Inspired by my family

What's your name?
Joyce

What's your inspiration?
The thing that inspires me most to control my diabetes is my family. When I was diagnosed with diabetes 3 years ago it meant a lot of changes for me and for my family. We didn’t go through the house and throw out all the junk food, but we didn’t buy more when it was gone. We had been moving towards a healthier diet over the last few years, but we still found ourselves eating fast food fairly regularly because of our busy schedules.

The biggest change for me was that I stopped drinking soda and made healthier choices at lunch time. My family is very helpful and supportive. We have all learned a lot about controlling my diabetes. They both walk with me in the evenings. My teenage daughter doesn’t ask to have a lot of snacks in the house that I like and shouldn’t eat. My husband always makes sure that we have some carbs and lots of non-starchy vegetables at meal times. They both watch to make sure that if my glucose is getting low I eat something, even when I don’t feel like it. Whenever I start to feel like things are out of control they are always there to help me get back on track.

What's one lesson you want people to learn about diabetes?
Know your risk and know the symptoms. If you think you might have diabetes see your doctor and get tested. I was fortunate enough to have my diabetes diagnosed and treated relatively early before I had any complications. I’ve heard too many stories about people who find out they have diabetes only after it causes serious complications like a stroke, vision impairment, neuropathy and even death. One thing that people need to know about diabetes is that putting off the diagnosis won't make it go away and not knowing might kill you.