Depression caused by Diabetes or "normal depression"?

[kaup]

Hello,

How can you tell if you have depression caused by diabetes or just a normal depression? I have my blood sugars under control, i exercise regularly and keep a healthy diet. But i have been feeling depressed lately and i know it has to be from other things in my life. I am now seeing a psychologist for social anxiety and depression.

Anyone else living with a non diabetes depression or any other menthal health issues?

 

[susanmanley]

I had a breakdown in 2007 and now realize I was suffering long before that but in denial. I was not diagnosed with T2 until 2012 so it was not the diabetics
I have had a lot of illness and difficulties all my life and did not allow myself to accept how this affected me phscologically.
Anxiety and depression are associated with many types of illness as well as life experiences.
I am glad you are getting help and hope it all comes right for you. There is so much more understanding of how illness affects us since I was a child

Good luck

susan

 

[donnellysdogs]

I would think that depression caused by diabetes is more likely to be so around peoples thought processes around having the disease and coping with it and the complexities that for some people it is the biggest life changing scenario that they may have had.

I'm not a medic at all.. It just my reaction to lifes experinces that I feel that diabetes does not necessarily act upon the brain cells although the brain is affected by hypo's... My view only is that some people find it difficult to manage change easily and it demoralises our outlook and so-on. I was myself hugely affected by my diagnosis of type 1 in early 20's. I've also had and still have horrible depression and thoughts, but none of it around my management of my diabetes...
My Mum and Nan also had chronic depression.. Both being sectioned at various tomes.. And neither one diabetic.

That only my view, but I don't personally think my diabetes plays any part in my depression... Although I do believe that my depressive outook has some link to my genes.

 

[donnellysdogs]

I also believe our brain is as much a vital organ as pancreas, kidneys, liver, heart, stomach etc...

If those organs can fail ... **** sure our brains can too!!

I dont think depression and seeking help is so badly thought of nowadays than when my relatives were sectioned. Treatment is much better now too and help in the community from nurses is available as well as emergency clinics, telephone numbers, counsellors, tablets and some good community courses of 'stress management' etc.

Todays living can be hard.. I hope you find that things for you will improve soon.
Best wishes
DDx

 

[imalittlefishy]

For me, I think they are pretty intrinsically linked. I don't think my diabetes caused my depression, but when my control is bad, I feel worse, my depression gets worse, so my control gets worse...ad infinitum. I think I would have suffered from depression even if I didn't have diabetes (type 1 since age 11, first bout of depression age 17), but I do think the diabetes has made it worse and is an added 'complication' to my mental health, whilst not being a direct cause.
xx

 

[MissFortune]

Doesn't matter.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Gosh so much agree...in addition. I am a bit of a perfectionist, so when my kevels or diabetesor body go scatty, my brain also becomesmore focused on the problem which then starts depressive thoughts.

And then.. Some drugs in addition to our bodies can also cause negative thoughts too!

It can be a roundabout that is very hard to stop spinning..

 

[GraceK]

I think depression and diabetes are linked. I've suffered depression on and off since I was 16 and looking back at my eating habits and how certain foods have ALWAYS affected me, I'd say I've probably been diabetic a lot longer than I've been diagnosed diabetic. I think the 'pre-diabetic/borderline diabetic' diagnosis should be abolished because it simply leaves people 'on the cusp' untreated and unaddressed for years or decades until their BS becomes so bad that they qualify as fully blown diabetic and therefore qualify for treatment.

Before I was diagnosed in August, I felt like death. I was chronically fatigued and depressed to the point that I was praying I didn't wake up in the morning. Since diagnosis, Metformin and change of diet the brain fog has lifted quite a bit, I've felt more alert and hopeful, less fatigued.

Blood sugar affects the brain. The brain and depression are linked.

 

[susanmanley]

good to hear GraceK

 

[Chas C]

Anyone else living with a non diabetes depression or any other menthal health issues?

Are you on Statins by any chance ?. I got clinical depression after being on statins for about 9 months, was in pretty bad state. Eventually it dawned on me that it all started about 2-3 months after I started taking statins. Once I stopped the statins within a few weeks I was back to normal and have been ever since.

 

[ewelina]

I dont think that diabetes can cause depression. Maybe some medication does but not insulin for sure. Sometimes I go through times that i feel awful about diabetes and blame it about me feeling so rubbish. However the truth is that there are different things that im stressed about and i simply blame diabetes for everything. It seems to be the most obvious worry in my life.
I would advice to forget about diabetes as a problem and try to sort out what other worries youve got in your life. If you sort them out you will realise that diabetes is not that bad at all!

 

[Andrew40]

I don't think Diabetes causes depression. the thing that causes depression is the way Diabetics are treated and the results of the way they are treated. There is also a lack of understanding and help for depressed Diabetics from the departments in the NHS that should be helping as I have found out from my own experience. A little more help and understanding from health care professionals in the NHS could avoid some of the problems.

 

[highburystumpy]

Not sure whether diabetes causes depression or you are depressed because you have diabetes. Either way, you have a much higher risk of becoming depressed if you have diabetes. At the moment I seem to depressed all the time. I have had type 1 for 31 years and it has never been very well controlled (even tho I am a nurse so should know how to do it!). I became very overweight when I was put on a pump (which was a very bad thing and has since been removed) and get fed up when I am told I would not have diabetes if I was not fat!!

 

[susanmanley]

I think the way all long term illnesses are treated by the NHS and public is enough to make anyone depressed. Having been born 'ill' as it were I have been blamed over the years for everything at some point or another. It makes it easier for everone else if they can blame you rather than take responsibility for anything

There are fortunately wonderful people who treat you as a human being requiring respect and understanding and we need to celebrate them more.

good luck highburystumpy and if you would like to PM me please do

 

[bobismad]

I dont personally think diabeties 'causes' deppression, I feel that if you have diabeties, you are more likley to be affected by (rather than 'suffer' from) deppression, I've had type1 since I was 18, and I'm 42 now, over the years my control has been far from perfect, but, I've been getting treatment for deppression for 9 years, I feel that they are both intrinsicaly linked, as sugar levels ultimatly affect mood, and mood affects how you manage your diabeties, from personal experience, when my sugars run high, feelings of anxiety increase, which triggers quite dramatic mood swings, which then affects your ability to manage the diabeties correctly, its something over the years I have just 'put up' with, but over last 2 years I've had to alter my whole psychology about my relationship with both foods and more importantly my diabeties control, I had a gastric bypass in December last year, and so far all is going well, I'm 7 weeks 'post-op' now and introducing solid foods again, my control has been very difficult due to the fact that treating hypos can be an issue, using lucozade or hypostop gel, as it can trigger what is known as 'dumping' syndrome, and as a result of my reduced awareness of hypos I've had to run my sugars slightly higher, resulting in a dramatic swing to the anxiety side, :thumbdown: but I'm sure things will even out over the next few weeks as I get a good handle back on my levels.... to everyone who has struggled with control. I advise wherever possible to speak to someone, either on here or if there is a support group in your area, as while healthcare proffesionals do (in the most part) an outstanding job, they really can only give a 'book' answer, whereas people who live with the condition can give 'real world' advice.............sorry for the :yawn: post.

Bob

 

[susanmanley]

advice.............sorry for the post.


Bob please do not apologize
Your post was great and says how many feel and has sound advise

 

[Cuba123]

Sugar directly effects serotonin levels so to say diabetes does not cause depression is false.It doesn't always cause depression is a more factual statement.

 

[PseudoBob77]

Diabetics have 4x the rate of depression compared to the normal population. The relentless management of it alone gets people on a downer.

 

[Moto1dude]

I've been T2 for 15 years now. I'm definitely not as cheerful or as "fun" as I used to be. Maybe I'm just getin' old and crotchety?

Recently, I went on a 4 day motorcycle ride. About half-way through the first day, I realized I'd forgot to bring my meds. No way I was goin' back home.

During this ride, I ate mostly in restaurants. I tried to eat well, but I was on vacation so I also ate what I wanted. By the afternoon of the third day, I was having fun. I was feeling like I used to feel when riding! This improvement in mood lasted through the evening and the next day.

I understand that this is anecdotal and I'm not suggesting to anyone that they stop taking their meds. But, I do wonder if there isn't some psychoactive property to these medications.

Tom