Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

A doctor’s journey: Navigating chronic disease and empowerment through life coaching

Kimberly Jackson-Bekemeier, DO
Conditions
February 8, 2023
37 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

On January 2020, I got the dreaded call:  You have Type 1 diabetes. The rest is a blur. I went into a global pandemic, one of the highest risk categories, a red lab value that stared at me “HgbA1c > 15.”

As a family physician, I was supposed to manage patients and ease their fears. I was supposed to know all about the disease management of a “bread and butter condition” of my specialty.   All I could manage was fear, denial, and confusion. I didn’t have a sense of self or community, and I was barely staying afloat in 2020.

Then in 2021, I was introduced to life coaching, and my world started to shift. This was a way to take back some control, empower me and learn to manage my thoughts when I felt out of control in a disease I couldn’t cure. Despite having attentive physicians and care teams, I realized how many others felt utterly alone. There is something about having the time to listen and hold space for people that allowed me to grieve, process, and decide what I wanted for my future. This is a process that our current medical system doesn’t often embrace. It is a process that I believe saved me. I could speak my evolving emotions, have thoughts and feelings that were heard aloud by another individual, and then decipher them for myself to decide how I wanted to feel about facts and circumstances. I wasn’t given a list of things to do, medications to take, or items to avoid eating. I was given space. I was allowed to feel emotions. I was encouraged to see how those feelings resonated in my body and make a choice every day if that was a feeling I wanted to continue or if I wanted to enact change to move towards feeling something different.

Ultimately I decided that being stuck in “why me” wasn’t a helpful thought, and so I chose to abandon that thought. I decided that I would live on my own terms, even with a chronic disease. I got to decide how I would feel when I saw my next blood sugar, my next A1c, my next Endo appointment. I got to choose me for me.

Western medicine is a lot of things, but it rarely holds space and allows patients to figure out what they need. Life coaching is about not passing judgment; it is about listening to facts and circumstances and teasing out what is truth and what is thought. It is mental clarity that allows the patient to slow down and process and then move forward intentionally. A process that ultimately leads to better patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.

I encourage everyone to explore the other facets of the human experience that are impacting their patients. Are we ever truly “non-compliant,” or are we ill-equipped at a particular moment in time? The grace that my own chronic disease has given me, in turn, allows me to be more gracious with my time and energy towards my patients, meeting them where they are and helping them towards where they’d like to go. And that is ultimately something that still makes me proud to practice the art of medicine and also identify myself as a woman now living with diabetes.

Kimberly Jackson-Bekemeier is a board-certified family physician and founder, Coaching Chronic Disease, LLC. She can be reached on Facebook and Instagram.

Prev

AI in health care: Meeting HIPAA standards with ChatGPT

February 8, 2023 Kevin 1
…
Next

How occupational therapy can help the anxiety epidemic [PODCAST]

February 8, 2023 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Diabetes, Endocrinology

Post navigation

< Previous Post
AI in health care: Meeting HIPAA standards with ChatGPT
Next Post >
How occupational therapy can help the anxiety epidemic [PODCAST]

Related Posts

  • Chronic disease is making medical education worse

    Jason J. Han, MD
  • There’s no such thing as work-life balance

    Katie Fortenberry, PhD
  • Ethical humanism: life after #medbikini and an approach to reimagining professionalism

    Jay Wong
  • The life cycle of medication consumption

    Fery Pashang, PharmD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    MKSAP: 45-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus

    mksap
  • Type 1 diabetes is no fun

    Ryan Ritchie

More in Conditions

  • From hope to heartbreak: a story of loss in the ICU

    Ton La, Jr., MD, JD
  • The beauty of a patient’s gratitude

    Dr. Damane Zehra
  • From clocking in to clocking out: the transition to retirement

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • Overcoming Parkinson’s: a journey of laughter and resilience

    Cynthia Poire Mathews, FNP
  • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

    Denise Reich
  • Maximize sleep efficiency with stimulus control

    Pedram Navab, DO
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

      Denise Reich | Conditions
    • What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

      Edward T. Creagan, MD | Physician
    • Beyond pizza and pens: National Doctors’ Day should be about saving lives

      James Young, MD | Physician
    • Physicians are a finite resource we need to protect

      Jack Resneck, Jr., MD | Physician
    • From clocking in to clocking out: the transition to retirement

      Debbie Moore-Black, RN | Conditions
    • Collaborating with occupational therapists: a game-changer for behavioral health [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • It’s time for C-suite to contract directly with physicians for part-time work

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD | Physician
    • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

      Denise Reich | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Collaborating with occupational therapists: a game-changer for behavioral health [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Breaking the cycle of failure in modern medicine

      Kortney West, MD | Physician
    • ChatGPT: the Napster of the AI world?

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • The missing piece of physicians’ financial plans

      Daniel B. Wrenne, CFP | Finance
    • Counterfeit drugs: a hidden danger lurking in your medicine cabinet

      Emily Kahoud | Meds
    • How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Is Surgery Riskier After a COVID Infection?
  • The Best Medicine for Healthcare Workers: A Living Wage
  • Meat Consumption and UTIs; Air Pollution's Effects on Health
  • 'Early Birds' With Sleep Apnea May Get More CPAP Benefits
  • Mental Health Care Goes Beyond Just the Patient

Meeting Coverage

  • VTE Risk in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Increases With More Lines of Chemotherapy
  • Obesity's Impact on Uterine Cancer Risk Greater in Younger Age Groups
  • Oral Roflumilast Effective in the Treatment of Plaque Psoriasis
  • Phase III Trials 'Hit a Home Run' in Advanced Endometrial Cancer
  • Cannabis Use Common in Post-Surgery Patients on Opioid Tapering
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

      Denise Reich | Conditions
    • What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

      Edward T. Creagan, MD | Physician
    • Beyond pizza and pens: National Doctors’ Day should be about saving lives

      James Young, MD | Physician
    • Physicians are a finite resource we need to protect

      Jack Resneck, Jr., MD | Physician
    • From clocking in to clocking out: the transition to retirement

      Debbie Moore-Black, RN | Conditions
    • Collaborating with occupational therapists: a game-changer for behavioral health [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • It’s time for C-suite to contract directly with physicians for part-time work

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD | Physician
    • The untold struggles patients face with resident doctors

      Denise Reich | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Collaborating with occupational therapists: a game-changer for behavioral health [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Breaking the cycle of failure in modern medicine

      Kortney West, MD | Physician
    • ChatGPT: the Napster of the AI world?

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • The missing piece of physicians’ financial plans

      Daniel B. Wrenne, CFP | Finance
    • Counterfeit drugs: a hidden danger lurking in your medicine cabinet

      Emily Kahoud | Meds
    • How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...