
Today's #DBlogWeek prompt: We think a lot about the physical component of diabetes, but the mental component is just as significant. How does diabetes affect you or your loved one mentally or emotionally? How have you learned to deal with the mental aspect of the condition? Any tips, positive phrases, mantras, or ideas to share on getting out of a diabetes funk? (If you are a caregiver to a person with diabetes, write about yourself or your loved one or both!)
Recently I submitted a "solution" to a NASA collaboration site. NASA often puts out calls for ideas on a variety of topics just to get a mix of potential solutions, and this one had to do with "telehealth tools". I would like to share my solution in response to today's #DBlogWeek prompt about mental health. The mental side of Diabetes is something I really struggle with, and I have a feeling Type A personalities (i.e. astronauts) may have a hard time dealing with it too.
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First, a bit of background. I have lived every day since Dec
30, 1998 with Type 1 Diabetes. For 18 years I have balanced the physics of this
disease – ingest carbohydrates, calculate insulin based on food and blood
sugar, test blood sugar 5+ times per day. Gradually devices made some of these
logistics easier – an insulin pump meant less injections and pre-programed
equations, and a continuous glucose monitor meant blood sugar updates every 5
minutes. On the surface it sounds like the disease is straightforward, a simple
dance of eating and replacing the body’s missing insulin. However, Type 1
Diabetes is much more complicated than these simple equations. For example, it
is hard to be spontaneous with Type 1 Diabetes. The combination of
carbohydrates, fat and protein means blood sugars spike at different times
following meals, exercise must be planned hours ahead of time to ensure the
blood sugar won’t go too low, and extra supplies are a must, just in case of
equipment malfunction or failure. Even seemingly unrelated influences like
fluctuations in hormones or sleep patterns can make blood sugars unpredictable.
All of these “outside influences” are difficult to explain
to doctors, and even more difficult for them to understand and consider when
making recommendations to their patients. Not to mention, much of the
difficulty of having such a disease comes more from the mental side than the
physical side. Sure, shots hurt, but facing a life where every carbohydrate
must be counted, every exercise planned, multiple shots a day and finger stick
after finger stick with no days off, no cure in sight, and the ultimate
consequence of death is a bit mentally challenging. Sometimes it’s hard to stay
motivated and vigilant. This is where patient networks and the “patient
perspective” come into play. Diabetics all over the world have joined together
through social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc) to create what we
have named the “Diabetes Online Community”, lovingly referred to as the DOC. We
voluntarily share our experiences with this disease and support community
members who want to talk to someone other than their doctor – someone who
actually understands what it means to be a Diabetic. From these humble internet
beginnings, the DOC has grown exponentially and even has spawned in-person
conferences to discuss some of the realities of the disease patient to patient.
This model can be applied to NASA and long term space travel
in two ways. First, NASA should place high importance on flying future
astronaut physicians, even on short-duration spaceflights. An endocrinologist
can’t force Type 1 Diabetes on himself in order to connect better with his
patients, but an Aerospace Physician CAN fly in space to gain this perspective.
Just by pure statistics, it will be more likely for a long-duration mission
participant to experience a health problem and having a similar perspective
from your physician is priceless. Second, NASA could implement a sort of
health-related wiki. Voluntarily participating astronauts can record messages
about health issues, how they coped with them, mental aspects, and words of
advice. This wiki, once established, would act similarly to the DOC, a
collection of searchable entries from previous astronauts who experienced
similar issues – a source of comfort and mental support. Type A to type A could
connect and find common ground through narratives written by like-minded
people. The caveat is that NASA would need to allow these entries to be raw and
unfiltered to have the most benefit, and likely only searchable by persons with
the right credentials. Astronauts could even make entries pre or post flight to
record feelings or experiences which may be beneficial to others. It may seem
trivial at this junction in space travel, with so few astronauts actually in
space at one time, but by building this database now it will likely come in
handy when manned space travel is more prevalent.
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Find more Tuesday #DBlogWeek posts here.
You make a great point about physicians on flights, that would seem like something really important!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting idea. Love your life goal, too. All the best!
ReplyDeleteI think that's a great idea.
ReplyDelete