New patient with diabetes

As a new type 2 diabetic, it is important that you think carefully about your new everyday life. Diabetes does not go away once it has been diagnosed. It is a disease you will have to live with for the rest of your life – a new condition of life, a new companion.

You can easily have diabetes and have had it for many years without noticing the disease. Therefore, it can also come as a shock to some and be difficult to recognise that they have diabetes, even though the diagnosis has been made.

But even though it may take time to understand that you have a chronic illness, if you recognize the illness and take care of yourself, you will have a quicker everyday life. Therefore, it is important that both in the short and long term, you get the necessary decisions about your life and your everyday life – and afterwards comply with them. Then you are well on your way to a good life with your diabetes.

Have your surroundings with you

Tell your loved ones – family, friends, colleagues – about your diabetes so they can understand how important it is for you to have new habits when it comes to food, physical activity, smoking and alcohol. Maybe it's hard to get your loved ones to understand that you have to make some essential decisions about your lifestyle. Nevertheless, and for this very reason, it is important that you tell them about your diabetes and the decisions you need to make.

Lifestyle disease

Some patients feel that they are responsible for their own illness. But the term lifestyle disease is not aimed at the individual. From time immemorial we have been built for a physically active life with a rough and relatively unprocessed diet, but today the sedentary life with calorie-rich food has become commonplace.

A life in balance

It is important that you eat sensibly and move around every day – this is the way forward when you have diabetes. You get more energy quickly, and the healthier way of life helps you control your blood sugar and blood pressure. In the following you can read where you can immediately get to grips with a few and simple – but in turn significant changes – so that you can live a life in balance with your diabetes.

Be physical active every day

The Nutrition and Exercise Council recommends that you are physical active 1 hour a day. That's 10,000 steps a day. You can get a pedometer from the health service and with it you can keep an eye on whether you are physically active. It is also important that you get breathless every day in connection with your physical activity, as it strengthens your circulation.

If you are not used to be physical active, start by buying a pair of good shoes and some comfortable loose clothing. It is important that you are able to move freely in your clothes and that the shoes are supportive and have a good sole.

If your mood fails

It is different how people react when they are told that they have diabetes. Of course, some people are shocked and do not know how to respond to their new situation. Others react immediately by doing all they can to adapt to the new circumstances. There is no right and wrong way to react.

At first it can be difficult to recognise that you have a serious chronic disease when you do not necessarily feel the disease in your daily life.

A common reaction is to deny that something is wrong and to say to oneself that it is only a slight increase in blood sugar and not diabetes.After a while, most people recognise that they have the disease and start doing something active about it so that they can get it under control.

But it can be difficult to live with a chronic disease – day in and day out, year out, all your life. The disease affects large parts of your life, makes many demands and poses new challenges in everyday life. At the same time, many worry about the future.

We also know that people with diabetes are more likely to become depressed. Depression can be manifested by feeling tired, energised, depressed and perhaps powerless or giving up. If you feel that way, it's a good idea to talk to your therapist about it. Feel free to bring a relative to the interview so they can be involved and better support you.