- Messages
- 770
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Other
- Dislikes
- Jazz music, science denial, and running out of coffee.
My psychologist said up to 40% of diabetics have "disorded mood" or what might commonly be referred to as depression. I already knew this but assumed it was like common or garden depression. It's not.
He said it tends to be a kind of lowered threshold for irritability, a short fuse, along with a range of other mood-related symptoms.
My own experience agrees with this view. The higher my BG goes, the shorter my fuse gets. My ability to tolerate or manage stressful events goes down the tubes. I'm not saying it is like this for everyone, of course.
I imagine the high blood sugar affects brain function. Perhaps it affects a hormone in the brain.
Hormones are like chemical messengers and there are at least 200 different hormones communicating within your brain and between your brain and the rest of your body all the time. They regulate heartbeat, breathing, temperature, mood, thinking, sleep, waking to run or fight, to feel relaxed and so on.
There must be hormones that tell us when our blood sugar is too high or too low. It's a delicately balanced system and I suppose sustained hyperglycemia throws it out of kilter.
I had depression before I developed diabetes. He said about 10% of the population has it at any given time and that rings true for me. After developing diabetes, I became more irritable.
My HbA1c at diagnosis was in the mid 50s, IIRC. for 7 years it stayed well below that, even in the 30s for a long time thanks to LCHF eating.
Then I burned out, not just from diabetes but from everything. I stopped caring about what I was eating and to some extent had a false sense of security because I had been doing so well for so long. (Obviously because I cared about what I was eating, LOL).
I have spent the last two years getting more and more irritable - with myself, those around me, inanimate objects, and the world in general.
Now that I know a certain proportion of the public likely has increased irritability caused by diabetes (or other conditions) I can cut people a bit more slack. Instantly, I found I can tolerate people more. Amazing.
It's true what they say - We don't know what we don't know.
And now you know.
He said it tends to be a kind of lowered threshold for irritability, a short fuse, along with a range of other mood-related symptoms.
My own experience agrees with this view. The higher my BG goes, the shorter my fuse gets. My ability to tolerate or manage stressful events goes down the tubes. I'm not saying it is like this for everyone, of course.
I imagine the high blood sugar affects brain function. Perhaps it affects a hormone in the brain.
Hormones are like chemical messengers and there are at least 200 different hormones communicating within your brain and between your brain and the rest of your body all the time. They regulate heartbeat, breathing, temperature, mood, thinking, sleep, waking to run or fight, to feel relaxed and so on.
There must be hormones that tell us when our blood sugar is too high or too low. It's a delicately balanced system and I suppose sustained hyperglycemia throws it out of kilter.
I had depression before I developed diabetes. He said about 10% of the population has it at any given time and that rings true for me. After developing diabetes, I became more irritable.
My HbA1c at diagnosis was in the mid 50s, IIRC. for 7 years it stayed well below that, even in the 30s for a long time thanks to LCHF eating.
Then I burned out, not just from diabetes but from everything. I stopped caring about what I was eating and to some extent had a false sense of security because I had been doing so well for so long. (Obviously because I cared about what I was eating, LOL).
I have spent the last two years getting more and more irritable - with myself, those around me, inanimate objects, and the world in general.
Now that I know a certain proportion of the public likely has increased irritability caused by diabetes (or other conditions) I can cut people a bit more slack. Instantly, I found I can tolerate people more. Amazing.
It's true what they say - We don't know what we don't know.
And now you know.