Diabetes and Emotions

How does Diabetes affect our emotions? How do our emotions affect Diabetes? 

A 

A person’s emotional needs and problems are an important component of overall health and an integral component of Diabetes management. Physical health and mental health are interrelated, and each affects the other. It’s undoubtedly more difficult to comply with your Diabetes treatment plan when you feel physically and emotionally distressed. Counseling and education can improve the relationship between Diabetes and life. And, if Diabetics, their families and friends all know what to expect, difficult days and blood sugar related mood swings can be managed successfully.

We have all experienced the symptoms of sluggishness and fatigue (i.e. high blood sugars), which affect our Diabetes maintenance, as do regular exercise or taking medications, both of which are important for minimizing our risks of Diabetes-related complications and for improving our mental health. Emotional stress due to Diabetes can be detrimental. For example, any type of stress (even just making it through the holiday season) can suppress the body’s immune function and increase the likelihood of getting sick- mostly due to the increase in cortisol levels. Furthermore, emotional stress leads to the secretion of many hormones that can counteract the actions of insulin and disrupt blood sugar control.  These stress-induced emotions often lead to both low (irritability) or high (unmotivated) blood sugar levels, which may disrupt our emotional states, relationships, eating habits, exercise and daily routines. 

Stress levels are compounded day after day just by living with diabetes; when emotional stress is thrown into the mix, it becomes important that we, as diabetics, learn to cope with our stress levels and eliminate any further negative impact on our physical and mental health.

Common Psychological Issues for Persons with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

Difficulty following treatment recommendations:
For example, committing to regular diet and exercise, insulin management (keeping sugar/insulin/food logs), giving injections and treating insulin shock.
Relationships with families, friends and professionals:
People with diabetes often respond emotionally to their hormone levels, and may experience strong mood swings. A person with diabetes may suddenly express long-withheld emotions, at times feverishly. Sometimes, diabetics may be unaware of severe mood swings; and then act as if their current emotions/feelings will not affect long-term decisions. Furthermore, emotional outbursts may follow minor events.  Often, low blood sugar results in a temporary personality change of belligerence or extreme irritability.
A person with diabetes may criticize or announce an unusual decision to family members, friends or colleagues ... and then quickly forget these conversations. Family members, friends and business associates affected by such hasty decisions may respond with their own emotions. Eventually, they stop trusting the diabetic person or begin monitoring the diabetic person more closely than is healthy for either the diabetic or family member/friend/associate. As they happen, emotional conflicts can spiral to create relationship turmoil.
Depression