Find helpful tips if you have been recently diagnosed with diabetes at 40
Being diagnosed with a disease can bring on a flurry of emotions – on one hand there may be relief to learn why you have been feeling ill, but you might also feel worried about the future or confused regarding treatment options. Remember you aren’t expected to know everything about an illness immediately, but you will learn about all aspects of the disease over time. Millions of men and women have been diagnosed with diabetes and thankfully, have offered tips and tricks on how to get through the initial stage of diagnosis. If you or someone you love has recently been diagnosed with the disease, here are our top 4 tips for newly diagnosed diabetes Type 2 management:
- Commit to learning all you can about the disease…but not all at once – Diabetes can be a complicated disease and there many aspects to learn such as treatment options, food and diet components, how stress and exercise will affect you, etc. Make a plan to become educated but do not overwhelm yourself in the beginning. Dealing with a new diagnosis can be stressful enough. Your first month or so after diagnosis, you might want to commit to learning about treatment options available to you and which measuring device would work best for your needs. After, you might want to move onto the food and diet component and consider working with a nutritionist. You may also want to connect with an in-person support group or online forum that you can ask questions or find advice and tips from other people living with diabetes.
- Look at testing as crucial information to help you – While it may take some time to become used to testing your blood sugar on a regular basis, remember that your readings are one of the best tools in managing the disease. Learn ways to maintain control of your blood sugar and don’t be hard on yourself when you see a reading out of range – many things affect someone’s blood sugar.
- Give yourself time to adjust and grieve – Being diagnosed with diabetes may seem overwhelming or devastating at first. Know that feelings of denial, sadness, anger or depression are normal. During this time, it is important to be around friends or family who support you and to engage in as many things as possible that make you happy. This might entail spending time with friends, petting your dog or cat, listening to or playing music, exercising, meditating, praying, etc.
- Continue to set goals – It isn’t uncommon for someone newly diagnosed to wonder what affect a disease might have on his or her aspirations. Keep in mind that many people with a wide variety of achievements also have diabetes. From NFL quarterbacks (Jay Cutler) and ballerinas (Zippora Karz) to Olympic gold medalists (Gary Hall) and Indy drivers (Charlie Kimball), diabetes does not have to hold you back. Plus, some famous athletes and sports legends were diagnosed with diabetes at 40 or beyond, highlighting how you can still accomplish your dreams despite the disease.
