“Having diabetes can be very stressful, and it can bring out all kinds of emotions. Denial, depression, and anger are feelings many people with diabetes have experienced. When you’re first diagnosed, it’s normal to believe there must be some mistake. it’s also normal to be sad or angry over the lifestyle adjustments it requires. The inability to get beyond these emotions, however, can put your health in danger.”

Of all the things I wish I knew when I was diagnosed, I think this is at the top. I don’t remember ever feeling particularly “down” about my diabetes in the early years. Maybe jumping right back into my classes at Virginia Tech prevented any opportunity to truly contemplate what the future of my life would become as a result of this disease. With so much of my life undetermined, I think I just added this to the list of things I had to consider.

These types of nuggets of advice are always tricky for newly diagnosed. There’s so much information out there, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. If you perform an image search on the word “diabetes”, you’ll get the clichéd injection pictures next to amputations. If you look for non-medical perspectives on diabetes, there’s a whole mess of blogs, and patient communities to discover.

You and I know that this community is vital, but how quickly would you recommend someone start lurking on a #dsma chat? Would you recommend they start their own blog? What is the onboarding process like for the newly diagnosed (keeping in mind that the timing will be unique for everyone)?