The Emotional Impact of a Type 2 Diabetes Condition
Having diabetes can impact you emotionally from the moment that you receive the diagnosis. Any time that we have to step outside of the normal way that we’ve always lived, that can happen.
Some experts liken learning that you have diabetes as having the same emotional punch as going through a divorce or losing a loved one because the five stages of grief are involved.
Most people immediately experience denial when they’re first told that they have the condition. They feel this way - not because they’re burying their head in the sand - but because all of the information about the disease can seem overwhelming.
It’s a lot to take in. You’ll be told about testing tools, how to test, what foods to watch out for, which ones to eat, suggestions for exercise plans, keeping track of your numbers, and doctor visits you need to keep up with.
That’s enough to make even the most level headed person not want to deal with what they’ve just been told. When you’re tossed into an area of life that you don’t have any experience with, it can be easy to get confused about what you should and shouldn’t do with diabetes.
There will be all kinds of helpful advice that might not be so helpful after all and you end up feeling worse. Not knowing exactly what to do and having to learn all of the information at once, can double your feelings of confusion.
Usually when people are confused, they feel out of control. This loss of control is what makes them feel angry. You might be angry that you have a diabetes diagnosis because it wasn’t supposed to happen to you.
You might feel especially angry if the diagnosis seemed to come out of the blue and there’s been no family history of the disease. You can feel anger toward your family genetics, toward yourself or even toward the news of learning you have the disease.
This anger is only a phase and like all of the other emotions within the grieving process, you will eventually work through it. Knowing that you have to make some changes in your life can make you feel sad because you’ll be leaving your comfort zone.
It’s perfectly normal to feel these emotions when newly diagnosed and even for people who’ve lived with diabetes for years. But, watching out for your emotions is a necessary part of dealing with the disease.
When they’re struggling to deal with emotions, people with diabetes might stop caring what they eat and start eating whatever they want regardless of how it impacts their glucose numbers.
They might stop checking their numbers at all because they don’t care if the numbers are high or not. They might quit exercising and stop making sure they get their A1c checked on a regular basis.
They might end up not taking their prescribed medications and not going to the doctor like they should. When this happens, it could be that you’re experiencing frustration in dealing the disease and you’re lamenting what could have been or should have been with your health.
Talking about how you feel with your doctor or with those who support you can help to get you over emotional upheaval about diabetes. Sometimes talking about how you’re feeling can help you be able to make some changes.
It’s always best to talk about what’s going on with you emotionally rather than trying to pretend that you don’t feel the way that you do. If you don’t take care of yourself emotionally, this can lead to feeling anxious or even depressed.
Studies have shown that people who deal with health-related anxiety and depression are less likely to take care of themselves physically. Struggling with untreated emotions when you have diabetes can lead to chronic depression easily because there is a link between the disease and depression.
You might experience temporary bouts of depression or you might end up unable to function. People who have diabetes often fear the future. They wonder what’s going to happen to them if their health deteriorates.
They can fret about possible complications such as needing an amputation or losing their eyesight. This can make them irritable and feel isolated if they deal with their fears and emotions alone.
For people who take care of their diabetes, ending up with complications from the disease is no more a risk than someone who doesn’t have the condition. People who have diabetes - especially those who are just learning that they have it - can experience irritation that the disease is interfering with their normal routine.
They don’t want to deal with the disease or the emotions that go hand in hand with having it. A lot of doctors and those who have diabetes put a lot of focus on the physical aspect of the condition without stressing the importance of the emotional side.
But what you need to know is that if you don’t take care of yourself emotionally, it’s going to impact not just the quality of your life but your lifespan as well. Having diabetes can influence your emotions simply because it’s the nature of the disease.
That’s why you want to make sure that you keep your levels as normal as possible. When you experience swings in your sugar levels, this can lead to mood changes. You might feel irritable simply because your sugar is low.
On the flip side, when your sugar gets high, it can cause the body to release hormones that can make you feel depressed. It’s a horrible thing to have to deal with, but it’s not impossible.