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Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in April of 1980. I recognize the incredible mental struggle of living with diabetes. I hope to share my struggles, my successes, and everything in between.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Is managing diabetes a full time job?

If only I had nothing else to do... Right? Wrong - but anyways.

I sometimes feel like there are so many things that we deal with that sometimes my diabetes takes a back seat and I don't give it the attention I need to in order to achieve better control. I mean, life gets busy sometimes!!!

I often think that managing diabetes can be a full time job, and at times it can be. But looking at how typical management is done, it's kind of weird. Managing diabetes is not a "task" that you can focus on and "get it done", but rather requires multiple mental "visits" through the course of a day.

I think my biggest problem is maintaining a consistant level of diligence through the course of the day. I might be very motivated at one point of the day, but I have problems maintaining that level of motivation while navigating the course that unravels for the rest of the day.

So, if I didn't work, or do anything else at all, would I be able to manage my diabetes better? I don't think so - just because I don't think any of us can maintain that focus all day every day!

The puzzle is figuring out how to balance everything when taken together. I think that diabetes can be just a small mental part of our normal thought process during the day. Similar to driving - I'm still very careful when driving, but for the most part it is somewhat unconcious. Something I've been doing for so long that it does not require 100% focus like it did when I first drove. Maybe diabetes is a bit like that? Some situations and circumstances requiring more focus and attention, but for the most part occupying a small amount of mental resources...??

Thoughts?

1 Comments:

Blogger Shannon said...

"Managing diabetes is not a "task" that you can focus on and "get it done", but rather requires multiple mental "visits" through the course of a day."

You couldn't have said it better. Wouldn't it be nice if it could be taken care of in one fell swoop each day?

5:32 PM  

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