I have a question about the old double standard. When you ladies who have diabetes work outside the home and take care of a house full time how do you find the time to take care of your diabetes and deal with lows. I am starting a new job tomorrow and I will be working full time, and i get NO help around the house. How can I motivate myself to keep track of my illness and all this other crap? Any suggestions would be helpful as I am angry and resentful and depressed about having diabetes after damn near 30 years and getting no help with it.
Amanda,
Maybe the best way is to write everything down. Make a schedule and stick to it and always check your blood at those times to keep you in check no matter what is going on you know you will always check you blood to prevent hypo or hyperglycemia
lets make a mockup (of course you will do this to your own schedule)
7am get up and check blood
730 eat breakfast, take insulin
9am get to work check blood
12pm check blood, eat lunch
4pm check blood have a snack
6pm get home from work check blood, if blood sugar is running low drink a juice box, tidy up, start cooking dinner
8pm check blood, running low, drink juice
10pm check blood
11pm check blood go to bed
Oh, I hear you! Loud and clear!
Gina has a good suggestion about organizing your time and making your health your top priority. Also though, there are other issues with you and your household that need to be examined, from my point of view. I had similar issues when I was married, and I was expected to work full time, take care of myself, and my house, and my daughter, and everything else. Try as I might to explain to my then-husband, he just didn't GET IT. I am exhausted, worried, and cranky and you want me to do WHAT? He has barely ever been sick a day in his life, much less with a chronic illness, so he could not relate to me on any level. It finally took hearing it from our marriage counselor, an outside source, to say that he needed to lay off and be more sensitive about my physical health needs and that he can't expect me to be everything to everyone just so he wouldn't be inconvenienced or that his picture of our perfect house/family wouldn't have to be altered. It was really crazy and I was so resentful toward him. BUT, hearing that helped him to gain some perspective and he laid off. I also though had to become much more vocal about what I needed and we both became more flexible about what did and didn't need to get done. If I was too tired and the dishes didn't get washed, was it really that big of a deal? No, it can wait, you know? If not a counselor, then a doctor, or other health professional, or a friend with a chronic illness... someone who can speak in your defense.
Regardless of who the offenders are in your home, it is also your responsibility to keep expressing your needs. Educate them about how you're feeling when your sugar is low, or when it's high, or how much you need help around the house and that you can't do it alone. I think one of the greatest factors in whether you succeed or fail at living well with diabetes is the support you have in your life. There are times when the only support I had was my own faith in God, I had no one else, but I decided that even if that was all I had, then that would have to be enough. It was really hard, too, but I am glad that I stuck up for myself and held myself to a standard that I would make my health my top priority. Now the people in my life KNOW that is my standard and that I will settle for nothing less. And they naturally either support that and they hang around, or they don't and they fade away. I am no longer married but my boyfriend now is WAY more supportive and understanding and he wants to know everything about diabetes so that he can be educated and prepared. (Plus, he has a chronic illness of his own to deal with so he knows what it's like.) I am not saying trade in your family/friends for new ones but educate them, and keep doing what you need to do to take care of you. Really, one day at a time and things will change dramatically. I know it can be overwhelming, but take baby steps. You are worth it!