Any other diabetics with depression and/or anxiety disorder?

[Ellie-70]

Hello all,
As a recently diagnosed Type 2 diabetic I am finding adhering to a low carb diet and getting enough exercise extra hard. I am the original comfort eater and have always used sugar laden, fatty foods as a means of 'cheering myself up' when my depression and anxiety are very bad.
I would just like to know if there are any other diabetics on here who suffer from psychiatric problems and are finding life very hard going at the moment?

Ellie

 

[Patricia21]

Hello Ellie.
welcome to the forum.
I just read your first post from yesterday.
Look round the forum there is posts to read about anxiety and depression.
There is a few of us who suffer from it from time to time.
Its a shock to find out your diabetic and it dosent always hit at first.
Life style changes seem hard ,but you do adjust.
Stick with the forum,there is a lot of support.

 

[Pipp]

Hello all,
As a recently diagnosed Type 2 diabetic I am finding adhering to a low carb diet and getting enough exercise extra hard. I am the original comfort eater and have always used sugar laden, fatty foods as a means of 'cheering myself up' when my depression and anxiety are very bad.
I would just like to know if there are any other diabetics on here who suffer from psychiatric problems and are finding life very hard going at the moment?

Ellie

Yes!

 

[Lesleywo]

Hi Ellie, definitely me for one. I suffer from anxiety and periods of depression. One of the things that makes me most depressed is my inability to control my eating for any period of time. When I first found out I was insulin resistant, I was so 'good', to be honest it was a wake up call and if I occasionally fell off the wagon I got back on the next day and didn't look back. Then the struggle started and complacency set in. And now I get what I call the food hangover .... waking up feeling depressed and disgusted with myself for getting so out of control, not to mention the damage I'm doing to my body. I feel angry because I am fortunate to have found out I have blood sugar problems before being full flown diabetic and have a chance to halt this in its tracks.

So to answer your question, yes I feel the same as you but unfortunately can't help you! Just know there's lots of us out there that are the same as you, you're not alone and there's always someone on here to talk to, day or night given all our different time zones

 

[Safi]

I suffer anxiety & got quite depressed when I was first diagnosed but the more I've learned about managing things the better I've felt. One thing I have learned is to be careful not to let it rule my life - control-freakery & anxiety seem to be fellow travellers for me - & to accept that some things such as hormone fluctuations will mess with my blood sugar even when I'm being 'good'. It may take time Ellie-70 but if you stick around you'll get plenty of advice & support here.

cheers
safi

 

[Ellie-70]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have had panic attacks and agoraphobia since I was 15 and treatment resistant depression since my early twenties. I am 44 now so these problems long predate my diabetes diagnosis. I was actually skinny back then and my doctor put me on fortified drinks to gain weight - I wish I had that problem now that I am at least 50lbs overweight!
The diabetes is just one more problem to overwhelm me but I am doing quite good for the last few months despite slip ups when I am feeling particularly depressed. Retinopathy and Strokes particularly terrify me so they are motivation enough to keep going.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Indy51]

Out in the blogosphere there are a lot of testimonials from people whose anxiety/depression have improved hugely by following LCHF and/or Paleo/Primal. I think real food, real nutrition and above all GOOD fats are the key to brain health. Let's face it, there's no nutrition (except for the cheap and nasty vitamins they're "fortified" with) in processed food. It makes sense that your brain will work better on real nutrition rather than fake.

 

[jack412]

I think it's one of the symptoms of diabetes, most have it at some level.

 

[Ellie-70]

Hi Indy, thanks for the post. In 2012 I did a lot of research into the role of Omega 3 fish roils for treating clinical depression. There is a lot of evidence that fish oils can be beneficial to mental health. After 10 months of heavy fish oil supplementation I was no better than when I begun. Perhaps consuming fats as food will have a beneficial effect, I certainly hope so.