Support group deals with the challenges of living with diabetes

For many patients, a diagnosis of diabetes is comparable to a lifelong sentence of having to monitor blood sugar, track every morsel of food and remember to take shots or pills. According to Rita Unruh, who coordinates diabetes education for North Big Horn Hospital, it’s a lot more than that.

“It’s a challenging diagnosis for both the patient and the provider,” she explained. “So many things can affect a person’s blood sugar. Some of them are out of the patient’s control. It puts a lot of pressure on the patient to deal with it. It can be overwhelming emotionally.”

Unruh coordinates an ongoing diabetes support group offered by North Big Horn Hospital designed to arm diabetics and their families with information and strategies to cope with the disease. Those strategies help patients deal with both the physical and emotional ramifications of living with the complex disease.

The group has been meeting for at least 15 years. It is currently hosted by the North Big Horn Senior Citizens Center in Lovell on the second Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. The meetings last about a half hour or, according to Unruh, “as long as it takes.” Some members have attended almost every meeting for most of the years it has been in existence. The meeting has always been, and continues to be, free to the public.

In its first meeting of the year held on January 14 the group discussed strategies for mindfulness and set a goal to participate in a new mindfulness activity each month in the year 2025. They discussed personal challenges and strategies for dealing with Medicare and insurance in general. They discussed the literal ups and downs of dealing with ever fluctuating blood sugar.

Unruh has been coordinating the group for about a year. She said, since many members have attended for a long time, she added a few new topics to the discussion in the coming year to keep things interesting.

“It’s a good supportive group,” she said. “We just talk about what we need to at the time. You won’t find any judgement here. Just support.”

Unruh noted that diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases among patients seen at North Big Horn Hospital Clinic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 38 million Americans have diabetes and face its devastating consequences. It estimates that 8.7 million of those people don’t even know they have the disease. Nearly 98 million adults in the U.S. have been diagnosed with “prediabetes,” a precursor to the disease. 

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) refers to the disease as a “nationwide epidemic” on its website. The website notes that “what’s true nationwide is also true in Wyoming,” where the ADA estimates approximately 39,300 adults in the state have been diagnosed with the disease. Every year, an estimated 2,700 more adults in Wyoming are diagnosed, making it one of the most common chronic diseases in the state.