Dealing with Burnout as an Elementary Teacher

I’ve had burnout since COVID started..I’ve been hospitalized for DKA 7 times in the last two years. I can’t seem to get past it. Doctors have scared me saying I’ll lose limbs, kidneys, etc but nothing’s enough to get me to take care of myself. It’s frustrating

I had 2 severe burnouts since I was diagnosed 5 years ago. I cannot sleep, I get horrible anxiety, witch gives me nasea and I find it hard to eat. But the worst I can do is to stop eating, so I try very hard. It's easier to eat keto and drink the carbs. I make tuna salad and wraps with lattice and keto tortillas, eat more meat and eggs, atkins drinks to get more calories. I drink boost drinks for carbs, or eat bread/crackers/cookies when I feel like it, anything with a label on it so I know exactly how many grams of carbs I have to deal with. I lost 35lb during my first burnout, 13lb during the second, so I think it's an improvement. And I felt very vulnerable to lows for 9 months after the second burnout, so I switched from medtronic 670g to tandem with dexcom, it helped tremendously. I feel a million times safer, it's always there for me.

I also experienced severe burnout in college, which led to my only hospitalization with DKA. It was so hard to explain at the time that it wasn't because I didn't care, or purposely neglect my diabetes. Diabetic burnout can be so intense. I made it through by just trying to be patient with myself and make little steps. Eventually working on my mental and emotional help really made a difference for me

I feel like you have to have that motivation to do it in the long run. I went through DKA during my junior year of high school. I had started doing better for the next year but then I went down the same path again. But I learned to be at least a little bit more consistent so I won’t get back to that point.

This is actually me too. I’m a diabetic and a college student and I’m going through the same thing as you. Ironically, I’m a nutritional science major. But I started doing this as soon as I moved. I moved from one stage to another. Do you think it’s depression? I think it could be on your end. You just feel that need to not do it. I was also on the insulin pump in elementary school, Medtronic’s. But my model was out of warranty and haven’t been able to afford one since.

I do I've been a t1d all my life I hate taking shots and pricking my fingers people think because you have been doing it for so long that it doesn't hurt anymore but sadly it does and it sucks because I can't afford a insulin pump and I don't have insurance

I went through something like that around 8th grade (I’m a college student as well) and it was tied with depression, I had to ask for help from my mom, she checked my blood sugars and gave me my insulin for a short period of time. Don’t know if that’s a possibility for you but it’s always a good idea to ask for help and see if anyone can take anything off your plate so you don’t feel like you have such a heavy load. 💕