Living life to the max
It feels like diabetes can take over your life but it needs to be fitted into your life. There are many ways to make things easier for yourself so you can do what you want to do.
Here you’ll find some tips on how to look after yourself and your diabetes. Make sure you don’t shut yourself away – it’s really helpful to talk about your diabetes and deal with any feelings that you have.
New to Diabetes?
Wesley and friend Video: New to diabetes
View the videos above to find out more about how Kyle and Wesley felt when they were first diagnosed with diabetes and what advice they have for anyone in the same situation.
Video: What is diabetes?
You can also see a video on what diabetes is to learn more, or show it to your friends or family to help them understand.
Top Tips
- There’s no need to change who you are because of your diabetes
- Take things one day at a time. There’s a lot to learn and you can’t expect to understand it all right away. Eventually you’ll be the expert and remember that other people don’t know much about diabetes
- Diabetes is ‘unexpected’ and most people feel shocked, angry, upset and even depressed, which are natural feelings
- Don’t worry, you’ll not understand everything right away
- Keep doing the things you like, such as your favorite hobbies and activities. Diabetes should not restrict you - but you may need to do a little bit more preparation
- There’s no perfect way to manage diabetes – it’s a bit of a roller coaster and it’s normal for your blood glucose levels to be up and down some of the time
- You do need to check your blood glucose levels regularly or you won’t know what’s going on
- There are many different types of insulin and ways to give it. Find one that works best for you – this might take time
- There are a lot of new options for people with diabetes, so if you don’t like what you’ve started with, remember there are other choices which you can discuss with your diabetes team (the doctors, nurses and dietitians)
- Talk to your diabetes team and people you trust to share your feelings and get whatever help you need
- You need to make sure people around you know you have diabetes in case you need their help
Downloads
Download the diabetes and you pack
You can print out and use this tool to select from a choice of over 50 emotions to help identify how you are feeling right now. You can then use your finished selection to help you in discussions with your parents, friends or diabetes team, or just to track your progress . For more information and help on dealing with the emotions you may be feeling, you can download the document on “Dealing with emotions of type 1 diabetes” here.