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November is Diabetes Awareness Month
Diabetes: Dealing With Feelings
When a child is diagnosed with diabetes, parents might spend a lot of time thinking about the disease's physical effects. But emotional issues also come with a diabetes diagnosis. So, it's important for parents to recognize the feelings that kids with diabetes might have and learn ways to help them.
How Do Kids With Diabetes Feel?
Kids often have these emotions after learning they have diabetes:
- Isolation. Diabetes can make kids feel different from friends, classmates, and family members. Kids who don't know other people with diabetes or are the only student who needs to visit the school nurse for injections or blood tests might feel isolated or alone.
- Denial. Because kids want to blend in or be like other kids, they may sometimes pretend that they don't have diabetes, which can be dangerous if they avoid blood sugar testing and taking their medicine.
- Depression. Feelings of depression, sadness and hopelessness are common among kids with diabetes. A child may cry a lot, feel tired, have changes in eating or sleeping habits or have a hard time sticking to the diabetes management plan.
- Anger, frustration and resentment. Your child might be angry at you because you oversee testing and treatment and frustrated by the diagnosis. Many kids resent the restrictions that diabetes can put on their everyday activities.
- Fear and anxiety. Blood sugar control problems, needles, and the potential for long-term health problems can be scary for kids.
- Embarrassment. Kids might be embarrassed about the extra attention they get, like when they're testing blood sugar and injecting insulin at school, at friends' homes and in front of other kids.
Parents often go through a grieving process when they find out that their child has a disease like diabetes. It can be hard to come to terms with the idea that a child has a chronic condition that will need to be managed for the rest of his or her life. It's normal to feel grief and sadness.
Many parents also feel guilty about their child's diabetes and wonder if they could have prevented it somehow. Some parents also might feel unsure about taking on the tasks of caring for a child with diabetes, such as giving medicines and helping their child follow a meal plan. It's also common to worry about recognizing symptoms of a diabetes problem and getting the right medical help.
What can you do to cope with your own feelings? First, get answers to your questions from the healthcare professionals caring for your child. Educating yourself about diabetes and the best ways to manage it can help put your mind at ease. Also, ask the care team for information and tips on coping with your child's emotional issues.
Once you learn to recognize your child's feelings, here are some tips for coping with those emotions:
- Acknowledge your child’s feelings
- Encourage active health and care management
- Build independence
- Correct misconceptions
- Connect with others dealing with diabetes
- Get help when you need it
Every parent of a child with diabetes must deal with the feelings that come with the disease. Try to keep in mind that for most kids, negative feelings about diabetes pass or change with time as they adjust to living with it.
To access the full article on diabetes and dealing with feelings, click here.
