Emotional Support for Diabetics

Emotional support is a key component of any wellness program in order for any of us to improve our health and achieve optimum wellness.

Whether you are ill or not, emotional support is important to all of us.

But, if you're ill with a disease like diabetes, emotional support is even more important because this disease and all the things you have to do can be overwhelming.

Author's Perspective About Emotional Support:
When I was in the hospital, I remember the first time when one of the nurses started explaining all the things that I needed to start doing to manage my diabetes. Having to keep track of my meals and blood glucose readings wasn't that bad, but I had to come to grips with having to prick my finger and give myself insulin shots 4 to 5 times a day! Are you kidding me??

Luckily for me, my daughter and mother were there to help me. In fact, my daughter went to the pharmacy to obtain my glucose meter, test strips, insulin syringes, bottles of insulin, and the other drugs that the endocrinologist had prescribed. In addition, she (along with my mother) did the grocery-shopping and prepared my meals.

Every few hours, I had to psyche myself up to prick my finger and measure my blood glucose and write it down. Then, before each meal, I had to psyche myself up again to inject myself with insulin. After the meal, I recorded what I had eaten and about 1-2 hours later, I pricked my finger again to measure and record my blood glucose level.

Initially I didn't have much energy, so I was always tired and sometimes I felt sleepy. But, I forced myself to exercise (by walking) at least twice a day. Grocery-shopping with my mother was torture, but, ironically, all of the walking around the stores helped me in the long run.

Finding out that I had diabetes was a shock. Seeing what I had to do every day just to manage my diabetes was a little overwhelming. Given the large amount of reading information that I had been given by the doctors, nurses and dietitian in such a short amount of time was intimidating and also overwhelming.

Ironically, being an engineer made it easier because a lot of the tasks were similar to what we as engineers do, i.e. recording information, reading, doing research, collecting data, analyzing the data, etc. In many ways, managing my diabetes was a lot like starting an engineering project for myself.

Besides the support I received from my family, I also received support from my Xerox managers, who ran the organization in my absence. This was very important to me although I don't think that I ever thanked my managers. Part of the reason for this was due to the embarrassment I felt that I needed their help.

I also received emotional support from other diabetics, who shared their stories with me. This was a little uncomfortable at first because I thought that talking about one's health was a little too personal to share with other people.

While trying to come up to speed on diabetes management and incorporating it into your life, it's perfectly natural to go through some emotional upheaval. You may feel some anxiety, anger, depression, sadness, and other emotions. Consequently, you will need some time to adjust and some support from your family and friends.

Discuss your feelings with your doctor or a diabetes educator; or, join a local diabetes support group. If you are having a hard time getting through your day because of depression, anxiety or other overwhelming feelings, you may need to see a counselor or other mental health professional. It's okay to seek professional help to assist you through this difficult time.

Emotional support comes in many forms from a variety of people including your family, friends, co-workers, doctors, dietitian, health coach, support group, counselor, organizations, church, pastor, etc.

How to Handle Your Emotions

The tendency to dwell on anger, resentment and other uncomfortable feelings can negatively affect your health, including increasing your blood glucose levels. So it’s important to listen to your emotions and then take steps to let them go. Here are some things that you can do:

Understand Your Emotions: Look within and try to pinpoint the situations that are creating the stress and negative emotions in your life. Negative emotions can come from a triggering event; for example, feeling overwhelmed with your diabetes, or feeling angry about being diabetic. Negative emotions are also the result of our thoughts surrounding being diabetic; the way we interpret being diabetic and whether or not it causes stress. The key job of your emotions is to get you to see the problem, so you can make necessary changes.

Change What You Can: Only focus on what you can change. Don't dwell on what you can't change. Cut down on your stress triggers, and you’ll find yourself feeling negative emotions less frequently. This could include learning more about diabetes, taking a walk during lunch with a co-worker, joining a diabetes support group, avoiding stopping by the pizza place on the way home from work, bringing your lunch to work instead of going out to lunch, cutting down on job stress, and eating healthier meals more often.

Find An Outlet: Making changes in your life can cut down on negative emotions, but it won’t eliminate your stress triggers entirely. As you make changes in your life to bring about less frustration, you will also need to find healthful outlets for dealing with these emotions. Regular exercise can provide an emotional lift as well as an outlet for negative emotions. Meditation can help you find some inner "space" to work with, so your emotions don’t feel so overwhelming. Finding opportunities for having fun and getting more laughter in your life can also change your perspective and relieve stress. Find a few of these outlets, and you’ll feel less overwhelmed when negative emotions do arise.

Take a Break: If you're feeling stressed out, take a break! If you're under a lot of pressure at your job, talk to your manager about leaving early for the day; or, maybe take a half-day vacation. Don't continue to overwhelm yourself -- that's only going to drive your blood glucose higher!

Note: Read our future post or DTD web page about stress for more detailed information concerning stress.

Get Help if Depressed: Depression and diabetes are two conditions that can sometimes go hand-in-hand. First, diabetes can increase the risk of depression, according to a growing body of research. In fact, having diabetes doubles the risk of depression, compared to people who don't have the disease. Conversely, depression also can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, research shows.

It's often a vicious cycle. Depression can get worse as the complications of diabetes get worse, and being depressed can stop people from managing their diabetes as effectively as they need to, which can lead to increased incidence of long-term complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy or nephropathy.

The key is to get your diabetes under control and seek professional help for your depression, if necessary. Getting help for your depression not only improves your quality of life, but, it also can help you manage your diabetes better by giving you a more hopeful outlook.