T1, need your help

You are constantly thinking 'why me?' because diabetes is kicking your ass. If you get back into good control it won't feel so much like that. So first of all, you have to actually set out to get into good control so that diabetes is less of a burden. Tell somebody who's opinion you actually care about (probably not random redditors) that you are having a hard time, you want to get better, and that you are going to start doing something to get there.

Psychologically (which is where your problem lies) this serves a couple of purposes. It sounds cheesy but it works:

  1. It gets this out of the land of 'easily forgotten hypothetical goals' 2. It obligates you to actually do it in order to keep from lying to this person
  2. It kind of obligates them to help you along because you have trusted them to on a personal level

So now you are at the point of no return. You have made a real life commitment to a flesh and blood person who is not you. You are going to need some tools to help get you there.

  1. Make sure you actually have everything you need to manage your diabetes (insulin, syringes, test strips, a meter). If you don't have an adequate supply of all these things, no matter how many empty promises you make to yourself and your friend, you just won't do it. And knowing you can't is a good reason not to, so don't let this be an excuse.
  2. Buy easy food. Poptarts, corndogs, shit that is clearly labeled and easy to make so its easy for you to know exactly how many carbs are in the stuff you are eating. If its not easy to make, or it takes long division to figure out the carbs, you are probably going to err on the side of lazy-safety and just not bolus for it. So don't give yourself that excuse.
  3. Buy some stuff that has no carbs. That way, in the unlikely event that a corndog is too burdensome to bolus for, you have something to eat that you don't have to bolus for.

OK. So you have a real-life goal that you have committed to, the necessary tools, and food that doesn't require a calculator. Preparation is over. You are financially and socially invested. It is time to start keeping your promises and not letting your money go to waste:

  1. Check your blood sugar. If it is high, correct it.
  2. Eat something. Bolus.
  3. check your blood sugar again in 4 hours. If you are hungry again, eat again. Bolus again.
  4. Plug all of this information into some kind of app on your phone or if you are not prone to hand cramps, just write it down.

This may seem kind of patronizing. I would feel kind of patronized if someone just said this shit to me. I'm sorry :P. Ignore the compulsion to ignore this advice though. Its sound.

The biggest 'burden' of getting out of a diabetes rut is that you 'know' from experience that you can simply just not do what you are supposed to, and there are a million tiny opportunities not to. This gets rid of enough of that to let good habits start forming, and just doing what you have to do becomes the easy option, rather than having to explain to real people why you didn't do what you said you would, even though you have all the appropriate things necessary to make it bearably easy.

/r/diabetes Thread