Wellbeing/motivation
2
Be honest with yourself to get them right down to between 4 and enabling me to achieve my goal of good glucose
I often think the first step towards 7mmol/l immediately could potentially be results, but allowing myself more relaxed rules
change is to be honest with yourself. dangerous (you may experience hypoglycaemic around eating.
How often have you been to a diabetes symptoms at these levels, when most well-
appointment, told the doctor that everything controlled patients won’t feel them unless they
is going okay, you are eating well, your drop below 3.9).
glucose levels are fine (but you’ve deliberately When we do not immediately achieve our
6
Maintain the change
In order for a change to be integrated
into your lifestyle it needs to be a
forgotten to bring your blood glucose record targets, it can often feel unsettling, and we may change that you want for yourself, and needs
book to support your claims!), when last night be more inclined to give up. Remember – for to be something you can maintain long term.
you had high glucose for the third time this safety and achievability, changes need to be Reviewing things makes maintenance more
week, can’t seem to get it under control despite made in small steps. straightforward, because you can iron out any
all your efforts, and you feel really embarrassed minor glitches to your action plan, to keep your
and annoyed with yourself? goals achievable.
I have certainly been in that position –
more than once. There is nothing harder than
5
Review your plans
In order for any change to be really
successful, it needs to be well planned,
knowing that things aren’t going as you’d like executed and reviewed. With any action plan,
them to, wishing things were better, but not you may need to make adjustments as you go,
7
Give yourself a break
It is also really important to cut yourself
some slack, and allow yourself to make
knowing quite how to say it. because things can always crop up unexpectedly. mistakes from time to time.
When my husband and I were expecting our There isn’t one of us who can honestly say
3
Be honest with first baby, I tried to improve my glucose control we are ‘perfect’ with our diabetes – there is
your doctor by being strict about not eating any puddings or no such thing. Despite all our efforts, we are
All too often we think that doctors are curries because they had a tendency to send my still likely to have bad glucose-level days, and
there to ‘tell us off’ for having high glucose or glucose levels sky high, which I knew could be we all make slip-ups in our efforts to change.
a piece of cake, when the reality is, they are detrimental to the growing baby. Unfortunately, The important thing is to recognise that this
there to offer advice and equip us with the you cannot always control pregnancy cravings, is completely normal and not let it stop you
knowledge and support we need to make the and one night I was so desperate for a curry reaching your goal. Look at your slip-ups as a
best choices we can for our own health. and pudding, that I decided to have both. Sure message to yourself – to get back on track
As a doctor, I would much rather someone enough my glucose levels soared and I felt very and keep going.
is totally honest with me about their situation. worried, guilty and angry with myself in relation
How can I possibly give the best medical advice to what this meant for our baby, and for me.
about the individual changes a person needs to On talking to my diabetes team afterwards,
make if they are not telling me the truth? we were able to review my medication regime
8
It’s never too late
Finally, it’s never too late to make
things better, whatever the state of
and devise a new medication strategy to limit your diabetes management. Even if you have
4
Make a realistic plan the risk of my glucose levels escalating if I ate a had awful control for years and may not be
By being honest with yourself, you can curry or pudding again. In situations like this it able to reverse complications that already
consider what changes you need to is often easy to get frustrated and give up trying exist, by making sustainable changes now, you
make, and figure out a sensible action plan. to make things better. I could have chosen not to can significantly reduce your risks of additional
My husband has a favourite phrase about eat a curry, but that would have left me feeling problems in the future.
doing things in ‘bite-size chunks’ which has resentful, so my choice was to review my strict Let 2010 be the year that you make a
really helped me. Whatever goals we set ‘no curry’ decision and plan a better way of difference for yourself! n
‘For safety and
About Dr Leanne
achievability, Dr Leanne hayward qualified as a doctor the condition, that
changes need to
at Leicester university and now specialises you’d like to ask
in the field of psychiatry; she has also Dr Leanne? If so,
be made in
had type 1 diabetes since she was eight. please write to
Dr Leanne was recently a resident medic Dr Leanne hayward,
small steps’
on BBc3’s Make My Body Younger, and c/o Sweet Magazine,
has a growing interest in public education Po Box 6337,
ourselves need to be realistic and achievable.
and reducing the stigma associated with
Bournemouth
physical and mental health issues.
Bh1 9eh, or email editor@sweetmagazine.
There is nothing worse than setting yourself up
org. Please enclose contact details; we will
to fail from the outset. If, for example, you want
l Do you have a question about
not publish them. Dr Leanne isn’t able to
to improve your overall glucose control, you
growing up with diabetes, or about
reply to every letter but will answer a
should do so gradually. If your levels usually run
the psychological aspects of living with
selection in each issue.
ShutterStock very high (consistently above 10mmol/l), trying
Sweet Magazine 71
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