My Mental Challenges as a Type 2 Diabetic
Having type 2 diabetes has been mentally challenging for me. I struggle with trying to understand how to feel about having type 2 diabetes, as I have seen it in a very negative and unhealthy way in my family.
Coping with the mental health challenges of type 2 diabetes
It also changed the way I eat and how I feel about eating. I use to not want to eat anything because, in my mind, I thought that eating would lead to my death.
Diet confusion
I would try all these weight loss programs and new diet fads. Every week I would be doing something different or I would try whatever the new thing was to lose weight. I would sometimes go days without eating, or eat little to no food. My mind was focused on diabetes being caused by what I was eating. It mentally drained me trying to figure out what foods were good for me and what was considered to be healthy.
I always thought that fruits and vegetables were healthy eating, but as I did more research about type 2 diabetes, I realized that all fruits and vegetables were not good for me. Some contained too much sugar, sodium, and fructose. That sent my levels through the roof. So now I was back to square one. I researched more ways to try and eat healthily. I was starting to get overwhelmed and I was back to not eating or not eating much again. I felt defeated and confused.
Family death and health complications from diabetes
In the meantime, there was the death of my grandmother from diabetes. So now I was concentrating on everything she did in order for my fate not to be the same. While I was trying to deal with her death, my father started to have complications with his diabetes. That led to him getting two of his limbs amputated. This crushed me. It was another negative light that has been shined on me by the disease, that was a hereditary curse and a deadly cycle. I was so determined at this point, to break this cycle.
Overdoing it
I started to do too much in my efforts to break this curse. I was not aware that I had to pace myself because I was diabetic. I was over-doing things, like exercise, and overeating foods that I thought were healthy. It was then that I realized that my body could not perform like it used to. So I had to be very careful to keep my levels in balance. The more I tried, the more complicated it seemed to manage this disease. It was indeed starting to cause all these different emotions and worries.
The importance of mental health with type 2 diabetes
At this point, I knew my idea of a normal life was gone and that there would always be a mental fight when it comes to type 2 diabetes. I do not think people understand how important it is to keep your mental state healthy when living with type 2 diabetes. Having diabetes is a constant battle to save my life every day. It has no breaks, no days off, and is constant.
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