COVID 19 and anxiety

[DTay9999]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but I would be interested in people's views. I'm a 67 year old T1D and I've had diabetes for over 45 years. I have never let it stop me enjoying life and doing adventurous stuff, but now I feel differently. I see many other people going back to a normal life, as if COVID had never happened, but I can't feel that way. I feel very anxious around other people and I wonder if I'm just being paranoid. I would be interested to know how other people feel.

 

[Fairygodmother]

I’ve been feeling something similar @DTay9999; I’m 70 and have had T1 for fifty years. Like you, it hasn’t stopped me from enjoyment and adventure, except of course when it does it’s special T1 thing.
I think it’s a perfectly understandable survival reaction to feel nervous in the face of Covid-19, and people much younger and less vulnerable than us also feel nervous.
Some people have had little option but to keep working, and shopping for themselves and others, but when out and about on walks and my one supermarket trip so far, I’ve passed very very few who aren’t being careful.
The pharmacist, seeing me with a mask but no gloves, asked if I wanted a pair: I was using hand sanitiser.
The younger, and a couple of older people I know who’ve decided to travel or to have a staycation have all chosen to go in their own cars and have chosen accommodation where they don’t have to mingle with others.
The one young person I know who’s recently flown here from elsewhere is having supplies delivered and not going out for two weeks even though the place they’ve come from is one where no quarantine’s needed on arrival here.

 

[DTay9999]

I’ve been feeling something similar @DTay9999; I’m 70 and have had T1 for fifty years. Like you, it hasn’t stopped me from enjoyment and adventure, except of course when it does it’s special T1 thing.
I think it’s a perfectly understandable survival reaction to feel nervous in the face of Covid-19, and people much younger and less vulnerable than us also feel nervous.
Some people have had little option but to keep working, and shopping for themselves and others, but when out and about on walks and my one supermarket trip so far, I’ve passed very very few who aren’t being careful.
The pharmacist, seeing me with a mask but no gloves, asked if I wanted a pair: I was using hand sanitiser.
The younger, and a couple of older people I know who’ve decided to travel or to have a staycation have all chosen to go in their own cars and have chosen accommodation where they don’t have to mingle with others.
The one young person I know who’s recently flown here from elsewhere is having supplies delivered and not going out for two weeks even though the place they’ve come from is one where no quarantine’s needed on arrival here.

Thankyou - it's good to know that others feel the same way as I do. We have been away in our camper van for a couple of short breaks - its our own little bubble, and we have been out walking every day becausewe live in the country. But going in to town, and meeting old friends (who have been meeting others around the country) makes me very nervous.

 

[copilost]

makes me very nervous

I'd say trust your instincts, there are simply too many unknowns with this virus, it is not "just the flu" for any age group. If you can live your life reasonably well while maintaining social distance then do it. No harm done, no justification required.

 

[sleepster]

Hi @DTay9999, I haven't been out since pre-lockdown. I'm 32 and have had diabetes for 22 years but my BMI and HBa1c are both higher than they should be and I have 4 other autoimmune conditions (fairly innocuous ones but it does make me wonder how my body would cope with covid-19) I live in quite a built-up area so there isn't really anywhere to go for a walk and I haven't needed to go out, so I haven't.
It's astounding some of the stuff you see on social media, some people just don't seem to care

 

[Type1of25years+]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but I would be interested in people's views. I'm a 67 year old T1D and I've had diabetes for over 45 years. I have never let it stop me enjoying life and doing adventurous stuff, but now I feel differently. I see many other people going back to a normal life, as if COVID had never happened, but I can't feel that way. I feel very anxious around other people and I wonder if I'm just being paranoid. I would be interested to know how other people feel.

Hello. So sorry to hear you’re feeling anxious. So understandable and so many of us are. I’m TTC as well so have felt very anxious at times. Recently I’ve tried to do more though, with baby steps (for example pop to the garden centre with mask and hand sanitizer and a few days later something else small), and I’ve felt each small step has helped a lot to calm my system back down and have felt much better. Still being very cautious but I think doing small things (whilst reassuring myself it’s something like 1 in 2000 chance I could bump into someone with it) has really helped so would recommend it even though the first few times are tough. I hope this is helpful.

 

[Lynnzhealth]

You are not alone or paranoid. I am 72 and have only had T1 since 2019. Previously (mis)diagnosed in 2017 as T2. So, now I'm going through all the various emotions. I have a dog so I walk him when it's not too humid and I do go out and about while taking precautions. It is kind of scary when one has health issues and know that others are not following the protocols. I say better to be safe than sorry. I find this past few months that I've been overly anxious and I'm not sure if it's our strange new world, my T1, my past or all of the above. I guess I need to work on accepting that I have T1 and see if that will ease some of the fear, sadness and anger. It would be a big relief. Stay safe and stay healthy, everyone.

 

[Chloelox]

I am also terribly anxious about the situation and have been since the virus began to spread outside of Wuhan.

however, the town I live in is currently a ‘covid hotspot’. 3 weeks ago I came down with a headache and felt rather fatigued to the point I would need to nap every 3-4 hours just to try build some sort of energy. I am a new mum so I put it down to exhaustion from tending to her. A couple of days later I developed achey muscles and a sore throat, I again put it down to exhaustion.. after feeling this way for a few days I contacted my doctor for advice, she didn’t suspect the virus and suspected an infection of sorts so sent me for full blood work. (I didn’t receive any post natal care because of Covid - so she wanted to make sure I wasn’t suffering infection post partum). My blood work came back clear, which has now lead her to believe I actually had the virus. Whilst waiting on my blood work to return though I spent a few days struggling to stay awake, my partner had to take over caring for my daughter as even walking to the kitchen to warm her bottle was an exhausting task, I was completely off food too.. I ate a dry piece of bread and drank 200ml of Pepsi just in order to continue my insulin schedule.

I felt dreadful for about 2 days then I began to slowly have waves of feeling a little better. I am feeling somewhat back to normal now, slight breathlessness is still present at times.. I have shielded, but gone out to attend diabetes appointments at my local hospital, where they’ve stemmed down to be source of the local outbreak.. I can only assume that is how I may have caught it. If my doctor is correct, I didn’t get hold of a test in time so will now have to wait for antibody test to verify.

I am still very cautious and anxious, I do hope a vaccine is manufactured soon and that we can all get back to some form of normality.

I hope the anxieties subside soon, as a somewhat healthy 24 year old, if the virus is what I had I would definitely say being overly cautious is not Unreasonable, I felt absolutely dreadful so I can’t imagine how older people with possibly poor health or other complications would feel if they caught it.

 

[MarkHaZ123]

At first I was stressed and didn't want to work at all, I just wanted to stay home and hide with been type 1.
Iv actually worked all the way through covid, Iv probably had alot less days off than I normally would. Like now I'm working Monday to Friday plus extra jobs at the weekend. I'm a bathroom fitter and Iv never been so busy as I have since March.

I try to keep distances from people but with working in there houses it's hard to not touch stuff so Iv just got used to working through it really.

I think the more you read the worse the state of mind gets. I turned my phone off quicker before bed and stopped watching the news. I soon got my head back to normal

 

[Reeker]

This situation about covid really gives me a lot of depression.