Many people live with chronic illnesses. It can be difficult to know where to start learning how to manage an illness, especially when it requires significant lifestyle changes like diabetes does. Here are five resources you can utilize when you’re living with diabetes.
1. Specialists
When you’re being treated for a chronic illness like diabetes, you need to see your doctor regularly. Diabetes is treated and monitored by an endocrinologist like Dr Amy Lee because it’s a hormone disorder. Often, diabetes patients will require other forms of specialized care. Diabetes can impact your skin, feet, teeth, heart and kidneys, among other things. Some of these can be monitored by your regular doctor or your endocrinologist, others require specialists care. If your doctor recommends you see a specialist such as a podiatrist or a cardiologist, make sure you get a referral and an appointment as soon as you can so you can stay on top of your health. Schedule regular appointments with all your healthcare providers for disease maintenance, whether that means getting blood work done every few months to monitor your A1C levels or your regular annual eye exam.
2. Management Schedules
Getting used to actively managing your health can be difficult when you’re living with diabetes. On top of regular healthcare like flu shots and dental checkups, you need to get blood tests and physical checkups more often, administer medication multiple times a day and learn how to monitor your daily blood sugar levels yourself. It can be overwhelming. Learning how to self-manage your schedule can go a long way toward helping you maintain your health and treat your disease.
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You can put together a daily to-do list, carry a day planner or use a calendar to manage your schedule. Write down all your medical appointments where you can see them. Set reminders so you get blood tests done regularly. You should also have an easily accessible list of what you need to do every day, like checking your blood sugar and taking insulin, as well as what you need to do every week, like an exercise schedule.
3. Diabetes Supply Kits
Diabetes comes with a lot of management supplies. You should have a glucose monitoring kit to keep track of your blood sugar levels, emergency contact information and a medical alert ID. You should also make sure you have gentle toiletries like soft-bristle toothbrushes and sensitive skin soaps to prevent gum disease, skin damage and infections. Most importantly, make sure you have a supply of whatever you need to administer your insulin, whether that be needles and syringes or an insulin pump.
4. Diet and Exercise
Diet and exercise offer many health benefits, especially for people managing chronic illnesses. For people living with diabetes or who are at increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, regular physical activity and a healthy diet can help manage or prevent the development of diabetes. Muscle toning and aerobic exercise provide the most benefits for diabetes patients. A diet high in fiber and whole grains can help you better control your blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
5. Emergency Preparedness
Emergency preparedness gains a level of complexity when you’re managing a chronic illness. While you still need to put together an emergency supply kit and make plans for evacuations or shelter in place situations, you’ll also need to make sure you have an adequate supply of whatever you need to manage your illness. For diabetes, you need to make sure you have an emergency supply of insulin and whatever you need to administer it, a way to keep insulin cool in case of power outages and supplies of whatever you use to monitor your blood sugar each day. You should also educate yourself on different ways to administer your medication and how to switch or mix insulin in extreme emergency situations.
Living with a chronic illness can be overwhelming, but if you listen to your healthcare providers and follow these resources, you can make lifestyle changes to better manage it.
