Depression and Type 1 Diabetes?

[felix mendelssohn]

Hi there anyone and everyone,

I was just wondering whether else here either has, or has a close connection to somebody with, both type 1 diabetes and depression? From doing a little bit of research it seems that depression is much more common in type 1 diabetics than it is for the general population, but I'm not sure why, particularly given type 1 diabetics are often in good health for many years pre and post-diagnosis. So the first question I guess is why does depression seem to disproportionately affect type 1 diabetics? People talk about the 'burden' of having to manage it 24/7, and how it can get in the way of socialising for children and teens, but surely there are much more restrictive conditions than diabetes in this regard? My hypothesis so far would be that the fluctuations in blood sugar must cause some cascading effect on body chemistry, ultimately resulting in depression? Particularly the incidence of hypoglycaemia is something that I would imagine to have a strong correlation with depression.

The destructive loop of depression --> leading to poor diabetes control --> leading to general ill-health --> reinforcing depression is fairly intuitive to me, but it also makes me feel pretty hopeless. What hope do I really have of ever overcoming this?

With regards to day-to-day management of diabetes, I myself find that when I go low I often feel my mood take a turn for the worse (often feelings of despair, wanting to cry etc.). When my blood sugar goes high (hyperglycaemia), I often become grumpy, irritable, disgusted by the world and much more liable to snap. The last few days I've been quite high for no good reason, and I've directed anger at myself for not having better control over the diabetes (this relates to the 24/7 management burden I mentioned before). I'll skip meals as punishment or forgo things that make me happy. And I deserve it, because my depression makes me believe that.

Also, one more thing, I find that there is some stigma associated with life-style induced type 2 diabetes. Of course stigma is unhelpful in any scenario, but it's particularly infuriating that it then gets applied to type 1 diabetics through pure ignorance. It makes me hyperconscious of how people view me and I need to explain myself whenever I mention it.

I would be really interested to hear from anyone else if they have any information, even just anecdoctal stuff, to share on these matters.

Felix

[TheBigBlue]

Hi Lozza,

My storey is somewhat similar to yours. Diagnosed way back in 1986. No one else in my family had ever been diagnosed with type 1. Fast forward to 2017 & I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, then anxiety & depression all in that same year.

interestingly though, after being the only type 1 in the extended family for over 30 years, my younger sister was diagnosed just a few years back. She was in her 30’s when diagnosed. So there’s two of us know, but still no idea where it came from. But I suspect there is a genetic link for us both to have it.

Anyway, we should just vent in here whenever we need to. It’s great to find people who can completely understand the highs & lows (pun intended)

[lozzalovescats]

Hi guys

Recently my BGL's have been horrible!! I was feeling off one morning and I had to go to school anyway. I have the CGM and a pump so I wasn't too worried. All of a sudden my levels went up so fast. I went from 6.8 to 33.7 in under an hour. At school, I was miserable and very sore and my friend made fun of me and called me a sook. She is not a diabetic.

I tested my ketones that night and they were 2.1....... very bad

I found out that night there was something wrong with the pump settings and there was some error so it wasn't my fault.

My levels finally came down to a good number so I went to bed feeling ok.

I get up the next morning and my levels have gone up again. Not as high but still up. I still had to go to school.

I felt horrible and sore and I was in a bad mood. I apologised to my friends and explained what was going on to my body. They were ok with it but I have one very toxic friend who didn't care she made fun of me and drove me into a panic attack.

I couldn't breathe or move or do anything for 5 minutes. I have had panic attacks before. I felt so down and my thoughts got dark very fast.

This all happened 2 days ago and it's still in my head. I am ok now but I am still sore and I keep having very bad lows now. My body hurts and when I try to get over it my toxic friend makes it worse. I am trying to cut her out of my life because of all the pain she has caused me in the past.

Sorry, this is long, I really had to get this off my chest.

I hope you have all been well 🙂

[TheBigBlue]

Hi Lozza,

I’m so sorry your “friend” has behaved in such a way.

sadly, I have discovered that unless people have type 1 diabetes, they really don’t comprehend what we go through or try to understand. Growing up I used to describe diabetes as the loneliest disease in the world, because I had no one to confide in, share with or who understood.

Today we are a little better off, because we have social media, groups, apps etc that can help. Have you seen the beyond type 1 app? People of all ages living with type 1 diabetes. It’s s great place to ask questions, get advice, share stories about type 1.

Just know you aren’t alone. There’s a few of us here in this thread, we can all listen to each other & hopefully help each other.

You don’t have to answer this question, but I’m curious which pump & CGM you are on? I only started on a pump last year, on the Medtronic 670G with guardian CGM. I love using the pump, but yes, when the insulin flow is blocked & levels sky rocket it can be so distressing!

I hope your levels have calmed down & you are feeling better.

[lozzalovescats]

Thank you so much for your reply, I am feeling a bit better now.

I use the Dexcom G5 CGM and the Animas T:slim pump.

The pump is awesome because it is touchscreen and easy to use at school. I will have to check out this app, it sounds really good

[TheBigBlue]

Ooo T-slim & dex 👍
They are on my Wishlist as I really don’t like the Medtronic CGM.

yeah the app is pretty cool. It’s just nice to have somewhere to vent & know people will understand & not criticise.

Glad your starting to feel better, sometimes this disease really takes it’s toll on our bodies.

I hope tomorrow brings us all sunshine ☀️