newYou can now listen to Fox News articles.
Diabetes is one of today’s greatest medical challenges, affecting men, women, and children of all ages. Managing diabetes is a full-time job with no breaks, and each day is filled with decisions about how diet, medications, and exercise affect blood sugar control. In addition to the physical demands, diabetes has other aspects: fatigue, stress, anxiety, pain, and burnout.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that people with diabetes are two to three times more likely to develop depression than people without diabetes. Unfortunately, depression can have a negative impact on diabetes management, putting people with diabetes at higher risk of developing complications such as eye, kidney, and heart disease.
I have lived with type 1 diabetes since I was five years old, so the connection between diabetes and mental health is personal. I have certainly felt frustrated by the unpredictability of diabetes in my daily life. Diabetes doesn’t define me, but it is a part of me. Diabetes is an inescapable disease for me and for anyone who shares this diagnosis. It’s ubiquitous.
Former board member sues American Diabetes Association alleging ‘pay-to-play’ scheme with Splenda
Perhaps this understanding has helped me in my professional career as a diabetes physician, allowing me to become more aware of visual and verbal cues of mental illness in my patients. This is also a topic we discuss every day in my role at Roche.
Studies show that people with diabetes are two to three times more likely to suffer from depression. (St. Petersburg)
Through a survey we recently called “Diabetes State of Mind,” we asked whether U.S. adults, including people with diabetes, are aware of the relationship between diabetes and mental health. Although there is a wealth of published data on this topic, I wondered how well known this association is outside of the medical community.
The survey found that around one in two people (51%) reported being surprised that diabetes and mental health are linked, and in particular, almost one-third of people with diabetes have experienced a relationship at some point in their lives. Considering we are experiencing symptoms of diabetes reveals a cognitive gap that we need to fill. Almost half of these cases go undetected.
It’s time to talk about mental health. And listen. Mental health issues are a secondary complication of diabetes and must be part of a more comprehensive approach to diabetes care.
The more conversations you have, the easier it will be for people with diabetes to tell family, friends, health care professionals, and employers that they’re not well, and to get the help they need. Addressing issues, including diabetes distress, is important because it can lead to improved mental well-being as well as diabetes control.
There are three ways to raise awareness:
1. Understand the relationship between diabetes and mental health
The stress of living with diabetes every day and trying to control it can actually make it more difficult to control. Stress releases hormones that cause blood sugar fluctuations to become more pronounced, making it more difficult to maintain levels within target ranges.
Repeated or persistent diabetes distress can lead to poor self-care and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels), which increases the risk of complications such as eye, kidney, and heart disease. Become.
For more FOX News opinions, click here
2. Recognize and understand the emotions that people with diabetes may experience.
Imagine a roulette wheel with options like frustration, fatigue, guilt, shame, anger, anxiety, and burnout. Patients say, “I must have done something to deserve diabetes,” and that feelings of diabetes burnout “come and go in waves,” and that it is “depleting.”
A woman wears a lancet on her finger and checks her blood sugar level with a blood sugar meter. (St. Petersburg)
Understood. Throughout my life with type 1 diabetes, I have experienced the unpredictability of diabetes and the frustration that almost every decision I make during the day has some impact on my blood sugar control.
3. Create an environment where diabetics feel comfortable talking about their feelings
This means understanding the barriers to getting help. Respondents to the “Diabetes State of Mind” survey said the issues that affect the mental health of people with diabetes range from managing their diet and exercise to their ability to meet blood sugar goals, to major life transitions, and intimacy challenges. , and the ability to speak freely. Diabetes and diabetes management needs in the workplace. The survey found that barriers to receiving help for mental health issues include fear of affordability, embarrassment, being judged by friends and family, and fear of stigma.
There are many things in life that are out of one’s control, such as being diagnosed with diabetes. The not-so-secret way to overcome these is to be aware of how you react to them and to make people around you feel like they support you, from your family to your doctors to your employer. It’s about controlling what you do.
The stress of living with diabetes every day and trying to control it can actually make it more difficult to control. Stress releases hormones that cause blood sugar fluctuations to become more pronounced, making it more difficult to maintain levels within target ranges.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The good news is that when people with mental health issues have a safe space, they are more likely to actively communicate their feelings and needs. Physicians who are more sensitive to the physical and verbal cues of a patient’s mental health problems will need a more comprehensive approach to diabetes care that includes mental health as well as addressing blood sugar levels and monitoring physical complications. may be able to provide an approach.
With 38 million people living with diabetes in the United States and a growing mental health crisis, especially among America’s adolescents and teens, we want to reach more people and help them. We can rest a little easier knowing that there are steps being taken. You need it and when you get it, it will bring about positive changes.
