Low moods / frustration / anger

[Michellelake]

Hi All,

My blood sugars have been fluctuating massively recently, hence affecting my mood. I tend to become very short tempered, flustered, and sometimes very sad. I have a partner of 10 months who doesn't quite understand the link between low mood and blood sugars.

I'm hoping some of you would be kind enough to write a few words of your own experiences with this? So that he can see it's not just me, and it happens with other diabetics too.

Thank you in advance

 

[Lamont D]

Hi All,

My blood sugars have been fluctuating massively recently, hence affecting my mood. I tend to become very short tempered, flustered, and sometimes very sad. I have a partner of 10 months who doesn't quite understand the link between low mood and blood sugars.

I'm hoping some of you would be kind enough to write a few words of your own experiences with this? So that he can see it's not just me, and it happens with other diabetics too.

Thank you in advance

I am not T1, but have had terrible symptoms of hypoglycaemia, which includes, those swinging moods, from depression, severe anxiety and the temper tantrums, which have been on a hair trigger .
My condition is called reactive hypoglycaemia. And my blood glucose levels from first meal to going to bed, can be like a rollercoaster ride, up and down all day, I mean abnormal spikes and low hypos. I refer to the period before diagnosis, my hypo hell.
Rollercoaster blood glucose levels are connected to the symptoms of anxiety especially.
And even though it can be different from day to day, mood swings are always there.
Then, there is always the hormonal effects of life. (Phew! I think I've put that as good as a man could)

I have better control of my symptoms because of dietary restrictions. Which offsets the hypos.

I have had three different counselling series of sessions, over the past five years. (Started during covid, early on)
Had a breakdown.

The temper thing is a symptom of the frustration of mounting stress, and the frustration of the anxiety, over thinking bad and negative aspects of your situation and your life, with the natural struggles of day to day relationships.

I do hope he sees the reasons why your symptoms are part of your treatment and diagnosis.

 

[Chris24Main]

I'm currently T2, but spent nearly a year as a diagnosed T1, with insulin - so while I feel pretty balanced now, I totally - totally relate.

I felt like it was all I could do to keep a lid on things for a long time. My temper could flare at nothing. The worst incident was simply standing downstairs waiting to go somewhere and my wife calling up for our teenage daughter, who was getting ready (we were late, but only a minute or so...) - and in my mind, I decided to call up as well to hurry her on...

... what came out of my mouth was so loud, so feral and so downright angry.. that it immediately shocked and scared me, and had both of them kind of taking a step away... I immediately calmed down, and apologised, but I was pretty frightened by my own behaviour, and how .. just - on the edge - I was..

Things have changed enormously since I was able to better control the sugar (and insulin) swings, but honestly, I've found learning to practice meditation to be the bigger surprise as far as mental health goes.

There is (I was going to say obviously, but I guess it isn't that obvious) a massive feedback loop between how you feel in your mind, and what is going on with your hormones, that affect how you feel in your mind... so getting inside of that loop is incredibly powerful - or at least I've found it to be so..

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi All,

My blood sugars have been fluctuating massively recently, hence affecting my mood. I tend to become very short tempered, flustered, and sometimes very sad. I have a partner of 10 months who doesn't quite understand the link between low mood and blood sugars.

I'm hoping some of you would be kind enough to write a few words of your own experiences with this? So that he can see it's not just me, and it happens with other diabetics too.

Thank you in advance

I'm a T2, but I spent years being high and undiagnosed... I was an absolute dragon. I'd rip my -very patient- husband's head off out of nowhere, the moodswings and depression were a horror... The rage-out-of-the-blue vanished into thin air when my blood sugar control became better, but that can be a lot easier for a T2 than for a T1. Spikes and hypo's, they just happen... And when they do, quite often, we're not quite in control of our emotions and reactions, say things we don't mean and deeply regret later. Doesn't mean there's no love or respect there, we just literally can't help it in the moment, and feel like a heel afterwards.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Hi All,

My blood sugars have been fluctuating massively recently, hence affecting my mood. I tend to become very short tempered, flustered, and sometimes very sad. I have a partner of 10 months who doesn't quite understand the link between low mood and blood sugars.

I'm hoping some of you would be kind enough to write a few words of your own experiences with this? So that he can see it's not just me, and it happens with other diabetics too.

Thank you in advance

This echoes what @Chris24Main says above:
Notes I made in 2009:
It was in 1985 that I realised that violent episodes of diarrhoea can be related to rapid rises in blood sugar. Consider the body’s reaction to extreme fear. Adrenaline is released into the blood stream to raise the blood sugar level momentarily. Extreme fear is often equated with diarrhoea, I suspect because this is one of the brain’s methods of ridding the system of excess sugar. In diabetics it is usually the urinary system which performs this function, but in the summer of 1985, I started to experience frighteningly prolonged bouts and even more alarmingly, an uncontrollable temper which was fuelled by an apparent adrenaline rush. Having a ten month old daughter in the house would not be compatible. One July morning I went to work and the Traffic Manager made a slight criticism. I replied in a fast but quiet bass tone which rapidly rose to a high pitched scream as I smashed my fist down on the desk. “I think you had better go outside to calm down” said Phil with a slight element of surprise on his face. Very wise man. Outside I stood against the wall shaking with a mixture of shame and of fright brought on by my lack of control.
It was only when I went to the local hospital for observation that I realised that a stable regime caused all the above, and shunning social contact, to disappear.

 

[Chris24Main]

Uh-huh... very well described @Grant_Vicat - I still find it difficult to ...go there.. to better describe how I felt in that moment, but your description comes close... I get a kind of PTSD flashback just reading your post.

As a light aside - are you aware that the words diarrhoea and diabetes are related etymologically? just too much of a thing coming out different orifices..

 

[CarDan]

I'm a T2, but I spent years being high and undiagnosed... I was an absolute dragon. I'd rip my -very patient- husband's head off out of nowhere, the moodswings and depression were a horror... The rage-out-of-the-blue vanished into thin air when my blood sugar control became better, but that can be a lot easier for a T2 than for a T1. Spikes and hypo's, they just happen... And when they do, quite often, we're not quite in control of our emotions and reactions, say things we don't mean and deeply regret later. Doesn't mean there's no love or respect there, we just literally can't help it in the moment, and feel like a heel afterwards.

Hi, I’ll like to know what your glucose readings are like daily. If it’s not asking too much. I was functioning fine without medication. However, at the start of this year I began to take medication because of fluctuations in my reading. I’m pretty active person, but exercise and diet wasn’t cutting it anymore. I had to introduce medication. I’m sure I’ll be off the meds but I’ll like to try other things that would definitely help me stay off medication.

 

[Ushthetaff]

Type 1 for 44 years high blood sugars make me a horrible Git , moody short tempered absolute pain in the bum , so not unusual for blood sugar levels to affect your mood , the secret is trying to keep bs in good range so don’t turn into a human Haemorrhoid

 

[Resurgam]

I wondered about diatribe - but that is Greek and diabetes is Latin.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi, I’ll like to know what your glucose readings are like daily. If it’s not asking too much. I was functioning fine without medication. However, at the start of this year I began to take medication because of fluctuations in my reading. I’m pretty active person, but exercise and diet wasn’t cutting it anymore. I had to introduce medication. I’m sure I’ll be off the meds but I’ll like to try other things that would definitely help me stay off medication.

At the moment I hover between 4,5 and 6.0 mmol/l, but it's diet-only, doing low carb high fats, moderate protein. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html might help some in that regard. But it'd be more useful if you started your own thread, as others'll be able to reply as well when they find it. Now you're kind of buried in someone else's question, and neither of us are T1's to boot. Hope this helps tho'.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Uh-huh... very well described @Grant_Vicat - I still find it difficult to ...go there.. to better describe how I felt in that moment, but your description comes close... I get a kind of PTSD flashback just reading your post.

As a light aside - are you aware that the words diarrhoea and diabetes are related etymologically? just too much of a thing coming out different orifices..

I studied Classics at university, including Ancient Greek. Dia means through and the first means flowing and the second means going or passing and therefore exactly as you say! I have been a great fan of etymology since at least the age of 7 - my mother ought me Blackburn's Study of Words for my 8th Birthday! Sorry to cause you nightmares.

I wondered about diatribe - but that is Greek and diabetes is Latin.

Dia betes is Greek in origin as outlined above. Diabetes (διαβήτης) is a noun derived from this verb and originally meant a siphon, then the condition itself. It is true, as in so many other cases, that the Romans adopted this word.

 

[EllieM]

Hey guys, interesting though the etymology is , can we get back to the subject of @Michellelake's question?

Not sure I've noticed anger when my bgs are high, but it definitely affects my mood in a negative way - stress? And it also makes me feel physically unwell, which doesn't help. Everything is easier when my bgs are keeping in range.