Anxiety

Please hang in there, I am sure T1 members will be in soon to offer advice and support. Meanwhile, this comment will bump your thread.

Welcome to the forum btw.

Hi @Kerr12071992 ,

Welcome To,the forum.

I'm (shockingly.) headbutting 51 years of age. Work, plus other pursuits..
Give us a little more background. No judging, but I can tag in relevant advice...
Been through some rough ones myself. You don't have to to be a total "expert" to register as a member here..

If you pay attention to what you eat, reduce carb intake, eliminate sugar and adjust your insulin intake accordingly, your blood sugar will get in 'normal' range and the anxiety will likely go away. Other than that - do what you can, don't worry about the rest.

@Kerr12071992 . Welcome to the forum..
There are some great and very experienced type 1 diabetics hanging around this forum who will have been exactly where you are now.
Diabetes , especially T1 is so much more than BS numbers, insulin ratios, carb intake etc.
The daily 24/7 demands have the ability to reach deep into our souls.
It would appear that diabetes has found a way to take control of your life. It does this using negativity as one of its greatest weapons. You need to find positivity in your life, regain control of your life how you want it.
You can try fighting diabetes but in my experience you never win, it will always be there the next morning.
My approach is to embrace diabetes, use it to make me stronger and more focused. Make diabetes the reason you achieve.
I think if you can probably address the mental and emotional side of your diabetes the rest will become much easier.
None of us are perfect. Highs and lows are all part of the game. Start with small steps and changes to finding positivity and happiness in your life.
Join in with us on the Type 1 sub forum. It would be great to see you posting there.

Hi @Kerr12071992
Anxiety is never nice and combined with T1 is the perfect recipe for things to be anxious about.
Realistically no one has effect management all the time. However, better control can reduce anxiety triggers.
Have a look around the t1 section, ask questions if the numbers are doing strange things. Take time to realax and do fun stuff if you can.

Hey @Kerr12071992 and welcome, nice to see you posting! Anxiety and depression are often a part of living with type one, but it often goes under the radar. You can’t change the past, that’s done and there’s nothing anyone can do - but if you can keep yours sugars one check moving forward, chances are you can undo any damage and live a long and healthy life.

Hi @Kerr12071992 and welcome. So sorry to hear of your problems, I can get anxious about things, I never used to but, sometimes things in one's life can be a game changer. It's about coping mechanisms and learning how to deal with life's up's and down's.
You could try breathing slowly, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Counting to 10.
Writing the anxious things on a piece of paper and then tearing it up and throwing it away.
Writing a daily diary can help release your negative thoughts.
Music is good too, but the main thing is believing in yourself, you want to do it and you can do it, but it will take time. Other forums regarding mental health may help too.
Have you asked your Gp for help regarding counselling, also some hospitals have a diabetes
psychology counscellor you need to get in touch with your diabetes team ?
Here's a couple of links which may be helpful :- Please let us know how you get on and take care and remember you're not alone x

https://www.thinkaction.org.uk/treatments/diabetes-psychology-service/

//www.diabetes.org.uk/professionals/position-statements-reports/diagnosis-ongoing-management-monitoring/emotional-and-psychological-support-for-people-with-diabetes

Hi @Kerr12071992, I read many comments about do this, do that and people just 'getting on with it' but I guess you know full well what you SHOULD be doing. I am sure you know all about diabetes by now. The problem is if your head is not in the right place all the advice in the world won't help, depression/anxiety is an illness in and of itself and it can affect EVERYTHING in your life, your diabetes management is just one of them. I don't feel I can be of much help but please go back to your Drs if you continue to feel like this and hopefully once the 'depression' is treated or managed you might be able to focus more on your glucose levels, it's like the chicken & the egg isn't it?, one is linked to the other. x

Hello @Kerr12071992 and welcome

I agree with others in regards to running high/low, I was like this when I was diagnosed which sent me into a downward spiral, so I started eating more veg and protein and cut down on the carbs, it resulted in more stability with my glucose levels and in turn I started to feel much better, running high means more glucose to process and slower mental capacity which affected my mood, I am an advocate of doing what you can to help you as an individual and although I don't preach low carb as i'll indulge myself when it suits me but i'll manage my insulin to suit and prepare myself for extra work when I do, when I eat low carb I don't have to play catch up on my glucose levels and can stay below 9 all day.

It's finding what works for you - I hope you'll return to see the useful information members have been able to offer and can work through this

Hi Craig,

Anxiety can manifest in different ways for different people?
I've seen full on panic attacks with some folk I response to stress.
Where as with others. A skin condition can occur?
But whilst seemingly able to cope whith the challenge of the cause of the stress.

It's good you're getting checked out by the appropriate health care pros..

Keep us posted on how you're getting on.

Kerr12071992 said:

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your responses.

For some reason, I'm only really getting the physical symptoms of anxiety and not the emotional ones and I think this causes a spiral as it makes me think something else is wrong.

I guess all the info they give about being 5x more likely to have heart attacks and strokes makes me worry more.

It all came on all of a sudden a couple of weeks back when I had what the doctors said was an anxiety attack/panic attack. I've never had one of these before so demanded my other half drive me to the hospital. I've not been right since but I'm hoping it's all in my head.

I've had bloods taken and an ecg taken over the last few weeks. I imagine they would have found something if it was there but It just seems to be all I can think about lol.

Thanks,
Craig

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Hi Craig,

I’m not sure if any of this will help but I feel that I might be able to relate to your post. I have been on anxiety meds this year and have recently come back off them. When I have panic attacks I usually feel very sick, get stomach cramps and sometimes throw up. It often takes me a few minutes (or sometimes longer) to figure out that it is due to anxiety/ panic. I usually wrack my brains for everything I have eaten and people I have been around thinking that I have food poisoning or have caught a bug! I honestly couldn’t understand why I could be panicking when I didn’t think I felt anxious or worried about anything! Sometimes this happens for me in the middle of the night when I have been asleep as well so really struggle to make sense of that! I have been having some counselling which I found really helpful and I do think that I worry about my health particularly (alongside things from my past that I probably hadn’t dealt with) but that a lot of my subconscious worry comes from continually ‘assessing’ myself for how I feel to ‘measure’ my blood. I have found that having a cgms has helped take some of that away by having something else ‘watching’ my bloods for me (even though it makes my bank balance cry!) and talking to other people who experience anxiety has helped me appreciate that I’m not alone with these symptoms that can seem to come from nowhere.
Its good that you are checking to rule out other things but maybe talking to someone might also help?
Hope this made sense and I’m not just rambling away! Hope you find something that helps and reduces your symptoms.

Mia

Anxiety. I standing with you. I've been slowly deteriorating during a T1DM honeymoon period, moving from 3 meals to 2 meals to 1 extremely low carbohydrate meal a day to maintain glucose impaired waking blood sugars and an impaired HB1AC. I'm terrified of hypos and I'm not yet on insulin because of this. I'm maintaining my weight with cream. I was supposed to start insulin on my first specialist appointment, to maintain what remains of my beta cell function. Supposedly, I've maintained 30 per cent of my beta cells through diet, using the Homa formula calculations - c-peptide and fasting glucose. Every day is a slippery slope and insulin is at the end of it. I know people seem to just get on with it, but blood sugars are terribly erratic depending on how much I've been running, how well I sleep and what I did a day ago.

I am 53 years old... T1 now for 5 years... I consider myself fortunate to still be in a "honeymoon" phase, but like ERT I feel this may be coming to an end soon. I will admit that I was rather obsessive about my numbers for the first few years, and would get upset when my numbers were higher than I thought they should be. I am diligent about exercise and mindful of my diet. But I have also taken the mindset that I am going to enjoy myself. I have diabetes- but it doesn't define me... and I refuse to let it ruin my day, let alone 1 hour of the day. My wife is a tremendous support and we work together to plan meals and substitute an extra veggie on my plate as needed (several riced cauliflower items in the frozen food section are great!). I am too busy counting my blessings to dwell on numbers that are not ideal.

I am 74 years of age & was diagnosed with T1D 6 years ago. At times I dont know if it is anxiety or not i get very frustrated if something quite trivial does not go to plan; I shout & swear & eventually I calm down & resolve the problem
I find this really upsetting & it does not do my blood pressure any good. Does anybody have similar problems? My blood sugar level is slightly higher than it should be & maybe this is the problem.

That's completely normal @sl0042 .... weird how one might initially accept it and then rage about it down the track. Short tempered, distracted and even the plight of others might count for nought despite the fact you might be at heart, deeply compassionate. There's always a fight when and where you last need it.

Thanks Mike D;that helps a lot but not the situation.