Diabetes - Surviving the Diagnosis
You can't believe what your Doctor is telling you. He must be wrong because this can't be happening to you. When you are ready to absorb this first bit of earth shattering news and while you are waiting for the earth to stop trembling beneath your feet it is time to enroll in a Diabetes class to learn as much as possible. Before you even attend the Diabetes class you go online searching for as much information as possible. While you are searching you are learning more than you ever thought you needed to know and yet you are still confused and wondering about all the intricacies of this dreaded disease and how on earth you will ever make the necessary lifestyle changes that have invaded your world.
When something of this magnitude happens to a person one of the best things they can do is seek out others who have had the same life experience. No one truly understands how you are thinking or feeling unless they have also thought and felt the same things. Yes, your family and friends are concerned and probably very worried but unless this has happened to them it's hard for them to truly understand the extent to which this has affected your life. Out of their caring for you some of them may want to dispense advice even though they have no experience in the matter.
We can join groups in our community, which is very helpful, but sometimes the meetings are once a month and you may need interaction more than once a month, particularly, in the beginning stages.
Your online community can help. Get involved in the Diabetes chat forums. Find Diabetes websites that are dedicated to people just like you that want answers to questions that we may not discuss with our Doctors. Find people that want to share their stories and their experiences. Find out how others coped when they were first diagnosed with Diabetes. Find out how others handle attending parties with unlimited buffets of all they are not supposed to eat. How do they cope with Thanksgiving and Christmas when there is nothing but chocolate on the menu? Find out what sugar substitutes others are using and how their bodies are reacting. Find out about insulin frustrations that others have experienced.
While you are learning everything you need to know to manage this disease go online and make new friends who are experiencing the same thoughts, frustrations and day to day challenges that you are facing. You will be glad when you make these new connections with other people just like you.
