Throughout my years as a diabetes educator, I've seen many people faced with the shock of a new diabetes diagnosis. There's the diabetes diagnosis itself, and then being thrown immediately into the required management of the disease. Everyone processes and reacts to this information differently. Unfortunately, the disease generally doesn't allow much time to ease into its management — scheduling and giving medications and injections, counting carbohydrates, storing insulin, understanding hypoglycemia and its treatment, using blood glucose meters, foot care, exercise and much more.

People's response to a new diabetes diagnosis varies. It's natural to respond with shock and stress. You might feel dazed or agitated, have poor concentration or a narrowing of attention, have difficulty comprehending information, anxiety, panic, a rapid heart beat, sweating, and shakiness and flushing. Some statements I've heard include:

Honestly? I wasn't expecting it, I don't eat sugar.No one in my family has diabetes.I ate a bunch of candy yesterday. That's why my sugar is high.Test my blood sugar again, I don't think it's right.I can never eat cake again.I'm not overweight. How did I get this?

People are frequently told they have diabetes, then rushed into a quick education session to learn how to test blood glucose, take the medications and insulin required, modify their diet and treat low blood sugar. These quick educations sessions aren't ideal. They may happen because of lack of time, at a patient's or physician's request, or because a person doesn't have insurance. I've looked at a person sitting there in shock and wondered how much of the information he or she really absorbed. This isn't my preferred method of education, but people amaze me sometimes at how well they adapt to it.

Studies show that after three days, adults only remember 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear, and 30 percent of what they see. However, when adults are actively involved in learning new material, they'll remember up to 90 percent of what they say and do. So, the more active a role you can play in your diabetes education, the better.

What was your reaction to first being told "You have diabetes?"

Have a good week,

Nancy

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This is a heavy topic to discuss; however, many of you have mentioned that you're dealing with a terminal diagnosis.

Grief is a strong, overwhelming emotion, regardless of whether your sadness comes from the loss of a loved one or from a terminal diagnosis that you or someone you love has received. You might find that you feel numb and disconnected from your daily life, unable to carry on with your regular routine as you're dealing with the emotions and sadness of grief.

Grief is the natural reaction to loss. Grief is both a universal and a personal experience. Individual experiences of grief vary and are influenced by the nature of the loss. It's important to remember while you're grieving that you can't control the process and to prepare for varying stages of grief. Some emotions you may experience during the grieving process include:

Denial AngerBargainingDepressionAcceptance

Grieving doesn't always follow the stages above, but you may experience many of these feelings as you deal with the reality of a terminal diagnosis. A host of emotions are involved and normal. You might experience a sense of shock, sadness, guilt and fear along the way. Talking with others is sometimes helpful as you try to recover from the shock and adjust to a diagnosis of a terminal illness.

I want to have an open discussion about grief through this blog so that you might help each other with some of the feelings and emotions. It's not an easy discussion to have, so I admire your willingness to share.

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