Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Preeti on September 30, 2011 at 4:39pm

I'm a perfectionist so it was very hard for me to accept the fact that no matter how much effort I put into monitoring/correcting my BG it's never gonna be perfect! I also wear a cgm and am very thankful for this technology but found that I became very anxious soon after starting it. Now knowing how much BG levels actually fluctuate worries me about long term complications and started to put more stress on my mental health especially with those double arrows down with a BG of 60! However I'm now learning on using it as a tool to prevent the hypos and trying not to stress about the numbers every minute of every day! I find myself looking at my cgm constantly which I'm trying to change! It's amazing how a disease (even one well controlled) can take such a toll on ones mental health! I guess "good enough" will just have to do!!! :)

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Permalink Reply by angelic 1 on September 30, 2011 at 6:04pm

well I guess from watching my son I'd have to say when your sugars are in range life goes pretty smoothly. when you get sick forget it. there up down and not very easy to control. The sugars seem to control the mood. I fought with my son teachers since the day he was diagnosed about his moods. I tried to exsplain the moods and they figured it was just a excuse for him to act out in class. High school was not pleasent. He is better now and in college but wasnt managing the sugar and had a serious DKA eppisode 2 wks ago. ICU for 3 days and at age 21 he realized he better pay attention to this now. He can have a down rite bad attitude sometimes but I've learned usaully his blood sugar is the reason so I incourage him to check it and fix it because usally thats what Lows do to him. I wish Diabetes could just gooooooooooooooooo away! Diabeteics are saine. Its those that dont understand the desease that aren't... Enjoy your day. Kimberly

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Permalink Reply by jessstar on November 11, 2011 at 2:26am

Hi I am new to this forum and this is the first post i have read. I recently started to take perscribed medication for depression, i have had two children in the last five years and at the age of 22 after 12 long rebelious years of this rotten disease i have discovered that i best start to look after my body as well as i can after all, I can't leave my babies with out a Mother. I'm here to hopefully get some help with my diabetes, my last hb1c was 8.4 and since the birth of my daughter a year ago i have strugguled to lose weight safely. I keep telling myself that its better to be healthy, forget what i look like, but i think about it all the time. Im still 2 stone over weight after losing 3 stone this year... insulin makes us fat though right? the closer i keep to range the more hypos and carb fixes i need. I can'y believe the start of this year I was even exercising at my local gym with ketones. All in the name of Vanity. I need help big time to get back on track. So hard to exercise without going low, and if i don't take insulin, there are ketone dangers... grrr so annoying and confusing. I wish they would find a cure. I'v got this far in life i sure as hell don't want to die. So with that, the conclusion is, to control it or it will control mine and my families future.

feel free to message me any do gooders out there.. lol i don't know any other type 1s, (a few type 2s that think they got it tough but thats about it!!)

lots of love Jess Essex, UK.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Piccolo on November 14, 2011 at 11:34am

Hello Jess,

Exercising and insulin is a juggling act. One way to master it is to test before a certain type of exercise and then after to see what it does. The next time reduce the insulin a bit and do the same exercise. After you do this with each of your workouts you will be able to change your insulin depending on the workout you are doing that day. For instance, a workout of running might cause you to go low the first time. So the second time reduce the insulin a few for the meal just before that exercise. If you are using a pump you would suspend the basal for up to 2 hrs. All of this however should be discussed with a doctor before you start you new workout schedule.

It is hard to do well with all the complications that there are. Its as if its harder to do better. But like you said children are worth it.

I have seen a lot of people call diabetes rotten as well. The painful thing is that its permanent. I don't love the disease, but now I don't hate it anymore. I am becoming more interesting in what makes diabetics depressed. The disease or there life with the disease?

Feel free to write back.

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Permalink Reply by Rye on November 14, 2011 at 1:00pm

Diabetes is def mental for me. I have always lived with depression, popping up here and there throughout my entire life. When I got diagnosed with diabetes I didnt understand much about how your moods really effect your BG. I read about how depression and stress could effect diabetes but when I brought it up to doctors/ CDE they would tell me no, it was what I was eating. So for awhile I believed them I mean I was new to diabetes and they were professional. It was until I started studying my numbers (I am a analyzer by nature), when they were higher, what I was doing and what condition my spirit was in when I noticed a connection. So when I get depressed or feel anxiety creeping up I first question myself: where is this coming from? Then I do something productive like exercise or clean. I also love to watch funny movies. Sometimes its harder to come out of it than others but in all I noticed a big difference in my overall numbers when I try to control my depression/ anxiety.

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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on November 14, 2011 at 10:04pm

It's a vicious cycle, isn't it? When I'm feeling depressed, my diabetes control goes to pot. And I don't suppose those high numbers help my mood any, either. But I did make the contract with myself that when I'm feeling lousy, and really want to binge, I have permission, but I have to take insulin to cover it, and not get obsessed about how much insulin I'm taking. Yeah, it'll be a lot more than I take when I'm eating appropriately, but it's my way of accepting my feelings without making myself sick or killing myself.

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Permalink Reply by angelic 1 on November 15, 2011 at 11:13am

One thing I keep telling myself and my daughter in law April is that when my son john is acting out of norm either very hyper or a complete butt to incourage him to check his sugar. I've had a hard time dealing with his attitude at times but it has always turned out that his blood sugar is affecting his mood.. Lows he can turn into a very bad mood suddenly than as soon as you fix it he's like a great person again. Its like turning off and on a lightbulb. very hard to get him to see the signs when a low is heading his way. Most people would see the attitude and not understand that its the diabetes and would get mad and walk away. Dont want him to be alone during lows but I know its part of being on insulin. I'm looking for a support group in the area of Lynchburg VA if anyone has a idea to send his way please let me know. He also has signs of neuropathyin his legs and feet now after his DKA two months ago. Hoping his body will heal its self now that we know he is type one and insulin dependent. thanks kindly Kimberly

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Permalink Reply by Brian Piccolo on November 21, 2011 at 6:17am

Angelic 1,

I think the hardest part is being the person watching. I haven't really ever asked those around me until recently how I am when I am not being responsible with my diabetes. For a while I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to see there frustration with me or disappointment. What I didn't realize is that it was more of concern and caring for me. Mismanaging diabetes is simple, fixing it is simple. Fixing everything else it affects is the real challenge. A diabetic sticks with a plan, then there isn't much to fix.

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Permalink Reply by Ann on November 16, 2011 at 5:49pm

It's good to read others' experiences here.

I've struggled with depression all my life and, for the most part, I've learned to manage it well, accepting that it's something I live with. I've only known that I'm diabetic for the last month or so, and I'm still not fully--formally--diagnosed. I believe that I'm a LADA. I see the endo in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I've become quite obsessed with monitoring my BG and carb intake. I've done very well, I think. On Oct. 18, my A1c was 13.1. For the last five days, I've only had one reading of 7.6. All the others--taken 8-10 times during the day--have been in the 5's and 6's with a few at 4.9 and 4.7. It's a huge improvement and I credit being on an ultra-low carb diet for the results. But I see myself becoming unhealthily preoccupied with the readings, finding that I tend to do a lot of self-analysis about whether I really want to eat, or whether I should eat, or whether I deserve to eat. I'm terrified by the prospect of complications in the future, and so if my BG rises over 6.8 I feel dreadful. I can't find a pattern in the spikes except that they happen about 2 hours after meals. They don't seem to relate to how much carb I've eaten or to anything else I can identify yet.

I wasn't enormously overweight, meaning that my BMI didn't reach the "obese" level, but I was overweight even so. I was on a low-carb diet before I was diagnosed and I've lost over 20 pounds in the last 6 weeks. That feels great. I'm not hungry, but for the first time in my life I'm afraid of eating anything.

I keep telling myself that having diabetes means that I can control so much in my life that I wouldn't have considered before I was diagnosed. I'm determined to live well for another 30 years. I hope my low mood and general anxiety will improve soon.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Piccolo on November 21, 2011 at 6:23am

Afraid of eating, its a curse and a blessing....

I have always LOVED to eat. Its something I enjoy. Watching what I eat, has been a small sense of torture. The blessing in it though, knowing that if I eat the correct things, I can eat a healthy portion of them.

Mood and anxiety are challenging as well. Blood sugars can always affect a mood and anxiety of sugars can seem suffocating. One perspective is, would you rather be anxious about food, or not care and make it harder to control your sugars and affect your mood....?

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Permalink Reply by PatientX on November 16, 2011 at 7:08pm

i believe the longest journeys are mental and diabetes is a journey we are stuck on. I compared my diabetes to a long distance bike ride. Once I get to mile 10 if my mind is not in the right place I wont make it back home. So my diabetes was at its worse when my mind was just not there. For me I was given way too many meds to control blood pressure , cholesterol , and diabetes at the same time. All the medicines I was given have depression as a side effect plus I have a history of chronic depression in my family. So I fell into a dark hole for a while and I think the biggest fight was in my mind. I stumbled through life and work for about a year and finally made it out after stopping most of the meds or turning down the dosages. So these days I try to prepare in my mind in life. So I am with you about diabetes being mental.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on November 16, 2011 at 8:38pm

I was *always* a "looper" running as I wanted to be close to home, in case I had to bail out although I can't think of too many times I actually did that.

Last summer, I ran with a group and started running "out and backs", where we'd run 4-5-6-7-8 etc. miles down the trail, hit the "spot" and turn around and run back. I was amazed to find that it was sort of mentally easier to run over the same terrain and know *exactly* how far it was to go?

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