Living with diabetes alone can affect a person’s mental health because of the many aspects of managing it, and a person may need emotional support from others to better cope with the disease. So if you’re feeling stressed, down, depressed, or burned out, it could all be part of diabetes. There is a complex connection between diabetes and emotions. A person may feel agitated when blood sugar is high, while low blood sugar can cause nervousness.
“In diabetics, higher blood glucose or hyperglycemia has historically been associated with anger or sadness, while low blood sugar or hypoglycemia has been associated with nervousness. People with diabetes may be prone to mood swings due to blood pressure.” sugar fluctuations,” says Dr Pai. Mental health problems are common in diabetics and depression, anxiety and eating disorders can be some of the common problems.
“People who have diabetes often have mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Eating disorders are also one of these mental health problems that people with diabetes can face. We should make sure that everyone with diabetes should to have access to treatment that includes psychological treatment, and in addition there should be support to reduce psychological distress and help the person improve self-control,” says Dr Pai.
How to manage mental health in diabetics
Talk to your doctor or therapist about how you feel. You may need help managing your emotions.
To balance this, you may need to:
– Exercise often. Reduces depression, anxiety and stress.
– Get enough sleep.
– Stop the blame game, try to stay positive in most situations.
– Reward yourself.
How to support someone with diabetes
– Know what diabetes is and how it is treated.
– Try not to be judgmental and be comfortable providing the kind of help they want, or at least addressing and listening to their complaints
– Watch for signs of low blood sugar.
– Serve a variety of dishes.
– Be a workout buddy.
– Offer mental and emotional support.
