Diabetes & Depression

It can be extremely tough news to learn a that you have just been diagnosed with diabetes. It is also extremely difficult to live with diabetes on a day-to-day basis. You never have a break and treatment plans will have to be adhered to for the rest of your life in order to prevent more serious complications. All of these factors combined to be a very powerful influence to the cause of depression.

Although it is normal and even healthy to feel a certain level of sadness, feeling deep levels of depression that seem to last for weeks at a time is a serious issue that needs immediate attention. Depression should not be taken lightly and just like stress, it can impact your diabetes in a very negative way. At this point you are not only suffering from one major disease (diabetes), now you have to deal with two medical conditions – depression being the second.

Did you know that having diabetes actually doubles the risk factors that cause depression? The ratio of diabetics who become depressed as one in every three. Deep-rooted depression is considered a medical problem. When it becomes this serious, depression can be just as deadly and is categorized the same as high blood pressure or having high cholesterol.

Experiencing serious depression can make even the most simple of tasks hard to do. Getting out of bed is a chore. Accomplishing the tasks at your job becomes highly fatiguing. In a nutshell, everything in life becomes a struggle. Now imagine how your treatment of diabetes will suffer.

The good news is that there are signs of depression that can start to show themselves before you become clinically depressed. Ask yourself the following questions to help determine whether or not you are heading towards depression:

1. Have you lost all interest in the things that used to be fun in your life?

2. Are you eating more food than usual?

3. Do you feel extremely tired and cannot seem to muster up energy for the smallest of tasks?

4. Are you losing weight rapidly due to a decrease in appetite?

5. Have you been feeling a sense of deep sadness or depression for two weeks or longer?

6. Are you sleeping too much?

7. Are you lacking in sleep and cannot seem to closure eyes for more than an hour at a time?

8. Are you having trouble concentrating and do you find it hard to make simple decisions?

9. Do you get upset easily and feel a sense of rage over the smallest of occurrences?

10. Do you purposefully attempt to avoid contact with people, even your friends and family?