Good Day Agent Sugar. Your mission, should you wish to accept it [and we hope that you will], will be to outwit, outlast and outplay your new training partner to prevail. Your partner can teach you great things about yourself and your life. But don’t be fooled! Let your guard down and you will regret it.
This dossier will self-destruct in five minutes. Make sure you memorise its contents. You will need it to complete your mission safely. Good Luck!
Diabetes is not a death sentence!
While you may face some additional risks that you will need to manage, you can live a full, healthy life with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
Be willing to change!
If you see a regular, undesirable pattern – change the cause! Each day, carry information learned from yesterday forward, and change your behaviour accordingly, so that you can continually improve your self-management.
Discipline is not a dirty word!
Managing diabetes takes discipline and thrives with routine! Checking blood glucose, taking medication or insulin, regular exercise and healthy food choices will all benefit.
Be pro-active! Not re-active!
Avoid the rollercoaster of swinging blood glucose levels because you are reacting to individual readings. A blood glucose level shows you the outcome of ‘history’ – that the decision you made earlier was correct or not. Learn from this, but don’t over react. A pro-active approach (planning what you are going to eat, or when you are going to exercise) will take you forward, and prevent ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ occurring.
It’s your life!
Your medical team are there to guide you in the management of your diabetes so that you can lead a healthy life free from the complications of poorly controlled diabetes. But you are the one that has to ‘do it’!
It’s your future!
Take responsibility for your destiny. Make sure you are on the right road, and make sure you are getting the assistance and support you need.
The future belongs to those who prepare for it today! (Malcolm X)
As Dr. Larry Distiller, the founder of the CDE always says, “Diabetes always demands a price! Pay the price now and keep healthy. Ignore diabetes now and pay later with preventable complications”. This sounds harsh, but its so true. Its a no brainer really, isn’t it!
and then