Complications of Grief

 We had another very good grief share meeting last night at New Hope Church.  Fortunately, we are meeting in a large enough room that makes social distancing possible.  When this combined with the wearing of face masks and offering hand sanitizers this was a safe meeting.  

At last nights grief share we touched on the subject of how grief effects our health.  One of our facilitators is a RN and she touched briefly on the importance of seeing their doctor to get a thorough checkup and updated blood tests.  Why is this important?  When we lose someone close to us the grief we're experiencing sends shock waves throughout our bodies and changes our brain pathways.  It is when our energy levels are depleted that we gravitate toward unhealthy eating such as easy to buy products that have plenty of added sugars.  I suggested that when they complete their physicals that they request the A1C test to determine whether or not they are diabetic.  The more I read about diabetes the more I see the connection this disease has with literally every organ in one's body.   Most people, I've learned, who have been stricken with Covid-19 had been diagnosed with diabetes.  So it really makes sense to get diagnosed and have your doctor prescribe  a diabetes medication like Metformin to treat this disease.  One of the side effects of diabetes is a lack of energy and this quite naturally transforms into weight gain which only increases the blood glucose levels and compromises the organs ability to work properly. I used my battle as an example whereby not only did I get tested and get on medication, but I met with a diabetes health coach to come up with a suitable plan that would help me lose weight and better control my blood glucose.  Just as grief share wants to partner with those experiencing loss, participants experiencing loss need the added support of their primary care doctor to help them on this journey- and it is a journey that takes years to fully recover.  

There is one final partner who wants to walk beside those who are grieving and that is our living Savior Jesus Christ.  Between our willingness to monitor our health to take appropriate action to meeting with our primary care doctor to trusting Christ it is possible to recover from our deep emotional pain following loss.