Discouraged by your Diabetes?

Type one diabetes can be exhausting.

This may sound like a stupid statement to many diabetics out there because of course we all know how tiring it is to deal with our diabetes on a daily basis. It is so easy to feel discouraged when your blood sugars aren't in range, or your pump is malfunctioning, or simply by checking your blood sugar for the seventh or eighth time today. I get it, I really do. There is nothing about taking care of your own type one diabetes, like many of us have to do while we're in college that is easy. If any of you are like me, you like to pretend that you have it all under control and that living life with type one diabetes is no big deal. Well, it is a big deal. No one really knows how much effort you have to put into taking care of yourself. This probably sounds a bit dramatic to anyone without T1D, but I don't think it's possible to fully understand the life of a diabetic unless you are one. 

I want all of my fellow type one diabetics to realize that it’s okay to feel discouraged every once and a while about your diabetes. It's bound to happen eventually throughout your life long trip with diabetes. However, just because you're discouraged, it does not mean that you get to give up. Please don't give up. After a couple years of having type one diabetes, it just became part of my life and I stopped paying as much attention to it as I did when I was first diagnosed. When this happened, I started forgetting to take insulin for food I was eating, or just didn't feel like testing my blood sugar before a meal because it was an inconvenience. At my next endocrinology visit when my A1C had jumped drastically, I realized that my new habits were very bad habits to develop. However, realizing the problem wasn't enough to actually make me change. At that point, I had simply become discouraged with my type one diabetes. I was annoyed that I had to deal with it all of the time so I subconsciously told myself that I didn't have to try if I didn't want to. This thought process is extremely dangerous. Ever since then, my A1C has always been slightly higher than what it should be. 

Every type one diabetic is probably going to go through a period in their lives where they feel just as discouraged about their diabetes. It is bound to happen after so many years of living your life with constant needle pricks. However, when it happens to you, I hope you deal with it better than I did. I understand that being in college is hard, and being in college with type one diabetes is even harder. It's okay to feel slightly discouraged every once and a while, but you can't let yourself stay that way. Always find a way to get yourself more motivated to take care of yourself again. For me, I just have to remember how bad I feel at my endo appointments when my A1C is bad to get myself motivated to start trying again. It’s okay to get discouraged, just make sure you’re always able to pull yourself out of it and get back to normal again. Well, as normal as life with type one diabetes can be.