Have you ever heard of burnout? Apparently, the definition of burnout is physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress. The world right now is in turmoil. Between the COVID-19 outbreak and the quarantine and the mandatory face masks and racial injustices and elections, I am pretty sure we are all feeling a little bit burned out right now in general. Usually, people relate burnout to work stress or lifes stress like above, but it can also be related to diabetes care. Diabetes is after all a chronic illness. Meaning long term, meaning it doesn't go away. It doesn’t have periods of remission or times when it is inactive, it is always with us. We can't have a day off from diabetes. I mean we can pretend we don't have it and even act like we don't (skip finger sticks and shots and eat whatever we want), but it always comes back to haunt us. It simply is a life long, chronic illness that requires daily attention and daily actions.
It's no wonder to me that diabetes burnout is a seriously underdiagnosed and undertreated condition. I mean do normal people even realize how draining it is to be a type 1 diabetic? To have to measure and weigh and think about everything you eat and timing the insulin just right. The need to constantly monitor sugars and never leaving home without your suitcase full of supplies for every imaginable issue (too much insulin, not enough insulin, forgetting your pen or a pump site coming out or stress or hormones), literally everything affects our sugars so we have to be prepared for any and everything.
It oftentimes seems to me that those in the medical field really do not understand diabetes. They see us often as their problem patients. The ones who ruin their perfect ideals because we don’t follow the rules. They have no idea how hard living with type 1 diabetes truly is. They simply look at it from a scientific standpoint. Lack of insulin lets give insulin and it will all be perfect. But that is not true As I said above everything affects blood sugars. Even if we did the same thing day after day and took the exact same insulin at the exact same time and ate the exact same thing our sugars will never ever be perfect. Not to mention that whole being human thing. You know how none of us are perfect (sorry to break it you but nobody is perfect). There is no such thing as a perfect diabetic. Human nature is to be flawed and to make mistakes. So add this to the “everything” affects your blood sugar and I present you with diabetes burnout.
How do you know when you are feeling truly burned out? Well, the symptoms of burnout are more than just feeling overwhelmed or tired. They include emotional exhaustion, social withdrawal, the decline in activity or performance of activities, neglecting medical care, strong negative feelings in general, feeling controlled by diabetes, isolation, or feeling alone. Unaddressed feelings of burnout can and often does lead to self-destructive behaviors. (For example, pretending you don’t have diabetes and eating whatever you want and not taking your insulin or checking your sugar).
When was the last time that your endocrinologist or your PCP asked you how you were doing? How you are handling things? Have any of them ever taken the time to check in with your emotional wellbeing and the effects of this disease on your mental state? Unless of course you were to breakdown and start crying about how stressed out and frustrated you are by it all. Maybe then they might check in, LOL. So if they don’t ask us how we are feeling and coping, how will they ever be able to ascertain that we are feeling burned out? Yep, they won’t.
So where does this leave us? How are we ever going to get through these feelings of being burned out by diabetes? From all of the research I have done, one thing seems to be the most important for overcoming feelings of being burned out and that is to acknowledge the feelings you are experiencing and give yourself permission to feel them. Having someone you trust that you can share how you feel with is also very helpful. Someone who can be your “ventee”, your go-to listener so you can get all the bad feelings and the frustration out of you. In times of severe burn out you may also need to start saying no to people and start asking for help for simple tasks of life (doing the dishes and laundry and so on). It is also helpful to think about what you can and what you can not change. Love yourself, remember we all make mistakes, and even if you don’t make mistakes there is no perfection in the world of Diabetes.
Remember that you are not alone. There are plenty of groups out there that offer support and I strongly recommend you find one that you like. Finding others who suffer from type 1 has helped me tremendously throughout the years to understand that how I feel is normal. We all go through good times and bad times with this disease and it is ok to feel frustrated and angry. It is even ok to feel burned out from time to time. Just give yourself a break and take a deep breath and go do something to distract yourself. Find your person to talk to and when you are able to get back on it, then do it. Giving yourself a break from time to time is actually going to help you in the long run. Sometimes simply going outside or changing your focus to your family or a hobby is a miracle worker. Making sure you are able to do this is the tricky part. Remember what I said above, give yourself a break and let yourself have a bad day. Accept that you will not always be great but if you can find a way to do pretty good most days, you will be ok!