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Stress - can’t get sugars down

I feel your pain. My blood sugars have been spiking this past three months and today was probably the worst. There have been family issues since mid-December and I've had lots of stress and anxiety. I'm not sure if that's what's causing the spikes or not. I've been on LCHF for nearly two years and my A1C results have been great, along with all the other things. My next blood work is next week and I'm concerned my A1C will be above the cutoff. Of course, that makes the stress even worse. So far today I've only had coffee and my BG reading did go down a few points. Hopefully both of us will learn to handle the stress and not be so hard on ourselves. I guess that only adds to it. Thanks everyone, and HUGS to Extremely Worried.
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
Sugars back up super high again today
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Yes because you are not eating please take the advice and see someone to talk about how low you are feeling and how your diabetes is not in control as it is certainly not right. Does your husband know how bad you are feeling has he not suggested you seek help please do it for the sake of your family and your own peace of mind this is much more than just stressing about the speeding ticket
 
Sadly @ExtremelyW0rried is choosing not to comment anymore despite being online recently. I’m hoping she’s read these comments and done something about it though. I hope she gives us an update soon, with some positive news ideally.
 
Hi I haven’t updated because there’s no change.
I did try and reach my dsn but no return call as yet. It’s often that way - I think she is probably stretched rather thinly. However I don’t know what she can suggest beyond what I’m doing. Blood sugar dropped to 6 within a couple of hours after going to bed last night and stayed there all night. 5 this morning, 19 within an hour or so of getting up and have struggled to come below that all day - still haven’t eaten. It can’t be the set etc because wouldn’t be ok overnight. It has to be anxiety and I only have myself to blame for that. A lot of people - particularly those who aren’t diabetic - would just think it serves me right.
Ketones still positive but I would imagine I’m ok on the DKA front as getting about 8 hours overnight at normal levels?
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
It has to be anxiety and I only have myself to blame for that. A lot of people - particularly those who aren’t diabetic - would just think it serves me right.
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Nobody would think it serves you right. Your damaging anxiety has been going a lot longer than a few weeks. You have been posting here for over a year, and you were highly, damagingly anxious then, and it has continued. You jut keep finding different causes for your anxiety, without addressing the anxiety itself.

I am not a T1 but my friends husband and two sons are all T1's and they say that your high blood sugars, day in and day out, require swift intervention to get you sorted and on an even keel, anxious or not. You need to talk to the hospital, and your GP, for your sake, and the sake of your children - who need a healthy mother. Mentally and physically healthy. I dont understand why you wont do anything significant about this.

In your call to your dsn did you leave a message telling them how severe your blood sugar level issue is?
 
lucylocket61 said:
Nobody would think it serves you right. Your damaging anxiety has been going a lot longer than a few weeks. You have been posting here for over a year, and you were highly, damagingly anxious then, and it has continued. You jut keep finding different causes for your anxiety, without addressing the anxiety itself.

I am not a T1 but my friends husband and two sons are all T1's and they say that your high blood sugars, day in and day out, require swift intervention to get you sorted and on an even keel, anxious or not. You need to talk to the hospital, and your GP, for your sake, and the sake of your children - who need a healthy mother. Mentally and physically healthy. I dont understand why you wont do anything significant about this.

In your call to your dsn did you leave a message telling them how severe your blood sugar level issue is?
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Yes - I left a message with one of the other dsns and I emailed too. My dsn is aware that I’ve been anxious / not eating for a while but honestly until you are about to keel over no one cares.
I’m too tired to push for help. That’s the truth.
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
Yes - I left a message with one of the other dsns and I emailed too. My dsn is aware that I’ve been anxious / not eating for a while but honestly until you are about to keel over no one cares.
I’m too tired to push for help. That’s the truth.
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we care, we have been caring for months. Truthfully, you should be going to A & E or a walking centre with some of your blood sugar levels. I suspect your dsn has also been telling you what we have been telling you. Its not fair to say that no-one cares, even in the medical field. Did you tell them your blood sugar level figures and ketones?
 
lucylocket61 said:
we care, we have been caring for months. Truthfully, you should be going to A & E or a walking centre with some of your blood sugar levels. I suspect your dsn has also been telling you what we have been telling you. Its not fair to say that no-one cares, even in the medical field. Did you tell them your blood sugar level figures and ketones?
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Well no one in the team I see cares then.
I’ve been telling them for months I’m not eating and they can see I’ve lost two and a half stone but they just go on about my a1c being good and everything from a diabetes perspective being great.
Usually my control is better than it is at the moment. High teens and 20s are not my norm which is why I feel so ill when I am running high.
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
Well no one in the team I see cares then.
I’ve been telling them for months I’m not eating and they can see I’ve lost two and a half stone but they just go on about my a1c being good and everything from a diabetes perspective being great.
Usually my control is better than it is at the moment. High teens and 20s are not my norm which is why I feel so ill when I am running high.
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what has been the response of your GP to your request for mental health help with your anxiety?
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
The wait is over two years.
I won’t take the drugs.
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Are you able to consider funding something like a couple of sessions of hypnotherapy? When I went through. Avery stressful period, some years ago, impacting on my professional capacity, I found hypnotherapy extremely beneficial, as it I said something I could, once set up, do for myself whenever and wherever I needed it.

I had a trial session, followed by one to make a bespoke recording (mine to keep), then a follow up to see how things were going, or I found the messages needed tweaking.

It was about £60 a session, if I recall, so two sessions was a bargain, for me.
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
The wait is over two years.
I won’t take the drugs.
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I am someone who hates taking medication unless very ill. When I had depression following the loss of my 4th baby many years ago I had the packet of antidepressants on my dressing table for a week. I used to pick it up, sit there for half an hour and will myself to take one. But couldn’t. The crunch came with my 12 year old son hugging me and begging me to stop crying and be his mum again. I took a pill! 6 months later, I was off them, happy and applying for jobs, to start what would be a new chapter in mine and my families life.
Please do not blankly refuse, consider it. Part of having depression is not being able to think rationally. It is only when you are out the other side that you wonder why you behaved like you did.
I agree that counselling would help too, and quite frankly your diabetes team should be facilitating this. But in the first instance medication will help you to be strong enough to fight for what you need.
We can all of us on here give advice and talk til the cows come home, but only you can take action.
Best wishes to you.
 
Can I make another suggestion. Write a letter to your GP saying everything about how you feel that you have posted on here and copy it to your Diabetes team. Hand deliver it to surgery and I would be amazed if you didnt get urgent treatment as a result. Best wishes.
 
I too refused medication for depression for many years. I used every excuse not to take it. Some valid (breastfeeding for example) and some less so (pretty much all the rest). It is a little trial and error which might suit you and work well but the difference it can make when nothing else is working is important.

Eventually I had a day where I literally could not get out of bed. All did was cry. Again it was one of my kids that said something that got through to me. I went and got a very low dose mild anti depressant the next day. I needed to function for them and that was why I went, not for me. But I am so glad I did. I slowly got enough of me back that I could see the wood for the trees and start the actions that would actually help that I was unable to see before. I went back to them a second time a few years later after another similar episode and have come close a few more but I have got better at recognising the warning signs and do more self care in the early stages now than I used to.

They don’t take over your personality, they allow your personality to fight back against the depression and return.

In the meantime practical self care regardless of if you feel like it or not, actually because you don’t feel like it is the reason to do it
1. Go outside. Get some air. Walk or gently exercise within your current fitness level ie not strenuous just movement. If you can do it in nature even better
2. Stop and look at something simple and beautiful and really just look at it for a few minutes and think about it. At first this feels ridiculous it it gets easier and you get more out of it each time.
3. Physically do the required maintenance on your body. This means eating some food in your case. Hungry or not. Higher numbers or not. Be selective if need be, eg no carbs but eat. Eat tiny amounts to get you going again. But eat. And get your bloods sorted. High bgl actually makes depression worse. See this physical maintenance as potentially limiting causes of depression and the likelihood of medication for that if that helps
4. Also stuff like do your hair or if you normally wear it a bit of makeup or wear clothes that usually make you feel good. Slobbing baout in trackies, needing a shower with manky hair isn’t going to help anyone’s emotional state. It’s fine if you’re ok and choose to do it but it’s a mental tick for having achieved something positive whilst depressed. Or perhaps you are managing normally outwardly whilst falling apart inside (been there too) in which case definite try to do the next point and let it all out somewhere
5. If you can’t find a counsellor have you a family member, friend, religious person that you can talk with very honestly? Can you look into self referral schemes like iTalk?
 
@PenguinMum suggestion is a good one - if you don't feel up to writing a letter you can always just print off this thread to show them- or even just show them on your device - if you've been told the waiting list is 2 years contact your MP as mental health is high priority at the moment and this needs addressing - I've never heard anyone having to wait that long.

Contact your local branch of MIND - they have people who can help you PLEASE DO SOMETHING!

And if the speeding thing is still bothering you so much you don't have to do the course, just take the 3 points - they'll be gone in 3 years
 
@HSSS wise words, mirroring so much of what I wanted to say. It is so easy for us to tell people in the grip of depression what they should do. But those feelings of resistance and irrationality are so hard to overcome.
 
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