Adhering to your medical regimen

Goal

Recognizing your current thoughts, feelings, and challenges to sticking with your diabetes management plan.

You and your healthcare provider have likely come up with a plan for managing your diabetes. It can be hard to stick to this plan, though, so the next few lessons are designed to help you do that.

First, let’s think about your medical regiment in general. Write it out so you have a clear picture of it. Many times, those regiments will involve checking your blood sugar twice a day, eating a healthy diet of low fat and sodium, and exercising. Sometimes, it will also involve taking insulin, depending on the plan you and your doctor decide on together.

Sticking to your medical plan is the most important way you can keep your diabetes under control. As we talked about in the last lesson, how you think and feel about things can impact behaviors that you’ll do, which in turn will impact your symptoms. People often have a range of feelings about their medical routine, and it may change as you become more used to it.

Daniel’s Story:

Let’s look first at Daniel, who, you may remember, feels pretty motivated to change and recognizes that his thoughts and feelings will impact his behavior and symptoms. When he was first diagnosed, he felt overwhelmed by all the information the doctor was giving him, out of control, and like the changes he was being asked to make were impossible. However, after deciding to take advantage of the new resource he learned of, 7cupsoftea.com, he feels a little better about sticking to his daily plan. He thinks about his medical regimen and realizes that the more he learns about it with his doctor, the more control he will feel over the situation. While he used to feel anxiety about remembering to check his blood sugar everyday, as well as to take his medication, he has now learned skills that help him feel less anxiety about the whole process. He used to feel dread when he looked at his glucose monitor, and while he still doesn’t get excited about testing his blood sugar, he understands better why it’s important. He used the AIM method, explained later in this set of lessons, to have a good discussion with his doctor and nursing team to better understand the what’s and how’s of his routine.

Meet Jo:

We saw how Daniel might handle his medical regiment. Now let’s consider Jo, a 20-year-old white woman who has just been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, as well. Unlike Daniel, she does not wish to make any changes and is currently avoiding her medical routine. When she thinks about her doctor appointments, she feels very nervous about getting more bad news and worries that her doctor will chastise her for not following through on her plan. She stuck her glucose monitor in her medicine cabinet as soon as she got home, so she won’t have to look at it. She feels sick to her stomach whenever she does measure her blood sugar, partially because of the pain of sticking her finger twice a day, partially because she hates the sight of blood, and partially because she feels like her numbers are always high and she doesn’t understand how to get them under control. All of this together leaves her feeling very frustrated with the whole plan.

Your Turn:

On your own sheet of paper, in the Diabetes Forum, consider answering the following questions to get a picture of your current thoughts about your medical routine.

1. What are your thoughts about adhering to your medical regimen?

2. What may get in the way of adhering to your regiment?

3. When you look at your medications and supplies what goes through your mind?

4. What are your top five reasons for sticking to your medical regimen and taking care of your diabetes?

Sometimes, we don’t live up to the expectations we have for ourselves and we might have to rate ourselves a 1, 2, or 3. Don’t let this get you down. It’s not the end of your journey, just another step on the path. Take some time to consider your goals again and think about how you can change your goal to make it more attainable for the coming week.