Not quite a newbie but still learning?

[Fluffypurplemonster]

I've been diabetic a while now but as many of you will understand ( I hope) my body is changing. Well I feel like it's fighting against me tbh. I have type 2 I'm insulin dependent and resistant so I'm on tablets to help. I also have fibromyalgia so my sugar levels go high most days due to pain. To top it off I have a kidney stone ( I also only have one kidney) I feel like I'm hitting diabetes burnout stage. Does anyone have any advice? I'm sick of taking my meds now and having to keep checking my sensor (libre 2). I just feel like I've hit a wall and no matter what I do I can not win anymore x

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Fluffypurplemonster 🙂 Sorry to hear your diabetes is getting you down. It can be very wearing, especially if you’re on insulin and having to do the annoying juggling act all day every day. The fibromyalgia must make things more difficult as well as being unpleasant in itself.

What insulins do you take? What’s your blood sugar like?

 

[Fluffypurplemonster]

I'm on nova rapid 3 times a day and toujeo at night. I'm really struggling. I hate having to do my injections as I've always had a fear of needles ( yet I have tattoos - it a whole different thing lol)

 

[Inka]

I have a needle phobia too @Fluffypurplemonster and it’s not easy. Is it that that’s the main problem or is it the insulin resistance, control or something else?

 

[Fluffypurplemonster]

All of it tbh. I'm just done with being chronicly ill now x I just want to feel better x

 

[Inka]

I can’t comment on the fibro but for the diabetes I find just taking one day at a time, one segment at a time, helps. Just concentrate on the here and now. I also find that keeping things simple for breakfast and lunch helps. I have the same breakfast almost every day - no thought or carb counting needed. Then I have the same lunch most days too with minor variations, or my alternative lunch. Again, I know the carbs, I don’t have to think.

For the injections, I think through them and mentally detach myself, eg I’d think about what I’m about to eat or what nice thing I’m going to do that evening, etc. I don’t focus on the injection.

I think it’s also important to take lots of mental mini breaks to relieve the stress - a few minutes reading, 10 minutes browsing the internet, a walk, listening to a track or two of music, etc. Making time so that you can have a mental holiday, even for 5 minutes, helps.

Mindfulness is also very useful, and helps ground you. It’s great when you’re really stressed.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit worn down and burnt out by your diabetes @Fluffypurplemonster

You aren’t alone. Lots of folks on the forum have been through periods of diabetes burnout, and diabetes distress - which are increasingly recognised as significant challenges for people living with a long-term condition like diabetes which involves hundreds of extra glucose management decisions to be made every day.

Give yourself huge credit for the amazing job you have been doing just to meep yourself alive all these years. And do all the regular non-D stuff at the same time.

In my experience, these periods of burnout are just seasons that arrive, stay for a while, then pass through. Sometimes quite quickly… sometimes hanging around a little longer. So dig in and don’t let the Diabetes Fairy get you down. This will pass.

As @Inka says, deliberately making some things easier so less thought is required can help. Reducing a few variables etc. As can giving yourself treats and rewards, nice things to look forward to or provide distraction.

Hang in there. We are rooting for you.

Sometimes ‘just doing enough’ is enough.