I have been a Type 1 diabetic for 42 years and did not start having anxiety/depression until I started doing MDI. When I was only doing two shots a day and was not aware of carb counting, I was pretty much free of depression and anxiety. When I finally learned carb counting and bolusing is when anxiety hit for me and when my internist stated with any chronic illness comes depression. I think it is the process of shooting up for everything I eat that caused the anxiety/depression (increased lows.)
So my question is, do you think you would be fighting depression if you were not diabetic?
I have always been considered as the constant joker, fun person and now I am not that way any longer, so for me I think I would not be depressed if it were not for my diagnosis and the more intense treatment.
i do not think that there is any doubt that there is a connection between diabetes and depression. and i think intensive management accentuates it. the chemicals in your head respond to sugar, the quickest way to a chemical imbalance (and i hate that term) is to mess up the sugar content of your blood. i think that your body can adjust to what ever we throw at it, so long as it is consistent. start throwing those numbers up and down… you’ve created something. my wife is on the verge of leaving me because of depression. she says “you are not the same person i married” i was 19 then and i am turning 40 now… we now have 4 children ages 18, 15, 13, and 8 all but the 13 year old are t1… add that to the chemical screwiness that is going on, and it will quickly look as though there is no hope… so i agree, there would be no depression here without diabetes…
Well, yes, but there is also life which gives us challenges along the way. A hard time is when teens are difficult and your parents are aging. That’s impossible for everyone.
For women, I think perimenopause is particularly challenging. During pregnancy (w/ high estrogen), I felt absolutely wonderful. Now, my basal level of estrogen is going down/ fluctuating…so there are mind/emotion connections to bodily changes. I don’t care if you are diabetic or not, that’s a tricky time for the stablest of women.
W/ menopause, a friend or spouse’s illness, secondary complications, or other natural events, we can be “hit” w/ our own mortality. An adjustment everyone has to make, sooner or later.
So, whatever the cause/reasons, my focus is, “How can I take care of myself better?”
I was diagnosed with depression prior to my diabetes diagnosis so I really don’t know. When I was 22 I was diagnosed with Major Depression. I do think that for me the diabetes definitely threw me over the edge a bit. I mean I already have a hard time dealing with things and then to have this ball thrown in my court was traumatizing for me. My anxiety has increased but I also have 3 kids now. A hard part for me has been the weight that I have gained, I was already self-conscious and now after gaining around 25 pounds I get very upset. It is hard enough to keep it all in control without diabetes. It is very comforting to know that other diabetics have gone through these sad, depressing patches as well.
I think I would be depressed without diabetes, I think diabetes makes it worse, but I have little doubt I would be depressed. I beleive I was as a kid, so there is no reason to beleive I woudl have been a whole lot different. On the other hand, I also have no doubt, my condition makes it worse.
I just don’t know, suppose I never will, but this preoccupation with long term complications and hour to hour self scrutiny is just too much. Is depression anger turned in on oneself ? I still hate this D. Then again I have never understood how some people just don’t think like I do, some people don’t get depressed, is that mad or what !
I agree with a lot of your posts - I have always been depressed, angry, in denial - you name it we get it !!! After 55 years and not knowing any different I still get pissed that I am diabetic. I take the anti-depressant Elavil (amitriptyline) for the neurpopathy in my feet, which helps with the depression. Also Zoloft for the mood swings and menopause. See what us women have to put up with ? - And our husbands !!
I have tried drinking, eating, burrying my sorrows, feeling sorry for myself…everything - but nothing helps…you just struggle on with the ups and downs of the BG’s…having the CGM helps…helps control…and inevitably helps with the depression.
Good luck to you all…I am still alive !!!
Sheila
that a good qestion i wonder that alot too and still do. i was doing fine untill my diabetes gotten ready bad and it seem not insulin was working for me and make ir worse my a insurance stop paying for my insulin and now i have too pay full price and it $250 each time i have to get it refulled. so with all that i think i would not be depress with this
I think that i would still have depression if i didn’t have diabetes but that is definitely not true for everyone. i know diabetes and depression are related but it is still kind of unclear to me exactly how they are related and what causes what. when i ask my doctors how to tell my symptoms apart from being from diabetes or depression they basically say trial and error. which is frustrating. but i’ll definitely say that diabetes can’t make managing depression any easier!
I’ve been dealing with depression since 7th grade, and was diagnosed with T2 at age 48. I wonder, though, if there’s some causality the other way – in other words, did depression contribute to the D? I think probably so.
FWIW, I’ve always been a joker, too – it’s only the last baddish depressive episode that seems to have made my tendency to withdraw almost overpowering…
I have to agree that Diabetes and Depression go hand in hand. I had a great life till the D bomb was dropped on me almost 10 years ago. Now depression is a daily battle as are my bg’s. Once I go into a “funk” it is soo hard to break free from that dark black cloud. It gets to the point that I don’t even want to be around ANYONE …family or friends, I guess I am just sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. Too bad giving up is not an option.
Don’t give up. Right now I still have the D, ha, and struggling with major life changes that I could not cope. I was not sleeping (only two hours a night) and all I did was go to work (barely) and lay on the coach all night and every weekend. I was in a place of depression I have never experienced.
I was on effexor for years which helped bigtime, but when I tried to go back on it I became very ill, so then I tried Zoloft, Pristiq, Lexapro and effexor and Pristiq again it all made me sick and I was suffering for 5 months. MD suggested psychiatrist and a counselor, and well ya know what the psychiatrist started me on very low dose of Prozac, and ooooo man I can function again even with the D and my life struggles effecting many members of my family and she also adjusted my sleep aide, and counseling has helped too.
I meant to also agree that there is a relationship. I am moodier with diabetes than before. Of course, I am grown up now, too. =)
Then, when my depression improves, so does my blood sugars… Also, as depression worsens… so do the BGs! I saw marked improvement when first on an antidepressant as a diabetic (had taken stuff before diabetes).
