Out of curiosity I was wondering if any Type 1’s suffer from Major Depression. I was so messed up when I was 18 yr.s old my Psychiatrist immediately put me in a Pys. hospital that treats people with mental disorders. There were also people kicking withdrawl from drugs. But this was 20 years ago and I’m still on anti depressants. My current Psychiatrist refuses to take me off of them. I’m worried if I go off the anti depressants the major depression will kick it. Can’t take that risk.
Are any of you suffering from depression. I’m in Facebook and get so upset when I see alot of my friends constantly taking summer vacations because I want to too.
Unfortunately, Major Depressive Disorder is something like three times more common in people with all types of diabetes than in the population as a whole. Connie, do you receive therapy as well as medication? I’m retired from the Behavioral Health field and I feel strongly that the two go together. How stable do you feel you are; do you still experience symptoms? If not, you might want to talk to your Psychiatrist about trying to lower the dose gradually and see how you do, if that is something you want to explore.
I’m confused what you mean about going on summer vacations. What would stop you from taking a vacation?
I get that way when depressed. I had to go to the hospital recently for anxiety/depression/lack of sleep. Turns out I am not just a Major Depressive, but Bipolar too. Eeesh!! I think it is definitely correlated!
I can sympathize with the feeling left out of things too…
Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder are two different things. You don’t get diagnosed with both. If someone is Bipolar than they have episodes of mania and depression. With proper treatment (meds and therapy) people with either disorder can live normal lives.
I recently got approved for disability which is extremely hard to get in the state of Texas. I had to try 3 times. But now I need to find another Psychiatrist and I know I need to go to therapy. Once I get my medicare card I need to find a psychiatrist. I can’t go on vacation because I can’t find anyone to go with me. But today I asked a good friend in Dallas if she wanted to go overseas w/ me possibly toward the end of this year or next.
The only thing that makes me Bipolar is moodiness and I responded to a mood stabilizer. Go figure. What diabetic isn’t moody sometimes?
theres no doubt i was depressed when i was first diagnosed, and i still have my days now and then. i tried so hard to act like nothing was bothering me. but finally i talked to someone and it helped a lot. i’m glad you’re getting help too! these kinds of things are not easy to deal with
I was on Effexor for 5 years and went off a year ago, and boy I am a mess. Huge anxiety attacks, I have really been suffering last 6 months. I tried to go back on the effexor, but got really sick, tried many other anti-depressant drugs as well, and still sick, wish I never went off the stuff, realize now how well I coped with diabetes when I was on it.
I have been on Zoloft since Friday, still feel like crapola, MD said I will feel worse before I feel better, so hanging on through the nausea and headaches.
Don’t go off your drugs, I sooooo wish I had not, I am a freaking mess…long story.
I don’t think I “suffer” from major depression, but I have gotten very depressed before, usually in response to life situations. I’ve never been on any anti-depression meds. and I am always better when I have a therapist to talk to. I have gotten very frustrated when things in life don’t go as I want them to and when I wonder if I will ever get my own “dreams” (goals, wishes, etc) to come true. I was told as a child I wasn’t good enough to have my dreams met (at least that’s how I view it) and because I am “too sick” (it was implied, not spoken) I would need to get a stable job in order to have medical insurance. Well, guess what? I love to act and everything which is creative and I am looking for jobs in the acting field despite having diabetes (and a host of other disabilites/diseases)! It is even possible I will get health insurance in the acting field once I join a union. The new therapist I started with this past March has been helping me to see my life a little differently. However, it is I who is doing the most work—by reaching into my soul, mind, and memory to unlock the road blocks to my feelings of despair AND change my thinking to focused, positive, and belief affirming thoughts. In fact, I wrote a note to myself which I have on my mirror, stating that I, “made a commitment to love, honor, and cherish Rebecca M. Rodick”. Once I started “loving” myself, I began to feel better about myself and it showed, too, because my house is a little cleaner, more organized. I am happier. I AM LEARNING TO BELIEVE IN MYSELF for a change and I needed that!
P.S. I also get very upset if I do “everything right” and still get a diabetic “result” of which I did not want or expect! I get so mad sometimes, I take it out on my diabetes by overdosing insulin or overeating food!!! Anyone else ever do that? Personally, I think just having diabetes creates reactions of charged emotions such as frustration, anger, depression, etc. I get a “funny” feeling when someone says, “I don’t know why diabetes and depression go hand in hand…” Isn’t just having a disease which doesn’t go away, enough of a reason to be upset, ie: depressed? Of course, I could be wrong about “major depression” as this implies something more serious than what I am describing above…
Bipolar Disorder is, imho, greatly overdiagnosed. It is so much more than mere “moodiness”, and yes, you are right, being diabetic can make us all moody at times!
Way to go, Rebecca!!!
My internist put it this way, with any chronic illness comes anxiety/depression.
I have no experience with major depression, but growing up I had terrible anxiety (this is before D). Sadly I never really realized I had a problem, but I did, and I’ve been treating it successfully. What I learned about treatment might help you.
I don’t like anti depressants because they change the way your brain’s processes work. It’s unnatural, and as a result there are necessarily unnatural consequences. So I’d like to see you off anti depressants in the long run, but you most likely will lapse after you stop your medication. (I’m not an expert and I’m not sure how to make an effective transition).
But check this out. Julia Ross is a woman who runs a clinic dealing with people with alcoholism, depression, eating disorders, anxiety, etc. What she found was that most people with these conditions (in fact most people eating the Western diet) lack a certain number of neurotransmitters in their brains. Neurotransmitters are cells that facilitate processes, and include, seratonin, endorphin, GABA, glutamate, glycine, epinephrin, norepinphrin, dopamine, and ATP. Why do we so often lack them? These neurotransmitters are made with a few certain types of amino acids (proteins), and for a variety of reasons, people eating the Western diet often don’t digest them very well. We lack the building blocks for neurotransmitters.
What’s the upshot? By supplementing with these amino acids and neurotransmitters, we can give our brains the things they need to behave correctly. It’s completely natural; these are things that can be found in food and naturally occur in everyone’s brain already. Supplements just give you more of them. Moreover, when your brain gets used to seeing these amino acids around, it relearns how to make them at full capacity; in other words, after a few months or a couple years, you will stop needing (and stop feeling the need for) the supplements.
If you’re curious about treating yourself with this, read Julia Ross’ book, The Mood Cure. It’s great. The four neurotransmitters she talks about are GABA, 5HTP, L-Glutamine, and L-Tyrosine.
Good luck!
when you add a significant amount of sugar to the brain, you will likely get shifts in function. if that sugar comes and goes with wide fluctuations, you will see the brain do a poor job at adapting. i see some people here saying “get off the anti depressants” and some say “stay on them” the reality is everybody responds differently to what ever is put into the body. julia ross has some great ideas, and i am sure that they work in some instances… but i fear “cure-alls” you have to do what you think that you need to, with advice of course. the human body often knows what it needs (like when pregnant women get odd cravings, it is usually for something that the baby needs). follow your intuition, but don’t be a fool. those drugs are bad for you, but so is genetically modified insulin… bad for me, but i would be far worse off without it… until there is something better, i take it.
Great advice Lev.
As much as I struggled with feelings of depression over the years before being diagnosed, it is nothing compared to the bouts of depression I have had since - It has definitely given me insight and lots of empathy for those around me who struggle with serious depression or physiological depression everyday. I myself have always been wary of antidepressants for my own use, but since having diabetes am seriously considering it as part of my therapy because I can see how higher blood sugars or big fluctuations effect my mood, outlook, and ability to think through problems…
As I understand it, the brain is the only part of our bodies that runs on straight glucose (the rest of the body needing insulin to “activate” the glucose), so if your sugars are off it’s like driving with bad gas…
Seems inevitable that anyone dealing with a chronic condition, & especially one that requires constant vigilance like ours, is a sitting duck for depression & anxiety. It’s a double whammy–the emotional component & the biochemical one from ever changing BG levels. When I’m low, I have minor panic attacks. It’s not the fear of being low, but the actual low that makes me feel panicky. Soon as I start feeling panicked, before the shaking & fuzzy head symtoms hit, I know I’m low.
Am wary of antidepressants. Have a good friend who’s been clinically depressed since childhood. She’s been on every med & combo of meds. The rebound effect she experiences is worse than her original depression.
Yea I know a Phyc. has to wing you off the med.s. You can’t stop taking them immediately. I go through intensive anxeity when hit lows in the 30’s or upper 20’s. I freak out and sometimes don’t kno what to do. The 20’s only affect me that way sometimes but not always. THANK GOD. I guess alot of people cannot function when they’re that low. I need to be on the pump so it can alert me when I’m going low. Most of the time I can’t feel myself going low.
I have actually read in many related articles that Bipolar Disorder is very common in T1Ds. Like was said in a few of the comments here, it’s due to the fluxuating BG levels as well as the chronic condition that makes us emotionally and mentally tired and/or sad.
I’ve talked to a few therapists over the years, but haven’t found them to be very helpful. Maybe I just haven’t found my “match”? It seems that they like to drudge up memories that make me cry- when I’m outwardly a very solid and strong person- so it’s just annoying when they ask me questions about my past that are “obviously” painful. But if I’ve already come to terms with those issues, why do I need to talk about them? Why can’t we focus on what’s bothering me TODAY? Just because I’ve “come to terms” with something, doesn’t mean it still isn’t painful. Right? Maybe I’m crazy.
I have major mood swings, as well. Some days I’m really happy- and others I can’t help but draw within myself and cry for no reason at all. If asked, I can usually come up with something (so they don’t think I’m weird) but usually it’s really nothing.
There are also days when I just want to give up and “throw in the towel” - but it’s usually just referring to the whole D thing. It gets really tough and so tiring! Chronic Chronic Chronic
So, I don’t know if it’s “normal” to be this way, or if I have an “issue”… I find writing helps. I write books. haha.
I am afraid of medications, actually, and wince every time I have to inject. I hate it. Synthetic junk. But, without it, I’d be no-more. So… I do what I have to do.
I wonder if life might be better if I were on something to stabalize my brainwaves… but then I’m afraid of just being “numb” to everything. Without the lows, how would I feel the highs of life?