Do you ever feel overwhelmed by diabetes? You’re not alone

[Josh DUK]

In 2017, Diabetes UK heard from 9,000 people living with diabetes. These people shared how diabetes affect all aspects of their lives – not just the physical side. They also told us that when they needed emotional and mental health support, too often it was missing from their diabetes care.

We’ve been listening, and now we’re doing something about it.

On 14 May, we’re launching a new campaign, across the UK, calling on the nation’s health services and government to make sure people living with diabetes get the support they need, when they need it.

Alongside this forum, which is a really helpful place to shares stories, worries and just to hear from people who know what it’s like, we’ve got lots of support resources to help if you are struggling. There are two new sections on our free Learning Zone, filled with practical advice and tips on the emotional side of coping with living with diabetes.

You can also call our free Helpline (0345 123 2399), from Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm, and speak with one of our trained counsellors. And there’s lots of new support information on our website. You can find that here.

Look out for the launch of our campaign on Tuesday to find out how you can help and get involved.

And today, we’ve launched our campaign. We did more research and spoke to more than 2,000 adults with Type 1, Type 2 and other types of diabetes from across the UK. We found that 7 out of 10 people have felt overwhelmed with the demands of living with diabetes. But emotional and mental health support is too often missing from diabetes care.

Let’s change this. We’re calling on decision makers across the UK to ensure this support isn’t missing from anyone’s diabetes care. Find out more and sign our petition here.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Great to hear that Diabetes UK are raising the profile of this and trying to fill the gap in so may people's experiences of psychological/mental health support.

It can be so crucial and is so often overlooked in busy clinics with meagre resources.

 

[SB2015]

I followed some of the links that were hyperlinked and found some very useful resources.

Thanks for setting this up, I think that it will be very useful. I shall find the links to some earlier posts that may be is help to others.

 

[SB2015]

I was pleased to be able to attend the launch of the new campaign ‘It Is Missing’ yesterday.

Firstly to hear of the focus on including questions people’s emotional well-being a part of our regular appointments and asking that their is access to specialist support. I also enjoyed meeting so many others who have Diabetes, and having honest discussions about how many had had to deal with anxiety and depression. Many like me had had to wait months to get help on the NHS and there is a push to change this.

The report will be available on the DUK website, and I have no doubt that many on here have contributed to the surveys that were carried out in preparation for this. Where gaps have been found in knowledge of what is being done DUK are also funding additional research.

The launch was well timed with it being during Mental Health Week.

 

[SB2015]

I promised to seek out some earlier posts that might help people who are feeling overwhelmed by their Diabetes. I worked with a counsellor and posted the strategies that I found worked for me in getting things back in perspective. This was a while ago so I have included the link here.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...n-dealing-with-depression-and-diabetes.66695/

(Success @everydayupsanddowns. I managed to find it and include a link without calling on your help)

 

[Emma@DUK]

@SB2015 thank you so much for sharing your earlier post. I manage the information on our main website here at Diabetes UK. Would you mind if we shared something from your post on our central web page about depression and diabetes here www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/emotions/depression? I think it would help a lot of people.

 

[SB2015]

@SB2015 thank you so much for sharing your earlier post. I manage the information on our main website here at Diabetes UK. Would you mind if we shared something from your post on our central web page about depression and diabetes here www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/emotions/depression? I think it would help a lot of people.

Hi Emma. I am happy for you to use parts of my post on the website.
Your suggestion made me read through it all again and remind me of the strategies.
I wonder whether it would be useful to have them listed together in a shorter post on here, but then I think it is good for others to see that these feelings are more common and that quite a few people chipped in.

 

[Rose73]

Hi
I slept with 5.1 BG
I drunk only one coffe with no sugar and little of milk from 10 pm
Wake up in morning and drink green tea with no sugar and test my BG after that and show me BG 6.4
Which shocked me as nothing I ate ???? Any explanation to that
As I noticed that my BG in morning higher than any other time during the day
Please let me know if you know what the reason might be ???????

 

[Robin]

Hi
I slept with 5.1 BG
I drunk only one coffe with no sugar and little of milk from 10 pm
Wake up in morning and drink green tea with no sugar and test my BG after that and show me BG 6.4
Which shocked me as nothing I ate ???? Any explanation to that
As I noticed that my BG in morning higher than any other time during the day
Please let me know if you know what the reason might be ???????

Hi Ban. A lot of people find they wake up with higher levels than they went to bed with. This is because the liver (which trickles out glucose the whole time to keep your vital organs ticking over), gears itself up for the coming day and starts trickling out a little more glucose.

 

[Rose73]

Hi Ban. A lot of people find they wake up with higher levels than they went to bed with. This is because the liver (which trickles out glucose the whole time to keep your vital organs ticking over), gears itself up for the coming day and starts trickling out a little more glucose.

So is that mean this is normal
As after meal BG is so good
But only morning
My worriness is if goes up and wake up and lose my vision ???? For me it is so frustrated and the main point is lack of explanation
As I read that liver should know how much to release if released more than should be can cause diabetic and that what I was thinking to avoid but starts to give up

My question
Will my HBA1C go up next few months even if day time BG is good ? Because or higher level at morning?

 

[Robin]

So is that mean this is normal
As after meal BG is so good
But only morning
My worriness is if goes up and wake up and lose my vision ???? For me it is so frustrated and the main point is lack of explanation
As I read that liver should know how much to release if released more than should be can cause diabetic and that what I was thinking to avoid but starts to give up

My question
Will my HBA1C go up next few months even if day time BG is good ? Because or higher level at morning?

The problem is, in people without Diabetes, insulin will be released to match the morning rise in Blood Glucose, so if the extra glucose released by the liver is unused, it will be mopped up by the insulin and returned to the liver. In Type 2 diabetes, sometimes the insulin response is delayed, so you see a rise before it then drops down again. I’m not an expert on Type 2, I expect others will be along soon who can explain it better.

 

[Bohemianne]

Feeling overwhelmed is exactly where I am right now, I'm at the point where I'd like to just give up with anything and everything to do with diabetes. I'm Type 2, diagnosed in 2004, good control and HBA1c results always good right up until about a year ago when my levels started rising, changes in oral medication did nothing to help and I was walking around with a HBA1c level of 97! I'm now on week 3 of using insulin but I'm doing it with no input or support/advice from the diabetes clinic at my GP surgery.....I'm completely lost, feel out of my depth and don't know which way to turn. 😱

 

[Rose73]

What is your meal look like ?

 

[Bohemianne]

I eat mainly vegetables, I'm not a big meat eater and for the most part, apart from bacon, which I love, I rarely have it. I am in the process of reducing my carbs, I'm a carb freak! I comfort eat and when I do, it's all bad, bad stodgy stuff! but I am working on it and have reduced it a lot, as a result I have lost a stone in weight, loosing that weight and cutting my carbs, unfortunately, had no effect on my diabetes whatsoever, in fact, my levels continued to rise

 

[Rose73]

I think losing weight doesn’t mean Daibetic will be controlled at all
But eating low carb is very useful and have good affect
So if you write down everything you ate during every day and calculate the carb , then you will be able to control the BG rise in better you
Good luck for you

 

[Rose73]

I eat mainly vegetables, I'm not a big meat eater and for the most part, apart from bacon, which I love, I rarely have it. I am in the process of reducing my carbs, I'm a carb freak! I comfort eat and when I do, it's all bad, bad stodgy stuff! but I am working on it and have reduced it a lot, as a result I have lost a stone in weight, loosing that weight and cutting my carbs, unfortunately, had no effect on my diabetes whatsoever, in fact, my levels continued to rise

Potato considered as Vegetables but have lots of carb
Oat is not meat but high in carb
Even bread have high carb

 

[Bohemianne]

Potato considered as Vegetables but have lots of carb
Oat is not meat but high in carb
Even bread have high carb

Thank you for your reply and advice @Ban 🙂

 

[SB2015]

Thank you for your reply and advice @Ban 🙂

How are you getting on now @Bohemianne ?
Have you managed to adjust your diet as you planned?

When the BG levels are higher it can make us feel a lot worse, so it is worth the efforts that you are making.
Take things step by step. If you want specific support about meals there is another thread which includes loads of ideas, and people post their very tasty meals. That might be worth a look.

@Ban gave very useful advice on keeping a record of the carbs that you are eating. It can also be useful to test your blood glucose levels before and after meals.

 

[Ya Sham]

Thank you for sharing this!

It looks extremely helpful for me as I am new to diabetes and would be happy to receive more information.