Help for diabetic burnout?

[ShellyM1969]

Hi my 21 year old son who has type 1 has always struggled to maintain a regular testing and carb counting routine and he has got to the point where he says he hates it all and just can't be bothered - although he does still take regular injections. It is affecting every area of his life and he is very depressed. He does not have a diabetes clinic at the moment so I have no idea where he could go for help. Our GP is useless.

 

[Juicyj]

Welcome to the forum @ShellyM1969 Sorry to hear about his struggles. Getting contact with a diabetic nurse is important for you right now, can you contact your local hospital and go direct through them if your GP isn't helping ?

I would view two separate issues here, both his type 1 management and his depression, so finding a contact at the hospital to help with the type 1 and going back to your GP about his depression, if your GP is not forth coming with help then make a complaint to the Practice Manager about this.

Sadly type 1 can really get you down, talking about it will help, but in a non confrontational and friendly way, is there anyway you can direct him to come here ? Maybe chatting to strangers with type 1 might help him off load a bit. Exercise also helps with depression so getting out for a walk, fresh air, do you have some good parks locally ? We all get burnout at times, it's finding what works best for him, whether it's talking, exercise, medication or counselling, it's a temporary phase but it does take some effort to lift out of the dark clouds, best wishes

 

[mentat]

Does he have hypos frequently? They are a major source of mood problems for me. After doing what needed to be done to virtually eliminate hypos, my life has slowly been coming back together.