Wednesday, June 4, 2008

No Time for Diabetes

Sometimes, the diabetes just gets swept off by the wayside. This is a luxury, I suppose - I'm able to ignore it when I need to. But I don't like realizing I've unconsciously shoved it aside.

I only have so much time and energy, and so can only handle so many things at a time. Heavy deadlines at work, lots of social stuff, taxes, illness, dealing with the government. Any of these pile up, and I just lose the time to test my blood sugar, do my research, worry about the disease.

I am getting better at not tossing my diet aside at these times, but I don't think I tested at all today. It's been a busy few weeks. Crazy at work, a touch of food poisoning or flu on the weekend, three family events in the last couple of weeks, and my husband's immigration was finalized last week as well. I haven't really settled down and relaxed, and I wake up each morning feeling like I've hit the ground running.

I really struggle in these times to let my diabetes management fall by the wayside. It's the easiest thing to drop (well, after exercise), when life gets too busy, too complicated. But there's no guarantee I'm always going to be able to ignore it, so I'm trying to think of a way to balance it.

I'm not sure how to do it yet, but I think I'll try to work on forming better habits, like always testing before and after I eat lunch, so that I always get at least one pair of tests a day.

4 comments:

Lora said...

Hi Laura: How about trying to test at night right before bed and first thing in the morning? Everyone has some sort of ritual at those times: brush your teeth, get a glass of water, etc, that testing can be added to. I test right after I take a pill at night, then leave my kit on the countertop. When I wake up in the morning, the kit is sitting right there on the countertop, so I just do a test quick. It's a good way to get into a habit. If I find myself really busy during the day and don't have time to test as often as I want, I always seem to be able to test at night and in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Hi Laura. There are days when I'm so busy that I neglect to test as often as normal, but I always test when I get out of bed and right before going to sleep. It's like bookends on the day.

I agree with Lora. My kit stays near the bathroom sink all night, ready and waiting for me when I get up.

Laura Williams said...

This sounds like great advice! I'll start tonight.

Thanks guys!

Anonymous said...

Hey Laura,
the habit thing is a really good idea. And congratulations on your husbands immigration coming through; THAT can really throw kinks into all sorts of things.

best wishes,
Adam