Making Contact With Fellow Diabetics: Being diagnosed with diabetes is often very unexpected and so many people know little or nothing about the disease to begin with. Your doctor will no doubt tell you the basics, show you how to control your disease, especially if you turn out to be insulin-dependent, and give you a food chart that lists what you can and cannot eat but where do you go for the answers to all those silly little questions that you have and are to embarrassed to ask the doctor?
Support Groups
Most areas have special support groups that meet up regularly so that you can share your experiences with other diabetics. Occasionally these groups meet at the local hospital or clinic and so you should be able to find details regarding times and locations from your local clinic or surgery.
Not only can you sit and chat with friends, you can share new diabetic recipes or tell everyone about the new restaurant that serves proper diabetic meals. Really these groups are simply a great way to meet other people who suffer from the daily affliction of diabetes just as you do.
If you can’t find a support group in your local area you can always start one yourself as there are probably hundreds of people living nearby who have the same worries and questions as you.
Internet Forums
There are a number of forums on the internet dedicated to diabetes, such as Diabetic Discussion where people who have been living with the disease for years can help to answer any questions you have. You can also just talk to other sufferers, find out new recipes and cooking tips, get information about exercise and how it can affect your diabetes, find out about the future of diabetes and what is happening in the research labs around the world, and any number of other general bits of information.
Because diabetes is an illness that needs constant monitoring it can make you feel ostracized from your regular friends when you are first diagnosed, especially when you have to constantly watch what you eat and take your blood glucose level numerous times a day. Then there is the added pain of having to administer your insulin when you’re out and about and you may not feel up to going out to the local pub if you know you can’t drink alcohol like you used to!
Talking online with fellow sufferers can provide you with lots of handy tips and advice regarding everyday activities and how to continue leading a normal life, just as you did before you were diagnosed. Diabetes doesn’t have to ruin your life and by finding a group of people who can relate to what you are going through you can quickly get over the initial shock and settle down to a fulfilling life as a diabetic.
