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Diabetes and depression

Unfortunately, there is a link. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes over ten years ago now. At the age of seven, you don't really think about your mood that much and it comes as a given that you're happy.

Teenage years and puberty hit, and since then my mood has been crazy. Highs and lows. Manias and depressions. Hormones affect your mood and Diabetes affects your hormones to no end.

If it becomes a problem, or persists, talk to a nurse or GP. I've yet to get help but it's only recently by studying Psychology that I've been able to see that my behaviour isn't normal.

I hope things improve for you.
 
Yes there's definitely a link! Im constantly depressed because of diabetes because it's taking my life away.... thats probably why I Started drinking.
 
jonniey said:
Yes there's definitely a link! Im constantly depressed because of diabetes because it's taking my life away.... thats probably why I Started drinking.
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diabetes is not taking your life away. You refusing to deal with your diabetes and follow advice is taking your life away. There are many type 1 diabetics on here, who have been diabetic for many decades. They are still here, still dealing with their condition. How old are you?
 
jonniey said:
Yes there's definitely a link! Im constantly depressed because of diabetes because it's taking my life away.... thats probably why I Started drinking.
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Jonniey, after seeing other posts you are writing... you may well be depressed but you are not showing any willingness to try and change anything.
 
I'm 33 will be 34 this year poorly controlled diabetes for 9 years in April....and who said I'm not willing to change??
 
I think among many other risk factors (lack of exercise after retirement,ethnicity and family history) my depression contributed to my diabetes as I was comfort eating a lot of sweet stuff and going to the pub most nights and drinking 3-4 pints of beer, self medicating with alcohol.
In a way the shock of being diagnosed as diabetic has taken away some of the depression as I am more concerned about the diabetes and putting more effort into controlling it. But I have stayed on the anti-depressant meds as they do help me, and I think that if I went into another episode of depression I would be less able to deal with the diabetes.
 
jonniey said:
I'm 33 will be 34 this year poorly controlled diabetes for 9 years in April....and who said I'm not willing to change??
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There are many ways to try and control your diabetes. I'm on an insulin pump and that has significantly improved my control. I'm also due to try Metformin as well to reduce my HbA1c from 64 (8.0%) as it lowers resistance.

I've never been hospitalised despite DKA several times since diagnosis and that was 10 years ago. You can do it. It is possible I promise. Keep trying different ratios and fight for your control to be better. If you're passionate about it, so will your care team and they will be more than willing to help you.
 
Obviously, anyone that has a chronic illness will be depressed, just as anyone who suffers a loss. But life is like that...
I don't know of any connection between clinical depression and diabetes. Clinical depression affects the hormones in your brain such as serotonin and noradrenalin and they may be affected by blood sugar, but I don't know of any mechanism that would make one cause the other in either direction.
Conversely, as a sufferer of clinical depression, all I can do is keep taking the tablets and try to take events such as diabetes and grief in my stride.
The best solution in my opinion is to get up and do something. Go for a walk. Start a new diet. Just do something!
 
since diagnosis I have been lowering my BG levels by eating low carb, and for a few weeks I took statins and metformin - I don't get on with them so I stopped.
I always used to be really cheerful - really irritatingly so in some circumstances, apparently. Over the last few years I did get downhearted, but now that I am eating low carb and find that I don't need to organise a stair lift after all I am regaining my bounce.
 
I'd be depressed if I'd been diagnosed in my grandmothers era. Or in a 3rd world country unabke to afford insulin.
I thank my lucky stars! Often.
I'd be dead 19x over if it wasn't for the nhs and their superb staff!
 
I think there is a difference between being depressed about having diabetes, and clinical depression running alongside, but separate to, diabetes.

I am reading the original post as asking if diabetes can cause one to also have clinical depression as well. I dont know the answer to that one, but i do know my blood sugar levels affect my moods. Its something i am tracking, using my meter, to see the pattern and be able to do something about it. So far, it seems going below 4 and i get snappy, weepy and cant think straight.

However, I also have clinical depression, which feels very different from sugar level related moods. My psychiatric team have assured me that my clinical depression is a separate condition, unaffected by my daily circumstances, but by a chemical imbalance in my brain.

I dont know if my ramblings help, but have some hugs anyway.
 
diabetic0312 said:
Is there a link between diabetes and depression?
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Such a big question really, pal, as well as being, on the surface, a very straightforward one. You will find lots of differing views, from - yes, as people get depressed when things are out of their control, or if they are feeling dominated by something - or yes, as people who have chronic illnesses or conditions can get depressed. It is, however, a complex issue and any research must surely have to consider other contributing factors. People can get depressed for many reasons..and sometimes for no apparent reason at all. You have to factor in general depression with life, with the world, with lack of spiritual direction, being disillusioned or disaffected, being young, being old, peer pressure, work, direction, money, love, family, identity, sexuality, chemical changes due to medication and or food, alcohol and certain substance use...a million and one things....and ask again - how can we be sure the diabetes is causing it on its own? I think the best policy is to consider all the above a threat to our mental health if we feel overwhelmed by them...and seek directions and relationships in life that make us positive and get shot of all the rest where possible. I truly believe that none of us are consistently sane but rather we dance along a spiralling thread of varying stages of mental well-being. It appears to me that happiness cannot always mean sanity as someone who thinks everything is wonderful all the time is deluded...it being surely rational to be unhappy about certain things. Depression is something that can happen to any of us...and let's face it diabetes isn't exactly what we would choose for ourselves. Anyway, what I am saying is it's a huge question but nonetheless a very valid one...and I hope you have he kind of mind which finds solutions too.
 
jonniey said:
I'm 33 will be 34 this year poorly controlled diabetes for 9 years in April....and who said I'm not willing to change??
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Hiya. hope it all gets easier, mate. It's all about the control, which I am sure you know anyway. What made the difference for me was informing myself by recording all my meter readings and the food I was eating so I could see what was working. That empowered me..and made it all more simple. Good luck.
 
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