|
Providing support and encouragement It takes two
Get to know type 2 diabetes
Eat healthy together
Get active with your loved one and you’ll feel better too!
Blood sugar (glucose) monitoring keeps your loved one on track
Medications don’t have to get in the way
How to help your loved one be a self-manager
It takes two
Learning to live with someone who has type 2 diabetes and helping him or her manage the condition will take a lot of work. However, by taking action together, you and your loved one can make a great team.
The best way you can help is to give support in the day-to-day management of type 2 diabetes. Your loved one is going to have to deal with changes in diet and physical activity, learn to monitor blood sugar levels several times a day, possibly take medication, and change his or her daily routine. Your support will be an important part of living well with type 2 diabetes.
Get to know type 2 diabetes
Visit your loved one’s health professional together, or set up a visit on your own to ask questions. Seek a type 2 diabetes education program for the two of you to attend. Your health professional can probably point you in the right direction.
Read more about type 2 diabetes.
Return to top
Eat healthy together
Healthy eating is an important part of managing type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, a healthy eating plan for someone with type 2 diabetes is simply a good way to eat for just about anyone. Learn about healthy eating and take part in it with your loved one. You may soon see some benefits of your own!
Read more about healthy eating.
Return to top
Get active with your loved one and you’ll feel better too!
Another way to show support for your loved one is to set up a physical activity plan that you can both take part in. Physical activity should not be intimidating. Any type of physical activity is exercise, even a stroll through the neighborhood or gardening in your backyard.
Don’t just remind your loved one to get exercise—plan a time to be physically active together. Evening walks, weekend hikes, a trip to the zoo, even an outing to a theme park or a day on the beach can be beneficial. Find the activities that you both enjoy, and plan to do them regularly. These fun outings, along with other minor routine changes, may provide your loved one with all the physical activity he or she needs.
Your health professional will also be able to offer some tips on how your loved one can get exercise without spending a lot of money to join a gym.
Find out how you can exercise anywhere—even in a boardroom!
Read more about staying active.
Return to top
Blood sugar (glucose) monitoring keeps your loved one on track
Keeping track of blood sugar levels helps to evaluate how well a healthy eating and physical activity plan is working. It can also indicate if your loved one is above his or her target levels.
Your health professional will help determine the target range for your loved one’s blood sugar. This chart can give you a good idea of the levels he or she should be aiming for.
Make sure you call your health professional if your loved one’s blood sugar isn’t under control.
Download a blood glucose log to make it easier to keep track of levels.
Return to top
Medications don’t have to get in the way
When it comes to medications, you may think there is nothing you can do to help your loved one. But that just isn’t the case! You can help your loved one meet the challenge of taking his or her medication(s) as directed by a health professional.
There are a lot of simple things you can do to help your loved one remember his or her medication. Verbal reminders, a simple alarm clock, and pill organizers with individual compartments for times, meals, and days are all helpful ways to keep your loved one on track.
By helping your loved one take any medication(s) exactly as directed by a health professional, you are giving important support in the management of his or her type 2 diabetes.
Read more about staying on medication.
Return to top
How to help your loved one be a self-manager
Self-managing type 2 diabetes is important because success mostly depends on the person with type 2 diabetes—with the support of family or friends. A person with type 2 diabetes must learn things like:
- How to care for his or her feet.
- How to manage the carbohydrates he or she consumes.
- How to take his or her medications properly.
- How to adjust his or her physical activity plan.
A health professional can educate you and your loved one about type 2 diabetes and the things you both can do to successfully manage it. However, it’s mostly up to your loved one to take control of his or her type 2 diabetes.
The more you know, the better you’ll be at making decisions. You’ll need to know things like:
- How to recognize a low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) reaction.
- The importance of blood sugar levels.
- Whether or not your loved one needs to make any changes to his or her healthy eating and physical activity plans.
Basically, you need to know as much—or even more—about type 2 diabetes as your loved one does!
Remember—support is all about teamwork!
Return to top
|