Latest / The Healthy Diabetic / #166: Why is Diabetes Challenging?

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#166: Why is Diabetes Challenging? · The Healthy Diabetic

• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Healthy Diabetic Podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, coach Ken Kinnis.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: As always, before we get started, please remember that nothing that you hear on this podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Please always consult your medical team before making any changes to your diabetes management.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, before we get into today's topic, which I'm really excited to talk about, but before we get into it, I just want to remind you to make sure that you like subscribe to the show If you're listening to the show on Apple Podcast.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I believe Apple Podcast is the only platform that allows you to write a written review.
• 0:59
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• 1:12
  Speaker 1: It just really helps the show grow.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you how much my heart warms when I get messages about someone finding the podcast or being referred to the podcast by a friend.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So if you know someone that could get a lot of value out of this conversation or out of these conversations, I encourage you to share the podcast.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much to everyone for continuing to listen every single week.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: It's just amazing to continue to do this podcast to continue to have really good conversations about diabetes.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: So I really hope that all of you that are listening continue to get some really good value out of this show.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: So, thank you.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Let's jump into today's episode, solo episode.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Today, I'm really excited to talk about this because it is a question that I've asked myself multiple times on my diabetes journey.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: It's a question that I've talked to so many different individuals families about, so this is going to be a really cool thing to talk about, about my perspective.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Hopefully it will spark some thoughts in your brain to get you thinking maybe a little bit differently about your diabetes journey and how it's gone so far.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: So why is diabetes so challenging?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Well, this has so many different layers to it, as you know.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: If you've been living with diabetes for a decent amount of time, you know that diabetes is a complex condition, and it's a complex condition not just because of all the decisions that we have to make every single day, every single second, every single hour, every single minute.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: It's a complex condition because what you did yesterday might not work today.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: So we talk so much about or I talk so much about building your own unique management style and how.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: That is very important.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: It also is an important piece to have Plan A, plan B in place, not just for high and low blood sugars, but for your diabetes management as well.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And as you continue to build that unique diabetes management style.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: And when I say you build your own unique management style, it's not that you have a black and white script on how you can really be successful with diabetes, it's more.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I believe a good unique management style is by having a plan, a strategy and being able to adapt, because having diabetes means that you have to be adaptable to the situation, to whatever is going on.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: So that's why diabetes is so challenging.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: We have multiple components to diabetes and tons of inputs that ultimately give you different answers, no matter what type of input you're putting into it.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: It's a little math reference for you, but it's so true.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: It is so true.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Every single day we make decisions and those decisions might not be the same.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: It might not have the same output, the same result as it did yesterday or they did the week before or the month before.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: That's why this condition is so challenging.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Now, because it's so challenging and so complex.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I believe that we are hyper focused on one singular thing and we lose sight of all the other important pieces and aspects of diabetes.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: We lose sight of the complexity because the complexity is yes, diabetes is complex, but there's a reason it's so complex because it's not black and white.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: It's not a black and white management style.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: There's no black and white management style in diabetes.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It's what works for you, and we are hyper focused on one specific thing and that's A1C.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: When you go to your doctor, what's the number one thing they're looking for?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You get your glucose checked and you get your A1C checked every three to four months.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: And then what happens?
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Well, what happens is you're judged based off of that number.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: You're judged based off of how good we are at being a diabetic by this one specific measurement.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: That is really nothing in the grand scheme of things.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just that you're doing a really good job of getting your diabetes checked.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: You're doing a really good job of getting your diabetes checked.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: You're doing a really good job of getting your diabetes checked.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: You're doing a really good job of getting your diabetes checked.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So that's something that you're doing right now is the measurement.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: That is really nothing in the grand scheme of things.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it shows you what your average blood sugar is over three to four months, but it doesn't show you the peaks and valleys.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: It doesn't show you where you're doing really, really well.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: It doesn't show you where you need to improve.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: We're so hyper focused on that number that we're losing sight of the important pieces of our management styles, or Building our own unique management style.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: So if you're someone that hasn't figured out diabetes yet, why?
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Why have you not?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot of components to that too.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: It's because you're not educated or you don't have the support that you need.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I know when I was first diagnosed it, if I had the, the support from the community, or I knew how to get to the community when I was first diagnosed, I wouldn't have been in three years of denial.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: If I had gone to the hospital instead of Just being given an a 70 30 split insulin pen and a glucose monitor and sent on my way at 450.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: If I would have been sent to the hospital and Been able to go through some education, maybe I wouldn't have been in a three-year denial If I would have had a great organization or known about a great organization like JDRF, like beyond type one or like any of these great Organizations that gives so much incredible information To the community, I might not had have had three years of denial.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: So it it's all about how you're first diagnosed, it's all about your perspective and what's in front of you and how much you, how much support you have around you.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: And it's not just about the support of your family, because if you're a type one or a type two and Nobody in your family has diabetes like me, then the support's not going to be the same as if you have friends that have diabetes and you can reach out to them, or you have family members that have diabetes and you can reach out to them.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: It's not the same, the support is not the same.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: So we lack education and support in general, there's not enough information, we don't have the right information and we're focused too much on the A1C, and that's that a1c number is what we're being being driven to, to be hyper focused on, which I understand, but it's the wrong message.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: It's the wrong thing to look at.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Think about when you first are diagnosed.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Think about when you go to your doctor's office.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: What happens?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Well, what usually happens is you don't have the ability to have a meaningful conversation with that individual because they're, they've got so many people that they have to see.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: And this is this is why I get frustrated when I'm talking to someone and they're like, oh well, I can ask my doctor, and in next time we see them.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: And I asked them Okay, what's your next appointment?
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's in three months.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Oh, so you had.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: You're having trouble right now and instead of either giving them a call or instead of getting on my chart, or instead of Reaching out to other people that are that are probably in that situation on social media or whatever it is, building and going into your inner circle who's in your inner circle?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Who can you call?
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: So before, instead of doing that, you're just going to continue to Struggle with this thing that you're struggling with until you can see your doctor, and your doctor's probably not gonna even have the right Information or give you the right information, because they're probably just gonna say oh well, let's just up your basal rates, I will, we'll just, you just need to take more insulin, because that's always the that's.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: That's always the answer.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: That's always the answer Most of time, not every single time.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Some people have really good endocrinologists that dive into the data, and I and I do think that a lot more endocrinologists now are diving into the data.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: But also we have to remember that that individual typically only has 15, maybe 20 minutes to sit there and talk to you.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: That's not enough time to dive into what is really at the heart of the issue of you being either out of control or struggling or being frustrated with fluctuating in rollercoaster, rollercoaster blood sugars.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: They just don't have time.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So if we, if we can't get the answers and we can't get the education From our medical team which most sometimes they might not even have the answer because they're not with you every single day they don't know the emotions that are going that you're going through.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: They don't know the the peaks and the valleys.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: All I can see is what the data says to them.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: They don't know what you just ate.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: They don't know what you just what you.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: They don't know that you mistakenly took an extra point, five units of insulin Before you went and exercised and then you plummeted.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: They don't know these things.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: So, understanding that piece, it's important to remember that you have other options.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: There are other options out there, like this podcast, like other podcasts, like the diabetes community, like organizations.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: There are tons and tons of other options.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: So if you're a newly diagnosed parent, newly diagnosed Diabetic and you're listening to this.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I urge you and I encourage you to Start thinking about who is in your inner circle, if you don't have already have that built up.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Start thinking about who can be in your inner circle that you can reach out to and get a question answered right now.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Don't wait.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: If you're struggling with something, do not wait.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: So we talked about the.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: So we talked about the complexities of diabetes and we talked about why I believe that this condition is so challenging.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Now I want to take a second and talk about how do we overcome some of these complexities.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: How do we overcome?
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: So?
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: We talked about the complexities of diabetes and why this condition is so challenging, so I want to take some time.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: So we talked about the complexities of diabetes and why this condition is so challenging.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: So what are some things that we can do to overcome the complexities of diabetes?
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: That's what we're going to go into next.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Well, the first thing I will say is that you have to believe you can live the life that you want to live with this condition.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: That is, I think, that is at the heart of any diabetes management style is believing that you have control over this condition and believing that you can live the life that you want.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: That's the first thing.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and I want you to say to yourself I believe I can live the life I want to live with this condition.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I have control over diabetes.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I can control diabetes.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: The second thing that I want you to do is I want you to tell yourself that you are more than whatever that A1C number says.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: You're more than what that number says.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: That number does not define you as a diabetic.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: It does not define who you are.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: It does not define whether you are good at diabetes or you're not good at diabetes.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: It does not define you.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: All it does is gives you a picture.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, my A1C is seven.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, awesome, is that a comfortable place for you?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Do you want your A1C to be there?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: And if you do want your A1C to be at seven, you have to tell yourself or ask yourself, why?
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Why is that a comfortable number for me?
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: That's what you have to ask yourself, because you can't just say, okay, well, yeah, a seven is the number that I want, and not know what that number actually means and is, and thinking that you should have a seven just because someone else told you to, if I didn't know what a seven actually is, and my doctor says oh yeah, you're at seven, you're doing pretty well.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm taking the word of my doctor.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: That's not the right thought process because in reality and I'm looking at my A1C chart right now in reality a 7.0 A1C or, if you're on milliliters per deciliter or milliliters per deciliter, a seven, is 172 on average and milliliters per deciliter would be 9.6.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: 172, so that means your average blood glucose is 172.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I believe that's too high For me.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: That's too high.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be that.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be there.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I want to be as close to 100 as possible.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: So even my goal, my goal, is ambitious, right?
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So let's look at 100 milligrams per deciliter.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: That would put me at 108.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: That would put me at a 4.9.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: That's what I would want to be at.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: That's 97.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: According to this A1C chart that I use, it's 97.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Would be 4.9.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: My last A1C was 6.1, so that put me at 140.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I still think that's too high.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: That's for me.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: You have to define what you want your A1C to be, and I encourage you to do that.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: What do you want your A1C to be?
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: That's a very important thing to ask yourself and then ask yourself why?
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Why is that number important to you?
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: That is an important piece to think about.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, we're not going to spend any more time on the A1C.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: We're spending way too much time on the A1C number, especially when it only paints that small picture.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: But I still think that it's important to bring up, because it's not just about the A1C number.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: It's about what the A1C represents to you, not to anybody else, not to your doctor, not to me, not to your mom, not to your dad, not to your friends or your family.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: It only matters what the A1C number means to you.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: This thing is to pay attention to your feelings and what emotions those feelings are bringing to the surface.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I think feelings are something that are a missing piece, or maybe a piece that is hidden, from how we can really focus in on being really comfortable with diabetes.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: And it goes.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I think these feelings go more than just having confidence, because confidence is great.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: You know you're doing well, your blood sugars are right where you need to want them to be and you feel good.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: You feel really good about what's going on.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: That gives you confidence in managing your diabetes, but the feelings that you have with lows and highs, the feelings that you have emotionally those can tell you a lot about your diabetes and what's going on.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So that's something to be really to really be thinking about and lean into is your feelings and emotions, and what feelings are being brought up by what's going on in your life.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: And the next thing is utilizing the tools in your toolbox, like technology as an example.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And when we talk about technology, it doesn't mean that you have to be on a pump or not on a pump.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: It just means that you need to utilize technology like social media.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: You need to utilize technology like a CGM.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I think that the CGM is the one thing that is going to make or break your diabetes management, and a lot of people can probably be really good with diabetes with not wearing a CGM.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: But I think CGM, and where the technology is right now, is by far one of the best tools that we can use for our diabetes management.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And I mean physical tools, because there's mental tools that we can use you use as well, but CGM is definitely a tool that is something that's going to help your management style more than gosh probably more than anything, because it gives you so much data in terms of what's going on.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: The diabetes community is another tool.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: We talked about that and I think, another tool that maybe isn't kind of talked about enough.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I know I've talked about it before, but experimentation and failure is a powerful tool.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: When you are crafting a habit, when you are crafting your management style, that is a powerful, powerful tool, knowing that.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, I failed today because I did X, y and Z.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Now I know that I've got data and now I can make a different choice and make a different decision next time.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many times that I've eaten pizza, because pizza is really hard to dose for and thus you're eating the same exact thing every single time, in the same duration, in the same manner.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Pizza is really hard to dose for and I have a specific strategy that I use that probably seven, maybe six out of ten times works perfectly, but that other three to four times doesn't.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: It doesn't work very well, but every time I fail at dosing for my pizza, I have a new input that I can use the next time.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: That's what this condition is all about and that's what building your own unique management style is all about.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: You have to develop your own management style.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Talk about it.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I talk about it all the time and how you do that is up to you, and there are ways and questions that you can ask yourself to help you do that for sure, 100%.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: But I think that being able to develop your own strategy and your own management styles is one of the most coolest things about diabetes, because it is so unique to you.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: There's so many different things that happen in your day to day that are routine.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: There's so many things that happen in our lives that are routine and are the same all the time, every single day you wake up.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: You probably have the same routine.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: When you wake up, you, if you're an adult, and you're going to work, you make coffee at home or you go to Starbucks and you go to work and you do the same thing you go to a meeting.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: It's the same type of meeting every time.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Conversation's different, but it's the same thing.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Your daily life is the same pretty much every single day For the most of us not everyone, but for the most of us and that's why I love this concept of developing your own management style, because it really allows you to take control over who you are and what you ultimately want in your life and this also goes for life in general right?
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: So how do you want to live your life?
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: We talk about values.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: What are your values?
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: What are your values?
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: What do you value?
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Because understanding your values has a lot of impact on who you are and has a lot of impact on what you ultimately can accomplish.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Because once you set those values, the sky's the limits, and the last thing you can do to overcome the complexities of this condition is trust yourself.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Trust in yourself, trust that you can do it, believe that you can do it and go do it, go do it and have fun doing it.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I have fun every single day with diabetes.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: It's frustrating, 100%.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Diabetes is a frustrating condition, but I still have fun with it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I have fun with the puzzles, I have fun with the ups and downs.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Even though it's frustrating, I still have fun with it.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: That's my thought process.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: That's how I can overcome the complexities of the decisions that I make every single day.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: At those times that you're frustrated, at those times that you wanna quit, trust that everything will be okay.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Trust it and believe it, because it's true, everything will be okay.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I'm here for you.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: The diabetes community's here for you.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Heck, your medical team is here for you.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: You have so much support.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: You have so many great things ahead of your life.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Trust that you will figure this condition out.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, we're at the end of our time together.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for continuing to listen.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you if you got through the episode.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I know sometimes the length of these episodes are probably hard to get through the whole entire thing.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: So if you're still listening, I appreciate you continuing to listen.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I appreciate getting through the whole entire episode.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: So I want to leave you with one last thing.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: As you press stop on your player, no matter where you're listening to this, whether it's in the car, whether it's on your walk, whether it's when you're at the gym, whatever it is wherever you are listening to this, I want you to press stop and I want you to ask yourself one question, and that is what did you take away from this conversation?
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Ask yourself that what did you take away from this conversation?
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: And then, whatever your answer is to that question, I want you to ask yourself can I put that into my management style?
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Can that go into my management style?
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: What can just told?
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: What can said in this episode the most impactful thing that I took away from this episode.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Am I currently doing that and will it fit into my management style?
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: That's what I want you to ask yourself.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I will see everyone next time.