Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabetes?

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

I have suffered with depression over the last 5 years which has gradually become worse. I believe that diabetes is a big contributing factor and have had it since I was 2. I am currently seeing a psychologist and recently gone back on anti-depressants. I am struggling to understand my bg levels over the last year as they have been erratic which makes me feel worse for not being able to control it. I feel like one day diabetes will get me one way or another.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Yes, severe depression. Thought of suicide many times, attempted just once. Doctor prescribed 2 types of meds, both useless... Hey ho.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Hi I have suffered depression for years and it wasn't managed well I should of been on medication after a fall at work my depression escalated then I was diagnosed type2 on tabs now I am on victoza injection I am on 3 tabs a day for dep and 4 lots of tabs twice a day for pain which includes morphine also being less able to mobilise my weight has gone up which affects dep and diabetes but we have to keep going anybody out there who also suffers I am here to listen as we all need support x

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

I have type 2 (on glyclazide) I also have emotionally unstable personality disorder and severe clinical depression. I also have a few physical problems which means I take about 15 different tablets a day. I have attempted suicide about a dozen times and having diabetes is not helping frankly. So I sympathise with all of you suffering out there and I'm always willing to chat with anyone who's struggling. Take care x


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Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Did I say something wrong? Lol


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Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Hi little pet
I am sorry to hear u have felt that bad I have also tried to end it I think I was trying to punish myself by hurting me after I fell and realised I couldn't go back to work I couldn't stop crying to the point I had a mini breakdown please try counselling it helped me a great deal x

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Thankyou Karen. I've actually just finished a year of rehab so hope to be better now. Will keep you posted.


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Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

renee said:

Only in tne past year. Iv'e had overwhelming horrible feelings. But it passes . No Idea why. Its like a cloud hanging over me.

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I'm now stuck with Feeling angry at things like having to take a Tablet to make me eat. My doc is concerned over my weight loss. Also lost my voice for no reason, Have had Throat X ray Stomach scan and Thursday will see what is wrong. May need a Camera down Throat as an extra check on my hernia. The Sugar count is all over the place. I feel so angry which is not like me at all. I did fall late May but just strains and bruises, Has anyone else lost their voice and it wears them out trying to speak. :silent:

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

None related to diabetes so far.

I have had issues in the past in dealing with a son who has severe learning disabilities and medical issues, coupled with relationship issues to the extent where I have contemplated both self harm and just walking off into the sunset and disappearing. Still here though.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

I think there's a definite link between UNDIAGNOSED diabetes and depression/bipolar/emotionally unstable personality disorder.

With my second child I had awful post natal depression, lost a lot of weight very quickly, never gave a thought to diabetes. A few years later my GP casually mentioned whilst examining me for a neck injury, that I was 'borderline' diabetic but nothing to worry about. I came out with a prescription for painkillers and a collar! No further mention of diabetes.

By the time I was 39, I was in early menopause, chronically fatigued, dragging myself around, chest infections, you name it I had it PLUS I became suicidal, severely depressed and had PTSD. I had been falling asleep every evening for years but this had just become my 'normality'. During my 'breakdown' my moods were high, low, very high, very low, racing thoughts, long spells of uncontrollable crying - and I mean uncontrollable. I could cry ALL DAY for weeks on end, it was like a physical wave that I could not control. Very scary when the body won't do as you want it to do. I was never referred by my GP, just handed antidepressants and eventually gave up trying.

Then one GP asked for blood tests and lo and behold I came back 'diabetic'. And I suspect a lot of 'mentally ill' people are also UNDIAGNOSED diabetics too. Blood sugar and mood swings go together. And I've been saying for years, the NHS needs to review it's 'within normal limits' testing parameters. Too many people slip through the next as their tests come back normal when in fact, they're really ill.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Grace,

I forgot to mention my pre-diagnosis altered mental state, I was definitely mentally affected by my diabetes before it was in control. Not so much depressed, but very short tempered, angry, dealing badly with my my colleagues percieved "idiocy" etc.

I won't say I'm a placid wallflower now, but I'm definitely more stable and more likely to reflect before pushing the reply button on an e-mail.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

ElyDave said:

Grace,

I forgot to mention my pre-diagnosis altered mental state, I was definitely mentally affected by my diabetes before it was in control. Not so much depressed, but very short tempered, angry, dealing badly with my my colleagues percieved "idiocy" etc.

I won't say I'm a placid wallflower now, but I'm definitely more stable and more likely to reflect before pushing the reply button on an e-mail.

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Ely ... before I turned 39 and all these hormonal changes hit me, I was the most placid person on earth. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the word 'meek' and even 'bovine' comes to mind. And then it felt like I 'woke' up to a lot of things and people and started voicing opinions I didn't even know I had. It must have seemed like I'd had a change of personality to some people, but in all honesty it felt to me like I'd repressed most of my true feelings all of my life and had become a 'people pleaser' and 'forgiver of all trespasses'.

I think the female hormones in particular gear us up to be more passive and malleable in order that we continue to populate the planet! Once my female hormones began to diminish, so did my marriage. I had been madly in love with my husband for 20 years, or so I told myself and then almost overnight, like two reversed magnets, we actually physically repelled each other! I began to realise that 'feelings' aren't perhaps everything that we think they are, and that when all said and done we're all just hormone driven robots who 'think' it's our own hearts and minds that make decisions when in fact, it's the balance of hormones that makes us who we are.

That goes for men as well as women.

I laugh with my younger colleagues at work when they ask me why I never remarried and I tell them that in all honesty, that because of hormone fluctuations, I've never fancied anyone enough to even want to even go on a date, I'd rather have a cup of tea and a biscuit and the thought of having to live with another person banging around the house, stirring their tea noisily in my kitchen when I'm watching Emmerdale, talking about stuff I'm not interested in, leaving their **** for me to tidy up and being totally invisible to them most of the time - fills me with dread now, whereas in my youth I'd have been more than happy, because of hormones, to 'take care of' the men in my life to a great extent. So in some ways, I think hormone issues might actually be a blessing for some women, perhaps natures way of saying "Oi! You're a bit TOO nice, time to take some of these hormones away before you get trampled into the ground."

:wave:

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

I am 64 type 1 inject 2 times a day have HBP taking medication 9 tablets a day eyesight getting worse not good with 3rd pair of spectacles in 3 yrs blood sugar high 14 to 20 for last year JSA finished sent to ATOS for assessment told I am fit for work who will employ a 64yr old never mind a diabetic living on wifes £128. per week pension we have a 14inch TV for entertainment eat one meal a day married 45yrs all our savings are going on utility bills and council tax .depression is my life I wont show it to my wife but I am not worried about death as things get worse every day seems to bring more worry I think to myself death might be a relief in some way.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

jackyboy said:

I am 64 type 1 inject 2 times a day have HBP taking medication 9 tablets a day eyesight getting worse not good with 3rd pair of spectacles in 3 yrs blood sugar high 14 to 20 for last year JSA finished sent to ATOS for assessment told I am fit for work who will employ a 64yr old never mind a diabetic living on wifes £128. per week pension we have a 14inch TV for entertainment eat one meal a day married 45yrs all our savings are going on utility bills and council tax .depression is my life I wont show it to my wife but I am not worried about death as things get worse every day seems to bring more worry I think to myself death might be a relief in some way.

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I know exactly how you feel. My GP last week shrugged off my concerns about being put on yet another pill, Simvastatin. My concern is because I suffer from angioedema and anaphylaxis, my skin constantly itches, there are meds I have to avoid and after 10 months of angioedema and in and out of anaphylactic shock, I'm TERRIFIED of it happening again. Like yourself I've had the ATOS treatment too. I live alone, and every day is a real struggle. I struggle to walk from the car park to my place of work because of breathlessness and lack of energy in my legs. I just have to stop and get my breath before moving on. But of course the rest of the world doesn't slow down for the likes of us. It wants it's pound of flesh, more so these days.

When I expressed my fears to my GP about the new meds, she said "Well you have your Epipen don't you?" I have to say on first impression she was great, but I came out of this second meeting with her thinking "So medicine has become solely about meds these days. You have your Epipen, what does it matter if you have another attack of anaphylaxis?" Well here's what matters. It matters that I live alone, it matters that I don't want to chance another episode of anaphylaxis, it matters than I can't afford to be off sick, it matters that I have to listen to people all day moaning about 'sick people' draining our coffers (I work in the NHS). It never occurs to some NHS workers that it's because of sick people that they have a well paid job. And it also never occurs to some of them that they make sick people even sicker by not considering how the drugs they prescribe, might affect another illness they may have alongside the one the doctor is so anxious to treat them for.

I've just turned 60 but I don't see much to look forward to in life and if I didn't wake up tomorrow morning that would be perfectly fine with me.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

I have two brothers in law that work in medicine, one went into cosmetic treatments years ago and turned his back on being a GP, he was always quite dismissive of his patients. The other is about as untypical as GP as you can get, he spends far more time on each patient whether during or after their appointment and gets nothing back for it at all apart from late nights and rushed meals.

Not necessarily relevant to this discussion, but I think follows Grace's last posting. Personally I don't think we have a health service, we have a sickness service that does very little proactively to adress the casues of ill health because it's much easier to wait until soemeone gets sick and then treat the symptoms (and generally ignore the patient)

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

I think I've experienced all the ones mentioned in the poll. I do think people should be checked up on more frequently when they're first diagnosed instead of leaving them to fumble along after being given very very basic information (some of the leaflets I was given as I grew up are just so unhelpful with their vague advice). I didn't learn about carb counting until 19 years after diagnosis which I find absolutely disgusting. Why there is not more understanding and consistency despite the obvious need for knowledge is beyond me.

Re: Have you ever had mental health issues related to diabet

Mental health issues require proper diagnosis by a medical professional, but being able to recognize some of the signs that may detect an issue can be useful in seeking help for oneself or someone else. Protecting our mental health is just as important as protecting our physical health.
Thank you