With Diabetes in Mind

Here we are in month 18 of a pandemic. While I was pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Public Health and learning about pandemics, I never thought I’d see one in my lifetime, but here we are. I especially never thought I’d see a pandemic with as far as we have come in the advancements of science, medicine, and technology, but again, here we are. It’s tough seeing the hope of the phrase, “well when this all over,” turn into the “will it ever be over” and “how do we learn to live with it.” It’s also extremely disheartening to see the issues this has brought to light for our country in the viral spread of misinformation and the gaps and inequities we have in our healthcare system. It’s also scary in not understanding what risk may come with getting COVID when the spectrum of disease ranges from no symptoms to some having chronic issues lasting who knows how long to many others dying, but something we do know is that worse COVID outcomes are associated to those with comorbidities [1]. Comorbidity being an underlying health condition(s) in addition to having COVID. The most common comorbidities in those with COVID are hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes with the most common comorbidities in hospitalized cases being hypertension, obesity, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease [1]. This information makes COVID even scarier for those with chronic health conditions (ahem, me, over here with diabetes) knowing there is the potential for worse outcomes if we would happen to get the virus. So what do we do? Here is a place to start…

1. Turn off the news – yes, turn it off. While it’s good to stay informed on current events, you don’t need to be inundated with it multiple times per day. What you surround yourself with most often creates the reality you live in and it’s not good for your mental health and sanity to be continually reminded of a huge situation you have no control over leading to feelings of defeat, fear, and depression.
2. Focus on what you have control over – you have no control over what others do. You only have control over what you do. You also have no control over what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. Focus on what you need at this moment because that is all you can do. Humans have the need for autonomy which is feeling self-directed and in control of your behaviors and actions so draw attention to the areas of your life that you can control. Freedom of choice is also included under autonomy, which I know is a bit controversial these days when it comes to vaccines, masks, etc, so a reminder that people are grabbing at what things they can control when there is a lot going on in our world right now that can’t be.
3. Take action towards leading a healthy lifestyle – as a component of focusing on areas you have control over, you have control over if you are exercising, what foods you eat, taking time to get outside, prioritizing sleep, among many others. Something to think about is that the leading comorbidities of hypertension and obesity in COVID hospitalizations are modifiable in most cases so taking steps towards weight management, healthy eating, and exercising may help reduce the risk of severe COVID outcomes. For those us with diabetes, take the time to focus on your overall diabetes management and glycemic control. A study found that in those with type 2 diabetes who had COVID, those with well-controlled blood sugar had a lower mortality rate compared to those with poorly controlled blood sugar [2]. Taking care of your physical health also supports taking care of your mental health. You can’t live in fear and taking steps to live a healthy lifestyle (in addition to getting vaccinated) can help reduce the fear and risk of having severe outcomes in the case of contracting COVID.

It’s really hard to stay positive with no end in sight, but I believe there is strength in camaraderie, and it’s important to remember we are all going through it and to hold space and compassion for others as everyone may have their own way to cope and process the situation. I’m going to queue up the famous Mr. Rogers quote of when bad things are happening to look for the helpers as you will always find people who are helping so while it’s important for us to focus on taking care of ourselves, may we also all look for ways to be helpers. Stay safe out there!

References

1. Sanyaolu, A., Okorie, C., Marinkovic, A., Patidar, R., Younis, K., Desai, P., Hosein, Z., Padda, I., Mangat, J., & Altaf, M. (2020 June). Comorbidity and its Impact on Patients with COVID-19. SN comprehensive clinical medicine, 1–8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-020-00363-4
2. Zhu, L., She, Z. G., Cheng, X., Qin, J. J., Zhang, X. J., Cai, J., Lei, F., Wang, H., Xie, J., Wang, W., Li, H., Zhang, P., Song, X., Chen, X., Xiang, M., Zhang, C., Bai, L., Xiang, D., Chen, M. M., Liu, Y., … Li, H. (2020 June). Association of Blood Glucose Control and Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19 and Pre-existing Type 2 Diabetes. Cell metabolism, 31(6), 1068–1077.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2020.04.021