Diabetes and Anger

I used to also get very angry, for no reason, but stick with it, mine has almost passed now ( after 3 months or so) I know that might sound a long time, but in the stream of time it is not to bad. :?

Both high and low blood sugars can impact your mood due to the chemical effects on your body. I suggest you buy yourself a glucometer and see what your blood sugars are like, particularly when you have these outbursts. If you find a connection then you have something to work on!

Don't forget that moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do - and stress affects BG levels. I was diagnosed Type 2 immediately after my 24th (25th?) house move, was moody, exhausted and miserable, also came down with a thing called oral lichen planus (horrid little blisters in my mouth). I just wish someone had told me at the outset that most of that was probably stress-related - I had to wait until I joined this forum to get the help I needed. I'm much better now, BGs well under control, and the mouth blisters have disappeared all by themselves!

You've got a lot to contend with apart from the house move - no wonder you are stressed! I hope your new medical team are sympathetic and willing to listen, and don't just suggest pills. You need someone to talk things through with - forum members here will always try to help .

You will come through it - promise! I think it's probably much more to do with stress than the diabetes. Learning to manage your Type 2 and get your levels stable will help a lot, and give you something to focus on. Get yourself a blood glucose meter and learn how to use it. Once you've learned what you can eat and what you can't, your BGs will settle and you'll feel lots better. It takes time - but you'll get there. Try to take things one at a time, and don't try to deal with everything at once.

Let us know how you get on with your new GP practice, and don't be afraid to ask any questions you like on the forum. There's no such thing as a silly question on here :wink: Keep your husband involved - he can be a lot of help.


Viv 8)

Very useful thread and replies thanks folks.

this has been a good post to read
my moods/anger maybe easily explained now
I must start testing more.

The only thing that makes me angry these days - often to the point of incandescence - is medical 'professionals' I wouldn't trust to post a letter.

I'm 70, with a range of serious conditions since birth, such that my T2 is just the frosting on the cake. Bad enough I'm lucky to be seen once a year for multiple problems that (by their admission) need month by month attention. Bad enough I need physio several times a week - and I get 6 sessions a year if I'm lucky. Bad enough that - with a memory like a sieve - I have remember to arrange my own appointments ("We don't do reminders! Why not? Well, it's not how we do things!") Bad enough it takes 3 weeks to see anyone when I do arrange an appointment. Bad enough that any interaction with the NHS now seems to involve endless and pointless rigmarole, not to mention 40 miles of travel to my 'local' general hospital if I want anything resembling treatment rather than just a talking shop. How I get there is apparently my own problem.

But when - 10 minutes into a consultation that's a year overdue and has taken a month to organise - I realise that no-one is actually listening to a word I say....!!

Last time I needed a scan, over a year ago (and a full year overdue), I sat 2 hours past my appointment time waiting for them to get their fingers out. Eventually I was asked to take a draught of something to aid the scan, after which I'd need to wait for an hour for it to work. I pointed I'd been waiting for 2 bloody hours already - couldn't they have given me this an hour ago?!!! It wasn't bloody rocket science!! I was snottily told if I was going to be abusive they'd have to call security.

I'm now at the point where - whatever the risks - the less I see of the medical professions, the happier I am. My life may end up shorter - but by god it's so much less stressful.

Angry???!!! It's hardly to be wondered at.

Hi I am pre diabetic but have occasional full on feelings of frustration and irritability. I have been checking my blood glucose pre breakfast and before bed, they remain just within normal parameters, but random checks during the day show dips down to 3.2 . I eat low carb low sugar now since pre diabetic diagnosis a month ago. I am otherwise healthy but feeling there is not enough info around, I have been checking supermarket foods for 'carbs - of which sugars' It gives RDA but that is for non diabetic . While quite clearly marked sections for Gluten free etc , no special section for low carb , low sugar. Yet diabetes is on the increase. What does everyone else do. Zell

First of all, remember that "sugar" is a red herring when it comes to blood glucose control. "Sugar" is just a part of the food group called "carbohydrates", all of which are metabolised by the body into glucose when you eat them. So you can eat something that doesn't contain any "sugar" at all, or hardly any (eg white pasta), but which nevertheless produces lots of glucose when you eat it and can spike your blood glucose readings quite high.

Check your blood glucose just before and 2 hours after eating a meal. If your body has handled the glucose properly, your "after" reading should be about 2 points higher than the "before" - eg if "before" is 5.0, after should ideally be around 5.2.

However, don't panic if you're a bit higher than that - the official targets for Type 2 diabetics are blood glucose readings as follows:

Fasting/before meals: 4 - 7 before meals
2 hours after: less than 8.5. Other research suggests no higher than 7.8 is preferable.

If you're higher than this 2 hours after, something you have eaten has spiked you. This is most likely to be white bread/pasta/rice, or root vegetables, or fruit, as well as most cereal products and baked goods. Get yourself a Carb Counter book (search on Amazon) and check the amount of carbs in each food before you eat it. It's possible to eat most things, even pasta or mashed potato, in small amounts as a very rare treat. :shock: Changing (eg) white bread to wholemeal multiseed can make a sandwich possible - I can cope with a sandwich for lunch occasionally with no problems.

I try to eat very low carb, less than 50g per day, so I'm always looking for foods with around 5g carb per 100g. That's for weight loss as well. You may be able to manage more - aim for 100g carb daily, or 150g, and see what happens to your readings. Spread the carbs over your day, don't eat the whole lot in one sitting :wink: .

IMHO, I doubt if any Type II diabetic can eat the RDA of carbs and maintain tight blood glucose control at the same time.

As for your low BG dips - I find my lowest time is mid-afternoon, when I am usually in the low 4s if not the high 3s. This doesn't seem to bother me as far as going hypo is concerned, though it would for some people. If you find yourself feeling irritable, check your BGs. If they are very low - a good rule of thumb is "4 is the floor" - try raising them a bit. Carry some glucose tablets with you at all times - if you feel you are too low, eat one or two of those and check again 15 minutes later to see how far you've gone up - I'd expect to go up from 3.5 to 4.5 after 2 tabs.

Sorry if you already know all this - but someone else reading this thread may not. And don't make yourself miserable over Christmas - a mince pie will put me in double figures, but I always have one or two over the holiday period. "Nothing to excess" is the motto. :wink:

Viv 8)

thank you Viviennem....that has certainly helped me understand carbs better and testing too........I'm newly diagnosed T II and trying to get my head around it all is stressful, even though both my brothers have had T II for years, one brother for 20years .....finding out lots of useful info here that is helping me come to terms with a sudden lifestyle change :shock:
thank you Jaxx

nomistheman said:

viviennem said:

Check your blood glucose just before and 2 hours after eating a meal. If your body has handled the glucose properly, your "after" reading should be about 2 points higher than the "before" - eg if "before" is 5.0, after should ideally be around 5.2.

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I always go with a rise greater than 2 mmol / L being the trigger for me to look at the contents of the meal - 2 points seems extreme?

I would suggest that as long as you are within the recommended range then you have good management of your Diabetes.

I have found it's also useful to consider combinations of food. I've found that carbohydrates mixed with more fat or protein can flatten the spike - although the duaration increases. Watch out for too much protein too, as the body can break this down into Blood Glucose.

The only way to know is to test pre and post prandial, record, analyse and adjust - everyone is different.

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The recommended ranges are way too high for best long term outcomes and control. :thumbdown:

FB

Non diabetic HbA1c approximately 4.5-5 or 26-32 mmol/mol. The higher we go above non diabetic the higher the risk of diabetic complications.

FB

Hi Viv. Thank you for your info, very useful. I will invest in a carb counter book or App.
Best Wishes
Zell