Diabetic Rehab

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jen_99r

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I need help.Its taken me a while to say that but i do. I am still in some kind of denial in dealing with the fact im a diabetic. I miss injections alot i think mainly because of this denial. Its like i just forget i have the illness. Then when i get a call from my GP saying i need to get in touch urgently i go into a state of panic and become a diabetic again for a few weeks then relapse and go back to not looking after myself.

Ive had councelling - not helped me.
Ive spoken to my family - they dont understand and it turns into an argument as they just say get on with it.

I feel like if i was sent to some kind of rehab i can get into a routine and finally accept the illness and manage it like i have to.

Im scared of killing myself or getting the complications everyone warns me of.

what a mess. I need direction!

Thanks for listening!
 
Hi Jen

The way I see it (and I have said this in a previous post) that if I want to go to my grave with my feet on (not to mention my eyesight) then I need to take care of myself. When feeling the symptoms of denial I ask myself what I would do if I lost my feet, or my eyesight? How would I cope? I realise this may not work for everyone....do you have any close friends you could talk to, who could support you? Maybe a mentor or a buddy who knows exactly what you are going through? Are there any diabetes support groups in your area you could contact?
 
oh dear - you are in a bad way. I am T2 and get great support from my local medical centre.

All I can suggest to you is to make an appointment to see someone in your Diabetic care team and discuss with them your feelings. I did that, but as I have already mentioned on this site, I get great support from my local medical centre.

I wish you luck, keep the site notified how you are getting on. Sorry I can't offer you much more

Best wishes, Hazel
 
Support

Hey there, you don't mention how old you are? I have no support from my family but i do get a lot of support on here, if you want to blow off steam to soemone in person email me on private and we'll swap numbers
 
Hi Jen, welcome to the forum.
You have made the 1st step ie here you are 🙂
I would sugest you take 1 day at a time. Tomorrow is the 1st day of a new begining. Make the effort test and inject. If it helps post your numbers on here.
I'm sure you will be encouraged by one and all.
 
wow! i posted my problem an hour ago and i feel so much better already thank you all.

I will start to make the steps one day at a time i think that was a great way to put it.
I dont feel i get great support from my diabetic team at all. i have mentioned how i feel so many times and nothing has been suggested to help me. i would like a buddy i think but at 24 not found one yet!
My new start includes logging on her everyday i think this will help. you all understand!😉
 
Hi Jen! I myself have badly treated my diabetes for the last 14 years. Only now have I had a reality kick and decided that I don't want further complications. I already have signs of neuropathy and retinopathy - which I have been told may be rectified with eventual good control.

This site is great - it makes you feel so much and understand alot. I'm not getting support from my clinic either, left 3 messages with nurse today and not had any response. I'm very confused about carb counting and I'm confused as to how they expect me to be managing things and controlling myself when I don'tknow what I'm doing and they won't explain!

I feel the same as you that I just want to start on a clean slate. Eveyrbody on here is wonderful in helping you. I've only been on here a few days and HONESTLY to don't know what I'd have done with it!
 
A buddy is such a good idea! Be kind to yourself, you're not the first to be in denial and you wont be the last! Keep at it with baby steps because they'll last longer than a flat out panic.

If you are genuinely forgetting (as oposed to forgetting because you dont want to think about it) to inject then try setting the alarm on your phone to go off a next meal time. The other thing you could try (and I'm not being patronising-I've done something similar before) is make yourself a little tick/star chart with your injections on (so you can tick them off as you go-having it in the kitchen tends to be a reminder) decide what is a reasonable goal for the week ,for example if you aren't testing at all you might decide 1 test a day is your goal, give yourself a tick or a star for each test and when you've got 7 stars do something nice-get a magazine you want, bubble bath etc. Build up your goals over time-it takes at least 21 repeats to establish something as habit and its a good tool to get you started. Its simple and might seem childish or daft but its basically positive reinforcement-personally I find this works better for me if I'm feeling a bit vulnerable than the threat of complications.

Finally counselling may not have helped but cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in these situations, see your GP about what access to this is like in your area-I think its fairly widely available

Good luck and keep coming on for support-theres always plenty of that on here!
 
firstly well done for having the guts to come and say this. It wouldn't have been easy so well done.
secondly acceptance will take time, everyone will vary and along the way we all go through dark times. Its just a part of dealin with our situation.
I have no doubt that anyone of us would happily speak to u whenever you needed a shoulder, your right family dont always understand they try but they will never know until it happens to them.

I personally find that i need a strict routin to remember to do mine, and even then on occassion still miss a test or jab. NO ONE IS PERFECT!!!!!

it takes time and effort but speaking here is definatly a great step forward.
As is said by all if you wanna chat get in touch anytime my e-mail is on my profile
 
I only joined today too, and like you, I'm already feeling that it's something I should've done a long time ago! I think talking to other people who are genuinely in the same position as you , and who understand the daily highs and lows and general rigmoral of diabetes, will be invaluable. I have suffered with very similar problems: denial, spates of over-controlling and obsessing about my sugar levels and the possible complications but then going through longer periods of trying to pretend it's not there. I think the posts above are very right. It's all about trying to take one day at a time. Not beating yourself up about past (or future) misdemeanors but just trying your best, the good old clean slate. I have also had counselling and also found it useless and feel very similarly that a stint in something like 'rehab', where I could focus all my energy on it, would be a magic wand. I'm hoping this forum will shed some light on what has been a gloomy part of my life. Let's try!
 
The advantage of coming aboard is that so often you are really solving your own problems without having to discuss them with someone you don't feel is sincerely understanding your problems and feelings.
We are all different and react to our diabetes in our own way.

If you can get back into a routine, update us and you will receive encouragement.
 
jen_99r said:
wow! i posted my problem an hour ago and i feel so much better already thank you all.

I will start to make the steps one day at a time i think that was a great way to put it.
I dont feel i get great support from my diabetic team at all. i have mentioned how i feel so many times and nothing has been suggested to help me. i would like a buddy i think but at 24 not found one yet!
My new start includes logging on her everyday i think this will help. you all understand!😉
Click to expand...

I'd be happy to buddy you if you like. My biggest challenge is always writing it all down, but find I'm so much better when I do so if you like I'll send you my blood readings and you can send me yours and see where we go from there, send me a private message if you're interested. I guess a bit about me, I'm 25, was diagnosed with type 1 at 21, developed it while studying in the states but diagnosed when I returned home for my final year of uni. I really struggled with it in the first couple of years, was in total denial, tried to convince myself they'd got it wrong so rarely tested and started skipping injections.
The turning point for me was doing the dafne course and I have often thought of it as a rehab of sorts, a whole week to think of nothing but my diabetes, how I wanted things to be and working out what I needed to do to get there, it was tiring but it helped me so much. I'd definately recommend it but even if you can't do dafne maybe try to take some time off for some me ( or rather me and my diabetes time!) time to get to grips with everything.
If I can be any help in some kind of buddy system do let me know, whilst things have improved for me I'm still not always that well behaved so could also do with someone to help me stay on the straight and narrow....!
 
it took me a while to come to terms with being diabetic. My father is diabetic and he does what my mum tells him to do, so no support there.

I joined diabetes UK and use this forum and diabetesbuddies.com where I get loads of support.

There is lots of good advice in this thread and on this forum. If you don't take care of yourself for yourself, no one else will. I know that sounds hard, but in my family it is a fact of life.

Good luck and come back and read through the threads to see what others have to say.
 
Hullo! Diabetes ain't so bad!

Hi Jen -
Great place to start - and honestly life with diabetes is not so bad. Though I am at an advantage and cannot remember life without it - (39 years). I did go through the teenage rebellion - and react against it. It makes you special - look at all the fabulous special people on this board 🙂 One day at a time hon...and like dieting if you have a relapse - just hop back on again!1
 
Hi Jen,
My son was diagnosed 7 weeks ago type 1, so i am very new to all of this, but i just wanted to say to you that perhaps your family are so scared that something will happen to you that they 'appear' to be dissmissive about you being in denial?
When someone you love has diabetes, you feel absolutely helpless and see the 'insulin' and the blood sugar tests as some sort of 'saviour' (if that makes sense), because i would love to be able to 'cure' my son but i know i cant and it makes me feel so 'helpless' , so if he stopped testing or monitoring himself it would add to my feelings of 'helplessness' because i know what the alternative is!
I do realise that my son may one day go into denial, and if and when he does, i would like to think that counselling etc would help him through it - but if as in your case it hasnt, then, perhaps you could try another counceller? They are not all the same and sometimes it takes a while to find someone you can relate to.
I hope you keep posting on this site, i have found it helps enormously, and if any of us can help you, we will.
As has been said, just start 1 day at a time and slowly build up a better regime, and perhaps your family may try to help you more if they see you are trying. Take care. Bev x
 
no one's perfect

as i said in my comment earlier no one is perfect so im writtin her to show u that, i've tested once today and now have 2ltrs of jack daniels infront of me 4 beers and a few mates, i dont intend to eat or test again til i awake sometime tomorrow afternoon.

WE ALL LIKE TO GIVE ADVICE BUT LETS BE SERIOUS SOMETIME YOU JUST DONT CARE!!!!!

however tomorrow i will be payin for it tho lol.
 
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