Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can't Take It Anymore [Paperback]

William H. Polonsky Ph.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

Living with diabetes is hard. It's easy to get discouraged, frustrated, and burned out. Here's an author that understands the emotional rollercoaster and gives you the tools you need to keep from being overwhelmed, addressing such issues as dealing with friends and family, and how you can better handle the stress for better health. Written with compassion and a sprinkle of humor.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

The American Diabetes Association here attempts a more realistic tone in helping with the stresses of long-term management of the diseasebut doesn't even come close to addressing the anguish and uncertainty reported by recent authors with diabetes, and thus can't really help wrestle with those demons. Psychologist Polonsky adopts the persistently upbeat, encouraging tone that those with the illness have criticized (and that Butterfields Showdown With Diabetes and Roneys Sweet Invisible Body, for instance, so successfully avoided). ``Is diabetes driving you crazy?'' he asks brightly. ``If so, welcome to the club! In fact, a very large club!'' Polonsky's aim here is to overcome the burnout of managing an unending, often volatile disorder on a daily basis, and he does acknowledge at the outset two of the thorniest problems. Not even following medical directions to the letter will prevent crazy days when blood glucose levels rise or fall dramatically for no apparent reason''; even worse, ``there may be scary days when minoror majorcomplications suddenly appear. Polonsky advises self-testing to determine both the degree of burnout and the cause (from taxing self-care to relationships and other stressors), examines each cause in turn, and presents coping mechanisms. There are some helpful suggestions here, but Polonskys toneepitomized in the fable of the ``Blood Sugar Fairy'' who causes weird and wacky occurrences'' like insulin shockis as repellent as a night nurses whimsical cheer. For the establishment line, Touchettes The Diabetes Problem Solver is better; for context and consolation, try Butterfield and Roney. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From the Inside Flap

Do you get depressed about having to deal with diabetes day in and day out? Do you worry about complications, get angry about the never-ending chore of self-care, and get frurstrated by poor results when it feels like you've worked so hard?

If so, you may be suffering from "diabetes burnout"--and you're not alone.

This book addresses not only your frustrations, but also how burnout may contribute to poor self-care, high blood glucose, and later complications. A series of interactive questionnaires and self-evaluations guide you toward overcoming the barriers to good control. Worksheets help you to assess your motivational level and establish a successful plan of action.

Diabetes Burnout addresses such issues as:

• Ten good reasons to hate blood sugar monitoring (and what to do about them) • Worrying about long-term complications: the uses and misuses of fear • Depression and diabetes: a tough combination • Friends and family: the diabetes police • How stress influences diabetes (and what you can do about it) • And more!

Don't let diabetes be in charge of you. Let Diabetes Burnout show you how to take charge of diabetes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: American Diabetes Association; 1 edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580400337
• ISBN-13: 978-1580400336
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > American Diabetes Association

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book tells it like it is, January 18, 2004

By 

David Spero "David Spero RN" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can't Take It Anymore (Paperback)

When I picked up Diabetes Burnout, I was truly amazed. Dr. Polonsky understands that there are "barriers to self-care," real life problems and situations that get in the way of doing what's best for our bodies.

He knows that people make a cost/benefit analysis when it comes to self-care. If the behavior is too hard or too unpleasant, and the rewards don't seem worth it, we're not going to consistently exercise, check sugars, or eat what we're supposed to.

This problem is not just true for people with diabetes. It applies to anyone with chronic illness, or really, to anybody at all. I knew about this from living with multiple sclerosis, and I wrote about it in my book. But I didn't think anybody else had developed these ideas. I was sure Dr. Polonsky must have some kind of chronic condition himself, because he knows what it's like. But he doesn't have an illness. He's just very insightful.

I really like the humor in this book. I know some reviewers accuse him of being "cutesy" or Disneyfying diabetes, but I think being able to laugh at your situation helps, even when it's really painful. His description of "werewolf eating" and "Diabetes police" are highly evocative -- they get the point across. I don't think he's talking down to anyone -- he has compassion for people's struggles and wants us to feel better.

It's true that Diabetes Burnout does not cite its sources very well and doesn't contain a lot of specific info on diets or other self-care practices. But that's not its purpose. He is giving tools for identifying and overcoming our barriers -- social, practical, psychological or economic. This is important -- some of those barriers may have been with us for decades, and overcoming them can change not just diabetes management, but also entire lives.

He also inspires by telling stories of real people he has worked with, who have made great strides in difficult circumstances. It's entertaining, inspiring and educational (just like my book :-). What more do you want?

David Spero RN, author of The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness (Hunter House 2002) and the upcoming Politics of Diabetes: Social Causes, Costs and Cures of an Epidemic (2005). www.davidsperoRN.com

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SALVATION, April 18, 2001

By 

FIONA PATERSON (SCOTLAND U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can't Take It Anymore (Paperback)

I'm a diabetic and have been for 4 years. Living with diabetes later on in my life is living in a nightmare of having the feelings of "I've had enough".......BURNOUT.

On recommendation I bought this book with the thought "another book about facts and figures and how the perfect diabetic should rule his/her life".

On the first pages it goes straight into stories of real people who are going through what I'm going through "thank goodness I'm not the only one". At this point in my nightmare I wasn't looking for strategies on how to deal with this, only to know that diabetics who were in the same situation felt an dealt with it the same as me.

In this book there are sections which have questionnaires to make you really think about how you feel and think about your diabetes. These sections are labelled so you can tell which are relevant to you, so you don't have to read from beginning to end like other books and still feel none the wiser.

I enjoyed the way Polonsky uses humorous names like diabetic police, werewolf syndrome and sugar fairy. At last situations that made me angry and frustrated now make me chuckle to myself and deal with it in a calmer manner.

I would recommend this book to anyone and wish I had read it the beginning of my diabetes which would have helped me like it has helped me now.

WELL DONE DR. POLONSKY !

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A revelation for all of us - Diabetics or not, December 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Diabetes Burnout: What to Do When You Can't Take It Anymore (Paperback)

This book makes one very simple and yet elusive concept quite clear to me. As someone who does not suffer from Diabetes, I have watched friends and their children deal with the day to day care of their illness. For me, it has been a curiosity. Something I have taken for granted and not thought much about.

As observers, we forget that those who suffer from Diabetes are the same as the rest of us. They have bad days and good. They suffer from depression, stress, and boredom just like the rest of us. And to think that these day to day human experiences might affect the care we take in administering to a disorder like Diabetes is so simple and yet so profound.

I now look at those in my life with this disease in a new light. Perhaps an additional level of understanding and empathy. Through the testaments offered up in this book, I see how there are days or years when someone might reasonably feel like saying, "I don't want to be a Diabetic anymore!" And how this feeling can lead a person to stop caring for himself or herself.

I don't know if William Polonsky has all of the answers to overcoming what he calls "Diabetes Burnout". But I know that this book can serve those of us who love people with this disease to become better partners in their struggle to maintain good and healthy lives.