Insulin Resilience – How Diabetes Shapes Lives for the Better Andrew Deutscher

March 7, 2015

“D Day” – A day to remember

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Pull Vs. Push

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“All of a sudden, it was NOT cool to NOT check your blood sugar!” – Morgan Patton

OLD STORY - PUSH

A1C = 16.8

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REBELLION – “Rules don’t apply to me.”

ANGER – Father left, couldn’t reconnect, Felt Mother didn’t help her reconnect, Diabetes diagnosis.

LAZY – “It’s OK if I skip my insulin.”

SELF-CENTERED – Didn’t see impact of her behaviors on those that loved and cared for her.

NEW STORY - PULL

A1C = 6.5

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ACHIEVEMENT – Find what motivates you, achieve your dreams, regardless of your condition

LIMITLESS – Speedweek – 7 races, 9 days, 12th place

WITHOUT MEANING THERE IS NO BEING – Speaks to kids and adults at races about diabetes and racing, found her passion, mentors women, pulled to greatness

“When I talk to kids who were just like me, I can look them in the eye and say, you’re only hurting yourself.”

STEP into what moves them

Push equals push away. Link managing diabetes to realizing their passion and they will be pulled to taking care of themselves.

Set the right environment, Trust they already have what they need inside them, Encourage and Empower their role in helping themselves, connect them to their Purpose.

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COMPASSION VS. Criticism

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“I suck at this every day. But, don’t we all. It’s the moving forward that is so crucial.” – Tom Karlya, Diabetes Dad

“We need to talk about the fact that there is a disease burden. Type 1 diabetes is at best, tedious and at worst, always changing and in fluctuation, and vacation is not an option.” – Barbara Anderson, Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Head of Psychology, Baylor College of Medicine

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Tom’s keys for Compassion

If you haven’t been there…You can’t argue it if you don’t have experience with it.

Don’t feel like you need to know everything they are doing.

Find shared experiences for them through online forums, camps, public events and many other options.

Empathy builds compassion. Listen and let go.

Type 1 diabetes builds gratitude and appreciation. Let it flourish.

“Parents lose all the time because they haven’t experienced diabetes.”

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“I have seen people do incredible things with this disease and in spite of this disease, some well known and some just kids doing their thing, but doing it with diabetes.” – Tom Karlya

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OLD STORY

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Acting is something I was good at, really enjoyed, and was beginning to have much success.

NEW STORY

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“I am a completely different person now. I have no idea what I would be if it were not for diabetes. Acting may have turned out the way I hoped. Now, none of that matters. My focus now is to help, learn, give back and make a difference.”

NEW STORY

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“It is important to ‘just don’t do nothing.’ I know so many people who have changed the world. The pain we all live with has surely given us enormous laughter, help, joy, knowledge, and most importantly, hope for all those with diabetes.”

Realistic Optimism – Psychologist Sandra Schneider

Accepting the reality of the current situation and finding a satisfying meaning therein.

“A healthy psychological immune system strikes a balance that allows us to feel good enough to cope with our existing situation, but bad enough to do something about it. What is a more nuanced perspective that includes both optimism and pessimism, positivity and negativity, without choosing up sides between them.” – Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

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noun: something that can be verified objectively

by any person. it is irrefutable.

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noun: something we create to

make sense of the facts

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Facing the Facts

Type 1 Diabetes is an immune disorder in which antibodies mistakenly attack healthy beta cells in the pancreas and disrupt them from the ability to produce insulin.

Insulin is vital for our cells to absorb glucose, which is used to provide energy and sustain health.

Without insulin, blood glucose levels would go too high, possibly leading to serious complications – loss of eyesight, kidney failure, nerve damage, etc.

You need to regularly monitor blood sugar levels to determine how much, if any, insulin is required to cover carbohydrate and moderate higher BG levels.

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without denying the facts, what’s the most empowering story i can tell myself?

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“with no change in environment, but a

change in response to that environment

resulted in stress declines.”

- Sara Lazar – Neuroscientist, Harvard

Medical Research

What’s your Story?

Our new normal to abnormal circumstances, while not one we’ve chosen or did anything to get, is with us. I feel fortunate because we can control our response to it and my child can do whatever he dreams about and wants to achieve.

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IMPOSSIBLE

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I’M POSSIBLE

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