Diabetes, despair and depression

I was only diagnosed with type 2 last week, so not sure if I've had it long enough to get depressed.

My history tells me it's unlikely I'll get depressed over my diabetes.

There have been a few traumatic periods in my life, Including a serious road accident leading to 18 months in hospital, and a heart attack, but seem to have come through them without too much grief.

To be frank I really see my diagnosis as a strong motivator to deal with binge eating disorder. For years I've struggled to manage my food intake. Following the diagnosis, and for a few weeks before while I was waiting for it , I seem to have lost the urges and cravings for the sort of unhealthy food I used to binge on.

I suppose only time will tell if my new found control continues, but my BG is falling and I'm losing some weight. So. Hopeful my positive attitude will help me deal with diabetes in the long term - assuming I live that long.

I only feel despair when I am at the surgery, having to go through the motions while the HCP ticks the boxes so the practice can enrich themselves, whilst spending the absolute minimum on me, and getting the most £££ down to the bottom line. I come out thinking that I am party to a transfer of money from the poor to the rich
In between times I relish the challenges of the next day

Some diabetics get 'symptoms' of depression and anxiety as part of the way their body's tolerance to certain foods and how it reacts to glucose, fructose, sucrose et all.
Because the body gives warning signs of high and low glucose levels, high and low insulin levels and other hormonal imbalance conditions, fluctuating blood glucose levels, your brain triggers symptoms of the mental health problems. It's telling you something is wrong!

However, some have the condition of depression and anxiety and not asymptomatic.
The differential is difficult to diagnose!

It has been my experience that having normal or as near normal blood glucose levels as much as possible, or being in ketosis really helps alleviate the symptoms and helps cope with the actual condition of depression and anxiety.

I'm another person whose history tells me I am unlikely to become depressed over my diabetes. I have had a few other health issues in my 69 years, including breast cancer involving 12 months of intensive treatment and have come through these with a smile on my face and no sign of depression or anxiety.

In another 3 weeks I will reach my 3rd anniversary since my diagnosis and have never felt anything negative. It was the kick in the backside I needed to lose weight and eat better, both of which I accomplished within the first few months. All I have felt is more confident, more attractive (the weight loss did that), and more importantly so much healthier.

I might add, I am not on any medication for diabetes or anything else, so as a thought, could part of the problem be medication rather than the disease itself? Or maybe it's all in the genes.

Bluetit1802 said:

I'm another person whose history tells me I am unlikely to become depressed over my diabetes. I have had a few other health issues in my 69 years, including breast cancer involving 12 months of intensive treatment and have come through these with a smile on my face and no sign of depression or anxiety.

In another 3 weeks I will reach my 3rd anniversary since my diagnosis and have never felt anything negative. It was the kick in the backside I needed to lose weight and eat better, both of which I accomplished within the first few months. All I have felt is more confident, more attractive (the weight loss did that), and more importantly so much healthier.

I might add, I am not on any medication for diabetes or anything else, so as a thought, could part of the problem be medication rather than the disease itself? Or maybe it's all in the genes.

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I love this post. I posted on here a couple of days ago that I have a problem taking type 2 seriously. I don't mean any disrespect to anyone or in fact the condition. For me it would be like sitting around every day thinking "well that's another hour nearer the grave". Life is for living and I intend to do so. I follow a LCHF diet and have lost around 4 stones in a year so (I am very happy but still have a long way to go. I look at it like this, from the moment we are conceived we are dying, end of. I got myself in this mess and I'll hopefully get myself out of it.

It was vit D deficiency that made me feel down (at times very down, but mainly just a general grey cloud).
since getting my vit D to good levels all that has lifted.

Depression is always complex, isn't it? And always highly personal and individual, but when it is as simple to resolve as a Vit D3/K2 supplement, I wonder why tests for Vit D deficiency are not standard for all diabetics. Think what a massive improvement it would make to people's quality of life, if years of low mood and misery could be eliminated by such a simple solution?

Obviously, it wouldn't work for everyone (complex and individual, remember?) but if even a minority had their lives improved, it could be transformatory.

LivingLoud said:

Tomorrow I am meeting Dr David Cavan, the author of Reverse Your Diabetes, and all round top smart guy. I'm really looking forward to it.

I am planning to discuss the emotions around diabetes, particularly depression. We all know that diabetics are something like 50% more likely to be diagnosed with clinical depression. I'm more interested in the not diagnosed and light depression, For my part I have definitely felt many moments of defeat, despair, hopelessness and had a few very dark chapters.

So my question to you good folks, is how do you feel? how do you feel about your diabetes? Have you felt depressed, despair etc?

Thanks for any shared stories, ideas, and opinions and I'd be interested in any good articles you've come across on this subject.

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Hi LingLoud,

I wish you luck with the author doctor. Frankly, I don't know the cause of depression in diabetes-- whether it is bilological or just the daily vigilance and side effects. It does not help that I have had depression for most of my life either, but at least my drugs have helped. I wonder if an endocrinologist understands depression in diabetes.

I do get a bit down at times but am usually a positive person. It's visits to the GP that depress me. Trying to get my thyroid problems resolved, being told that my B12 & Vit D levels were OK when they were at the bottom of the range (bought my own tablets). Not being listened to about my BP when I have got white coat syndrome (my levels are fine at home) I just dread my GP and nurse appointments.

I was diagnosed with type 2 in 1995 the More books I read about T.2 the more depressed I became .
Much false information in those days,we have come a long way since then .I thank the Lord each day for His blessings
Thanks to all who post on this forum for all the valuable info and encouragement.

have been depressed for half of my life, and also had terrible hormornal swings for most of my adult life, this has thank God stopped now, and I am a lot more balanced mentally.. but the diabetes diagnose which I have only had for 5 month..has been a gigantic shock but not really making me depressed again...
oh yes I´ve had some cry-days which I think is natural.. and had some grief of having ended in this terrible condition, but thanks to this forum and Jason Fung I have found a way to actually cope with this disease right from the start almost, and that has been so amazing... and actually now I see a lot of benifit from having learned so much of diabetes.

I doubt I would have changed my eating habits and sedentary lifestyle without this shock and, actually it is possible to eat quite healthy even on a very low carb diet.. and maybe I am also more lucky than most having been able to reduce my blood glucose that much right away... of cause that is a basis for optimism which those having a much harder time doesn´t have with them over the long and hard jorney it can be..
also I am lucky not to live in a big family where all the others continue to eat like before.. I am a single mother, and my daugther and I eat seperately except from evening dinner where she cooks the most fantastic vegetarian meals for us, usually lower carbs and not that fat... and she do create meal composed to also fit my need many days ...
the rest of the time eat my own weird stuff...have bought a stock of nuts and high protein bars with hardly any sugar/carbs and a lot of high plant fibre (60%) candy ...with also hardly any sugar and of which the carbs are almost pure plant fibres.. and the sweeteners artificial stevia and others, to have some treats at home when it gets hard and one is tempted does make it much easier to resist all the forbidden fruits...

I have stopped all my medication against depression as most do promote diabetes, but till now my tendency towards depression hasn´t returned..maybe it is the high amount of weekly excercise (12-14 hours ) that keep me not depressed..

but I have started wondering if the tendency towards depression is a kind of diabetes in ones brain as well.
and as I immediately halved my calory intake .... and maybe because my brain didn´t get as much glucose as it was used to, maybe then my tendency of depression disapered... but this is only guesswork.....

.... but diabetics also seem to get alzheimers more often than healthy non-diabetics, and some are suggesting that alzheimers is a kind of brain diabetes..
depression is after all sometimes a kind of brain disease...

http://www.alzheimers.net/2015-10-14/how-alzheimers-could-be-type-2-diabetes/

An article for you.
*****As many as one in every five people with type 1 or 2 diabetes were depressed before they got diabetes, according to a report in Clinical Psychiatry News. This has led researchers to question whether depression may help cause type 2 diabetes in the first place. In a 13-year study of nearly 2,000 people, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that those who were depressed were more than twice as likely as others to develop the disease. However in a Canadian study, researchers examined the health records of close to 90,000 people over a 12-year period and found that new diagnoses of depression in diabetics and non-diabetics were about the same. The study concluded that type 2 diabetes did not increase the risk of depression. A study of 4,747 subjects in the Netherlands found that patients with diagnosed type 2 diabetes were more likely to suffer from depression than those with undiagnosed diabetes, suggesting instead that depression may be a consequence of the burden of diabetes.*****
https://consumer.healthday.com/ency...-news-176/diabetes-and-depression-643976.html

We then have the 5 stages of grief that many diabetics go through and one of these is depression. This grief process is related to many negative changes in our lives and can include a diagnosis of a chronic conditions.
http://diabetes1.org/News/Relating_the_Five_Stages_of_Grief_to_Diabetes

catherinecherub said:

An article for you.
*****As many as one in every five people with type 1 or 2 diabetes were depressed before they got diabetes, according to a report in Clinical Psychiatry News. This has led researchers to question whether depression may help cause type 2 diabetes in the first place. In a 13-year study of nearly 2,000 people, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that those who were depressed were more than twice as likely as others to develop the disease. However in a Canadian study, researchers examined the health records of close to 90,000 people over a 12-year period and found that new diagnoses of depression in diabetics and non-diabetics were about the same. The study concluded that type 2 diabetes did not increase the risk of depression. A study of 4,747 subjects in the Netherlands found that patients with diagnosed type 2 diabetes were more likely to suffer from depression than those with undiagnosed diabetes, suggesting instead that depression may be a consequence of the burden of diabetes.*****
https://consumer.healthday.com/ency...-news-176/diabetes-and-depression-643976.html

We then have the 5 stages of grief that many diabetics go through and one of these is depression. This grief process is related to many negative changes in our lives and can include a diagnosis of a chronic conditions.
http://diabetes1.org/News/Relating_the_Five_Stages_of_Grief_to_Diabetes

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I believe that hyperinsulinaemia has a bearing on our brains.
The glucose necessary for a healthy brain can be disrupted by excessive insulin and insulin resistance, which is known precursor to T2!
Any imbalance in hormones alters the brain gut trigger, which releases more insulin!
Therefore, high insulin, high insulin resistance, high glucose, obesity, T2!

The despair is how infrequent the test for hyperinsulinaemia is done!

I was diagnosed as having bipolar in February this year but in 2009 it was noted that I had possib bipolar traits.until I was diagnosed as having bipolar, I was treated for depression and ptsd since 2001.
Diagnosed as type2 may 2014.
My pdoc has said it's very common for bipolar people to go onto developed type2.
The problem I have, is that the meds I am on for bipolar are notorious for weight gain and for raising blood levels. But also at the moment this particular med is working to control my bipolar. So its catch 22

Lamont D said:

I believe that hyperinsulinaemia has a bearing on our brains.
The glucose necessary for a healthy brain can be disrupted by excessive insulin and insulin resistance, which is known precursor to T2!
Any imbalance in hormones alters the brain gut trigger, which releases more insulin!
Therefore, high insulin, high insulin resistance, high glucose, obesity, T2!

The despair is how infrequent the test for hyperinsulinaemia is done!

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I think you may be very very right in those wievs !!!

ally1 said:

I was diagnosed as having bipolar in February this year but in 2009 it was noted that I had possib bipolar traits.until I was diagnosed as having bipolar, I was treated for depression and ptsd since 2001.
Diagnosed as type2 may 2014.
My pdoc has said it's very common for bipolar people to go onto developed type2.
The problem I have, is that the meds I am on for bipolar are notorious for weight gain and for raising blood levels. But also at the moment this particular med is working to control my bipolar. So its catch 22

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Yes that is a very hard and complex situation to be in, I did get antipshycotic medicine which is also some of the best medicine to control bipolar.... I got it due to depression that couldn´t be treatet by the other anti-depressants... but maybe I have actually become diabetic just because of that medicine... , I did gain 1 kg every month just from that medicine... and when I found out that it could actually indeed be the cause of my horrible type 2 I just quit, lucky not to be depressed at that point in my life...But I do understand that it can be close to impossible to be without that medication when being bipolar...

and by the way it can actually also raise blood glucose a bit all the time and be the reason why your morning numbers are higher than you would want them to be..

I didn't think I was the sort of person who would get MG in fact I'd never even heard of it. Did not consider my self a candidate for diabetes and being diagnosed with an AAA was a complete shock.

Pathogens diseases conditions are forces of nature they are impersonal and don't care one jot what you think

Clinical Depression is an illness and not just about feeling sad you have no say in the matter and it is not under your control unless measures to bring it under control are taken and that will almost certainly require the help of a clinical practitioner and medication if required.

It's not about being a sort of person any more than T2 is just about life style.

David cavan use to be my consultant prior to him leaving the hospital. I am and have been for many years depressed largely due to the diabeyes but this has never been identified by my diabetes team... although after my last appointment I'd imagine they are getting close to the conclusion! I'm fairly good at hiding things though, however I would say that (and due to my nursing experience with many patients with diabetes) there are many tell tell signs of someone who is struggling to cope.... consistent hba1c that are escalated and little change between appointments if any.
I do wonder what actions they take when / if they suspect a patient isn't coping and also how they manage this.
I also wonder what his view is on diabetes burnout rather than just depression as an isolated symptom/cause

Annie86 said:

David cavan use to be my consultant prior to him leaving the hospital. I am and have been for many years depressed largely due to the diabeyes but this has never been identified by my diabetes team... although after my last appointment I'd imagine they are getting close to the conclusion! I'm fairly good at hiding things though, however I would say that (and due to my nursing experience with many patients with diabetes) there are many tell tell signs of someone who is struggling to cope.... consistent hba1c that are escalated and little change between appointments if any.
I do wonder what actions they take when / if they suspect a patient isn't coping and also how they manage this.
I also wonder what his view is on diabetes burnout rather than just depression as an isolated symptom/cause

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do you think they take any further actions except than moralising ?

ally1 said:

I was diagnosed as having bipolar in February this year but in 2009 it was noted that I had possib bipolar traits.until I was diagnosed as having bipolar, I was treated for depression and ptsd since 2001.
Diagnosed as type2 may 2014.
My pdoc has said it's very common for bipolar people to go onto developed type2.
The problem I have, is that the meds I am on for bipolar are notorious for weight gain and for raising blood levels. But also at the moment this particular med is working to control my bipolar. So its catch 22

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Hi.

I was diagnosed as bipolar about 30 years ago. At t;hat time my meds were preceded by benzos, and then I was put on the miracle drug lithium. Nevertheless I am sceptical about the possibility of benzo withdrawal simulating bipolar. I have read a lot of medical books on lithium, and it is not just lithium that may cause diabetes but other psychotic drugs. I think I would like to speak to a psychopharmacologist, indeed I wish I had married one.