can keep it this way. I hope to inspire others to do the same.

Cheers!

Trev

PS:  We are not having anymore off spring in case anyone was thinking this. : )

Are We Falling Through the Cracks?

Before I proceed, I am not writing this to offend any Type 2 PWD as I believe this is also a serious chronic illness that takes much effort to treat and manage successfully.

I have simply had this post on the edit shelf for a while now and would like to air it.

We persistently get slammed by the media about diabetes, how it is out of control in modern society, how the numbers are staggering and numerous other sensationalized claims. The problem is they are generally referring to Type 2 Diabetes.  Which in why I am writing about the topic.  As it is my opinion that media needs to clarify the differences, and the public needs to be aware that there are two distinct types of diabetes, and 2 distinct disease processes taking place.

 Instead Type 1 PWD fall through the cracks from a media perspective.  Even looking at my own community  I notice;  more support groups, classes, and options for Type 2 diabetes then for Type 1 diabetes.  It is my opinion that this is largely related to the public's misconception of the two different types.

To give you an example of how the media can screw things up; remember Oprah's show a few months back, that was blogged about and discussed online, whereby they(Dr Oz and Her) failed miserably to differentiate between the 2 types of diabetes.  More recently there was a huge uproar from a Dr in the USA who runs a fitness club who grouped the two types together, and blamed type one on lifestyle(he retracted the article immediately) These two scenarios are obvious examples as to how the public is susceptible to these blanket media statements grouping diabetes into one common disease process.

 Frankly it's down right irritating.  I have considered(if I didn't have five kids to feed) starting a nationwide road show to tell people the difference.  We(Type 1's) wake up one day and wham, our pancreas is no longer in working order, so we require lifelong insulin to live. It is autoimmune, nothing lifestyle related.

I pulled some information from a 2009 Type 1 Diabetes Facts and Statistic Hand from the JDRF.

• Diabetes affects 246 million people world wide
• Expected to increase to 380 million by 2025
• More then 2.4 million Canadians suffer from some type of Diabetes
• Over 240000 people have type 1 diabetes

There are other cool stats at The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation if you're interested.

So to look at the above numbers as usual the stats are the same as they have been in terms of the difference in prevalence between type 1 and type 2 since I was a young diabetic.  90 % or more Canadians have Type 2 or other type of diabetes and 10% have Type 1.  So I get it, since we are 10% of the total population of diabetes, are  more resources are allocated to type 2?   Maybe it is just easier to group us together based on the 10% number, who knows?!

But i do feel, and know that governments, and the general voter may or may not know the differences and decisions are being made regarding allocating funds for coverage etc.  Like tests strips, insulin, pumps, etc.

To me it's a no brainer!  We Type 1 PWD could do nothing to prevent us or our loved ones from getting this disease.  Nothing, zilch, the big zero.  We could not prevent it by changing lifestyle, losing weight, eating less sugar as a kid, it had nothing to do with breast feeding, or not using oregano in our sauces. 

So to me,  funds should be allocated completely differently for type 1 diabetes compared to type 2.  Not saying Type 2's don't deserve funding, not at all, this is a major health issue, but what I am saying is that Type One Diabetes Is Uncontrollable in its Onset, so we should be covered, period.

Media and Politicians, need to understand this concept, and educate people about diabetes correctly.  For goodness sake people just google type 1 and read about it, then google Type 2 read about,  before discussing it publicly.

Wait a minute, maybe I should start writing to the editor?!  Sorry just had an epiphany. 

In the meantime, as I know all PWD do all too often, we have to educate friends, strangers, and others who have no understanding of the distinct differences in Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes.

The problem with the spot light being primarily focused on Type 2, is that Type 1 people tend to fall through the cracks.

Trev


PS:  Let me know your thoughts, from other areas of the globe especially. Or if you feel I am totally in left field.