DIABETES: HOW TO HELP
The more you know, the more you’ll be able to offer concrete help.
Diabetes is tough. When you have diabetes you need to eat healthy food, stay active and check your blood glucose (sugar) to see how you’re doing. Good diabetes care also means controlling the ABC’s of diabetes to avoid having a heart attack, stroke or other diabetes-related problems.
A is for the A1C test that measures blood glucose control.
B is for blood pressure.
C is for cholesterol.
And that’s on top of handling all the other things in life! No wonder a person with diabetes can feel stressed out and sometimes afraid.
Certainly you want the best for loved ones with diabetes—whether family members or friends. Perhaps you’re looking for ways to ease the pressure your mother feels. Or maybe you’d like to help your husband take better control of his diabetes. It’s a difficult disease to handle alone and you can make a big difference in how well someone copes with it. These seven tips should help you get started:
1. Learn about diabetes. There’s a lot to learn about living well with diabetes. Treatment is changing and we’re learning more every day. You can keep current by attending a class, looking on the Internet or asking the doctor or nurse how to find out more. You can then apply what you’ve learned to help your loved one.
2. Understand the person’s diabetes. Each person’s experience with the disease is different. Discover what things seem difficult for your friend to manage—and what seems easy.
3. Find out what your loved one needs by asking three questions:
What do I do that helps your diabetes?
What do I do that makes it harder for you to manage your diabetes?
What can I do to help you more than I do now?
4. Talk about your feelings. Diabetes affects you, too, so telling your loved one how you feel can help you both.
5. Offer practical help. Instead of nagging, find ways to be helpful and discuss what would help the most. For example, offer to go to the doctor with your father or mother, take walks with your wife or cook a tasty and healthy meal for your friend.
6. Try a new approach. When things aren’t going right, try something new. Find one thing that works and build from there.
7. Get help. Find a diabetes support group in the health section of your local newspaper or on the Internet. Consider speaking with a dietitian. Ask your healthcare provider about ways to get help if the person is sad or depressed.
Reprinted with permission. This information is part of a joint program of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the American Association of Diabetes Educators.