It’s not surprising that lessons in meditation and yoga have been found to reduce stress. They have also been found to reduce levels of perceived…
Category: Emotional Health
Michelle Sorensen, M.ED, Clinical Psychologist is passionate about increasing the counseling capacity of healthcare professionals who support people loving with type 1 diabetes. The majority of healthcare professionals have been trained in directing and educating clients but Sorensen sees that people living with type 1 diabetes respond better to a counseling approach. “It’s about understanding how you help the patient tap into their own resources,” says Sorensen.
I know there are plenty of folks out there who will say it’s crazy and lazy to give up on weight loss. (Probably the same people who see me with my tall, lean, handsome husband and wonder what the hell he’s doing with me.) Do these people feel pity and disgust when they see my body?
I work hard to avoid the the stress and shame that sometimes come with managing blood sugar. Here are my top 5 tips to combat the mental stress that can accompany high blood sugars.
Guilt is the major diabetes “complication” that isn't usually discussed enough (often not at all) at endocrinologist’s visits, or even within the shelter of the diabetes community.
Following my recent article about why I lied to my parents about my diabetes, many parents reached out to my mother and me to ask how I turned things around. I thought that I would take this opportunity to address some of the different things my parents, my medical team, and I did to help me recover from diabetes burnout and take responsibility for my diabetes.
Worry in itself is anxiety-inducing, and with diabetes I am constantly worried and feeling guilty for every high and low reading that I get. The apprehension I get from the numbers make it hard for me to not regret decisions I’ve made. I get a lot of nausea with my high and low readings, and those trigger anxiety attacks.
I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression issues for as long as I can remember. When I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes twelve years ago at the age of 22, I began to experience prominent physical symptoms of anxiety and depression, which often manifested as uncomfortable GI and stomach upset. Some months ago I had a colonoscopy and a gastric endoscopy. There was nothing clinically wrong with me, except the one place nobody looked. My mind.
The hospital provided Finn with that break, not from chronic illness, but from being different. Diabetes camp is often celebrated for offering kids exactly this—much needed relief from being different. Although in the hospital, he was the lone patient with Type 1 diabetes, he was by far the most regular kid on the unit. So even though he had to get an injection before each meal, he was surrounded by kids who had much more cumbersome treatments.
I breathed in and I breathed out and the thoughts about my inconvenient low changed. I went from thinking about my busy week and how I deserved this yoga class and how unfair this was to a simple mantra. I am low because I have insulin. I have insulin. I have insulin whenever I need it. My life is no more deserving than anyone else’s, but I have this unearned privilege. I have insulin.