Hi! I have had diabetes for ten years. For the past two years I have
suffered severe depression. This depression actually makes me neglect
my diabetes to the point were I pretend I do not even have the disease.
I try so hard to get my disease back in check and try to prevent
complications.
I feel alone through this and I have never heard of another diabetic
neglecting their disease the way I do. I was wondering if there was any
other diabetic out there that has or had these horrible habits and even
if you haven't been through this but have advice it would be great to
hear from you.
I go through bouts of severe depression, well, I don't know if it's bouts, it may be all the time. I don't neglect the diabetes so much, but just engage less. A few months ago I went on Lexapro and it has done WONDERS!!! I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. My doctor encouraged me to stay on it for at least six months, I can't see going off of it. I have gone through times of neglecting my diabetes, not testing, just bolusing and riding on my pump. It has not always worked well.
The best thing I have done for my depression is reached out and gotten professional help. Things came together and I feel that at least my depression is now under control.
i am so happy to read sarah's advise, that is what i am going through right now, sometimes i neglect my traement, i just this forum today, i am very depressed and just tired of everything, i wear a metronic pump, it seems like it is not helping me .my job is affected due to my unaware hypo's.i will really like to get intouch with Sarah as i said i am new to this group .thanks .
Tinakeji, I just wanted to throw in some info for you. I was overdosed deliberately by my doctors many years ago when pregnant with my second child (sort of as a research situation to see what would happen, and if my baby would be smaller than the usual type 1's fairly large baby). As a result, I had horrible problems with hypo unawareness for many years. I would feel very little warning and then pass out cold, coming to in the ER with an IV of glucose running. My poor husband worried about my life. Every time I mentioned this to my doctors they implied that hypo unawareness was something that happened after a person has been diabetic for a long time -- the impression that I got was that it was thought to be irreversible.
About 10 years ago, I read a newspaper article about some studies on hypo unawareness that were done in the United Kingdom. The results of the studies was that hypo unawareness is directly linked to the sugars stored in our livers as emergency sugars. When we drop low, these sugars are released from the liver to help us. Unfortunately, when our bodies tap into the liver's emergency sugars, a residue is recognized by the brain for up to 2 weeks later. So the next time a low happens that isn't fixed quickly, the brain THINKS that sugars are present because those residues are there. So we don't get warning symptoms as quickly. And it gets worse and worse until we no longer have warning symptoms.
The studies (several have been done since this first published report) all agree that if the body can go for about 2 weeks without having another severe low (severe low meaning low enough LONG enough for the body to release liver sugars), the residues dissipate and the warning symptoms of being low return. It was suggested that one way to protect our warning symptoms is to AWAYS go for the quickest possible fix to any low, correcting it before the brain has time to send to the liver for help. This means that if you are low at mealtime, you drink a bit of juice first before you eat so that quick carb can get to the problem before the food that takes a long time to digest. In the study, the test subjects elevated their levels for about 2 weeks in order to avoid ANY lows for that period of time, and warning symptoms returned.
I did this and I also changed my habits so when I drop low I always now go for the quickest possible fix rather than snacks that take a long time to digest, and my warning symptoms did return. I get great warnings now. But every now and then when I get lax, i find my symptoms not as sharp, and I have to redo the procedure (elevate for 2 weeks and make sure I get quick fixes) and the symptoms get better. We need to stay on top of it to keep our symptoms good. If you do some research, Googling "hypoglycemia unawareness," you probably will stumble across some of the reports of these studies. Fascinating and helpful to me, and I hope also to you.
Hi Susan :)...I have come back to read what you wrote-I can always come away with something helpful .There is one thing I don't understand,why would a doctor overdose someone while pregnant ? That could have harmed you and the baby.In research woudn't they have to think safety first ? Sorry to go on about this I feel bad that you went through that.Your husband must have worried so much for you.Thanks..
Meme, remember that this was back in the dark ages when glucometers were very new technology and many of us did not even have them yet. So our levels ran high most of the time. This is why so many folks who are my age have complications now -- tight control was not even a concept yet. So the doctors wanted to prove that lower levels would grow a smaller baby than the typical huge baby that type 1 diabetics had. They assured me that there was no danger to the baby, for the fetus gets what it needs, leaving the poor mom hypoglycemic a lot in a situation like this. The point was proved -- my son was only 7.5 pounds. But I was unconscious a lot. I don't think doctors really knew how dangers hypoglycemia could be back then, for it was so rare with type 1 people.
My husband is still paranoid about me after all those years of hypo unawareness. If I am out running errands, I always call to let him know if i will be late, for he always assumes that I am passed out somewhere. It was terrifying. The studies on hypo unawareness changed my life, and that's why I tell people about them. Most doctors have not even read about them, so most doctors still sort of assume that diabetics have to deal with losing warning symptoms and that there is no solution when this happens. They are absolutely wrong, and I am living proof that we can regain our warnings, and also that we need to guard those warnings carefully by always going for the quickest possible fix for a low. Again, I don't know of any doctors who advise people to do this. So most of us eat a snack when low, even things that digest slowly like snacks such as candy bars or crackers that have fats in them that slow digestion time. Meanwhile, we continue to drop lower while waiting for the carbs to digest and our livers then get tapped for emergency sugars. That's really what it is all about -- we want to never have our bodies tap into the liver for sugar if we can help it.
I am lucky to be alive, and extremely blessed to be so healthy. I don't take it lightly nor do I take it for granted. Tell your own child about this, please, for I think it is something every diabetic who tries to be tightly controlled needs to know. If you Google "studies on hypoglycemia unawareness", I believe you may stumble upon some of these research reports. Fascinating stuff.
Thanks Susan,I plan to tell her and I am about make a copy of this to keep in my d file.You have no idea how much I want this whole thread placed in the forums.This could be helpful many people....