Tips for Coping with a Diabetes Diagnosis
Being diagnosed with diabetes, whether it be type 1 or type 2 diabetes, can be an earth-shattering experience. You start thinking about all the different ways that it’s going to change your life. For a lot of people, being diagnosed with diabetes can lead to additional problems. They start getting more stressed or end up in a depressed state. Not only can it impact your emotions, but it can lead to less control of your diabetes condition.
One reason that a diabetes diagnosis can be so difficult is because of all the false ideas and myths that surround the condition. A lot of people assume it’s because they have done something wrong or that it means that they won’t be able to enjoy any of their favorite foods anymore. Neither of these are true.
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes, or you know someone that has, there are several ways that you can cope with the diagnosis and ensure that you have all the information that you need to make the new transition.
Accept It
The first thing that you should do accept your diagnosis. One common response to being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or type 2 is to deny the condition. We hear dozens and dozens of stories about people who are diagnosed with diabetes, but they don’t change their lifestyle. They continue to eat a lot of junk food and don’t change any of their habits, that’s one of the worst things that you can do. Not accepting your condition could lead to serious health problems in the future.
It might not be easy to do, but you first have to accept your condition and commit to improving your health. Coping with your condition begins with acceptance. If you don’t accept it, it’s never going to get any better.
Do Your Research
Your physician should be able to answer any questions that you might have about diabetes, but when you first get diagnosed, you’ll probably be in shock and won’t have any questions at that moment. It’s important that you do plenty of research to understand the condition and how it’s going to change your life. You probably know someone with diabetes, and you might have heard horror stories about the disease, but a lot of the things that you have heard might not be right.
Spend some time researching diabetes on reputable sites. There are hundreds of communities online that you can go to for information and support from other people with diabetes. It’s essential that you understand your condition and some of the challenges that you’re going to face.
Get a Support Team
The first couple months are your diagnosis are going to be bumpy. You’re going to be making several changes, and it can be a frustrating and overwhelming experience. It’s vital that you have people around you that will support you and understand what you’re going through.
Your support team can consist of your family, friends, medical professionals, or an online community. You need people that you can talk about your struggles and accomplishments. Having supportive people around you is going to make the diagnosis much smoother.
Take Things Slow
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you’re going to need to make some significant lifestyle changes. It can seem like a daunting task when you are first diagnosed. Don’t think that you have to change your whole life overnight. On your journey to a healthier life, take baby steps.
Instead of trying to spend an hour exercising every day, just start with 20 minutes every other day or three times a week. You can gradually work up to more exercise. Additionally, you don’t have to completely toss out all of your junk food or favorite snacks. You can still enjoy that snacks but in moderation.
Track your Progress
When you’re trying to improve your lifestyle, it can seem like you’re just spinning your wheels and you aren’t making any changes. Seeing some improvement will encourage to continue making those small changes. If you don’t think that your life has changed or that your health is any better, you’re probably going to quit and revert to your old lifestyle.
There are several ways that you can track your health progress. There are apps that you can use that will help you monitor your glucose levels over the past several months and see how your a1c has changed. You can also track your weight and your exercise goals.
Coping with your Diagnosis
It’s easy to think that diabetes is going to flip your world upside down, but that isn’t true. In most cases, making a few simple lifestyle changes can have an enormous impact on your overall health and your diabetes diagnosis. You can still live your life and be happy.
As with most things, moderation is key when you’re managing glucose levels. You can still eat a sweet snack, but you can’t finish off a whole gallon of ice cream. Having a small piece of cake after dinner is not going to wreck your health, but you’ll need to track how much you eat and be aware of the effects that it can have your blood sugar levels.
At LifeInsurance4Diabetics.com, we get dozens and dozens of questions every year from applicants that have been recently diagnosed with diabetes. Being told that you have a serious health problem makes a lot of people take a long hard look at their life insurance policies. While it’s never too early to start looking at life insurance, there are some things that you should know before you apply for life insurance as a person that has just been diagnosed.
The first thing that you should do if you’re looking for life insurance is wait. If you were diagnosed with diabetes in the past 12 months, the insurance company is not going to know how well you’ll manage your diabetes. The company wants to see that you’re dedicated to improving your health over the long haul. The longer that you’ve worked to control your glucose levels, the better candidate you are for affordable life insurance.
The next thing that you should do when you’re shopping for cheap life insurance is to find an insurance company that has experience working with applicants with diabetes. Every insurance company is different, and all of them have various medical underwriting and rating standards. That means that you’re going to get drastically varying rates depending on which company that you choose. Some companies have more experience working with diabetes, and these companies are going to have less strict medical underwriting in regards to diabetes. Those companies are going to give you drastically better rates than you would get with other companies.
There are hundreds and hundreds of companies that you can choose from, and all of them are going to view your diagnosis different. Instead of wasting hours and hours contacting all of those companies yourself, let one of our independent insurance agents do all of that work for you. Unlike a traditional insurance agent, we don’t work with one single company. Instead, we represent dozens and dozens of highly rated companies across the nation. We know which companies are going to offer the best rates for anyone with diabetes. We can bring all of the best insurance quotes directly to you, in a matter of minutes.
One of the most common reasons that people with diabetes don’t get life insurance is because they assume that a plan is too expensive or that you can’t get approved for coverage at all. Neither of these is true. Regardless of your health or any pre-existing conditions that you have, you can get quality and affordable life insurance protection.
Life Insurance
Buying life insurance is one of the best investments that you’ll ever make for your loved ones. It’s one of the few ways that you can ensure that your family will have the money that they need, even if you passed away. We know that nobody wants to think about his or her death, but it’s vital that your family has the protection that they need.
You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, which means that you shouldn’t wait any longer to get the life insurance that your family deserves. If you have any questions about getting affordable life insurance as a person with diabetes, please contact one of our agents today. We would love to answer those questions and connect you with the best plan possible.
