Diabetes And Depression
This is not generally listed as complication of diabetes but when doing research and writing the article on emotions I realized just how often depression showed up in diabetics and, strangely enough, how often depressed people were at higher risk of getting diabetes. Therefore I felt that it needed to be included under complications so people could be forewarned.
Depression can be a really critical issue and one that needs professional help as soon as possible.
We are all aware that people with serious depression can attempt, and sometimes succeed, in taking their own lives. The diabetic person with depression has all the tools at hand to make that easier. If we just give up, cannot be bothered any more, stop our diet, our medication, any of the normal diabetic care, then we are setting ourselves up for major complications and death. It may not be instant but it is inevitable. Sorry if that seems a tad to blunt for many folk but it is none the less true.
A study done at Washington University in St. Louis noted that diabetes can worsen depression but likewise depression can do the same to diabetes. (see The Diabetes-Depression Link)
All type 2 diabetics have some degree of insulin resistance and this causes a rise in ones cortisol levels. Now cortisol is a stress hormone and raised levels of it are found in people with depression. Is it possible that raised levels of this hormone can be implicated in worsening a diabetics’ depression?
Constantly raised levels of stress hormones has the added problem of suppressing our immune system and considering that any infection causes problems in BG control we do not need something that can make things worse.
If you are a depressed diabetic you may throw caution to the winds and eat all the wrong foods and forget to exercise, with the result of soaring blood glucose and worsening diabetes.
“So”, you may be asking yourself, “ How do I know if I ( or my spouse or friend) is really depressed or just a bit upset and the hell in with life at the moment. Should I be worrying or not?”
Below I give a list of the signs that are most often mention by depressed people. You do not need to have all of these to be considered depressed but if you have a number of them (about 5 or more) and they have persisted for a minimum of 2 weeks then it would be a good idea to have a talk with your medical practitioner reasonably rapidly. He, or she, will be better able to evaluate your state of mind.
If you hate going off to the doc with what may be an ‘iffy’ situation you can take one of the online tests for depression and see how you fare. Remember these are not final – you still need to discuss it with your doctor.
About the best one I have been able to find is this one on MentalHelp.net
The signs of depression:-
1. You feel anxious a lot of the time and can become emotional or upset for no apparent reason.
2. You are often sad and miserable and life seems so unfair. This can lead to ‘comfort eating’.
3. You feel irritable and get angry easier and more often – your fuse seems to have become very, very short.
4. You may withdraw from your normal social contacts because they just seem to be to much to bother with. You just do not feel like coping with other people.
5. You may lose interest in activities you used to enjoy. This can include hobbies, sport, sex or even eating.
6. You are unable to concentrate or even to think clearly. Your feel a bit as if you are trying to mentally wade through treacle.
7. Sleep becomes increasingly difficult. Either you have difficulty falling asleep or you keep on waking up early. Also you seem to be dreaming much more than usual and often the dreams are disturbing ones.
8. You feel totally exhausted all the time. This lack of energy makes even the simplest tasks appear gargantuan.
9. You seem to have a variety of physical aches and pains but you cannot work out what you could have done to get them.
10. You seem more inclined to ‘pick up’ all sorts of illnesses .
11. You see yourself and everything you have done as of little worth – in other words you are a failure. You have no confidence in yourself.
12. You feel guilty, both because you feel you are a burden to others and because you are often critical and/or envious of them.
13. You tend to concentrate on the negatives in your life and feel that there is no hope for the future. This can lead to thoughts of suicide or death.
So you have depression, now what?
You have seen your doctor and are following his recommendations but, as you are reading this site, you have an inquiring mind and a need for to know for yourself whether what you are doing is the best for you.
The standard treatment seems to be drugs of some sort but I am going to stick my neck out here and say that this may not be the best course for everyone – remember YMMV (your mileage may vary). There are a number of people who feel that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the way to go, sometimes in conjunction with drugs and sometimes without. However it is a procedure that can take a while and is not often covered by health insurance, making cost an issue.
Depression and it’s treatment, along with all the varying views on it, is a subject unto itself. To do it justice I would have to create a site of the same size and complexity as this one and frankly I have as much as I can cope with keeping up with diabetes. So I am recommending that if you have an interest in learning more about depression you take a look on the web, and you cannot go wrong, in my humble opinion, by starting with the Clinical-Depression.co.uk site