Diabetes and anxiety :(

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sg295

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Type 1
Hi all,

Has anyone else struggled with anxiety as the result of diabetes?

At the moment I feel rather anxious and on edge directly as a result of diabetes and I’m struggling to stay on top of it.

There’s various things that make me anxious, including exercise (as I’m scared of having hypos), eating out with friends (because I’m scared of injecting in front of people I don’t know in restaurants, cafes etc), drinking with friends (as it can make me have a hypo) and managing my condition and my job simultaneously.

Hypos in particular make me very nervous so the above things I mention that put me at increased risk of them I often end up avoiding so I feel like I’m not living my life to the full.

Also because of my massive fear (and I mean massive!) of injecting in front of strangers, I often avoid situations where this has to happen, meaning I either don’t go out or avoid eating etc, including skipping meals which is not a good idea for anyone!

Even though I don’t have hypos all the time, I had a few more recently and even though they seem to have stopped, I always feel on edge about if I’m going to have another one.

I just feel like I can never really relax or live my life to the full and need some advice.

Thank you 🙂
 
sg295 said:
Hi all,

Has anyone else struggled with anxiety as the result of diabetes?

At the moment I feel rather anxious and on edge directly as a result of diabetes and I’m struggling to stay on top of it.

There’s various things that make me anxious, including exercise (as I’m scared of having hypos), eating out with friends (because I’m scared of injecting in front of people I don’t know in restaurants, cafes etc), drinking with friends (as it can make me have a hypo) and managing my condition and my job simultaneously.

Hypos in particular make me very nervous so the above things I mention that put me at increased risk of them I often end up avoiding so I feel like I’m not living my life to the full.

Also because of my massive fear (and I mean massive!) of injecting in front of strangers, I often avoid situations where this has to happen, meaning I either don’t go out or avoid eating etc, including skipping meals which is not a good idea for anyone!

Even though I don’t have hypos all the time, I had a few more recently and even though they seem to have stopped, I always feel on edge about if I’m going to have another one.

I just feel like I can never really relax or live my life to the full and need some advice.

Thank you 🙂
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With exercising and the risk of hypos, do yuo carry plenty of hypo treatments with you? Do you know why you have anxiety about injecting in front of strangers?
 
Lily123 said:
With exercising and the risk of hypos, do yuo carry plenty of hypo treatments with you? Do you know why you have anxiety about injecting in front of strangers?
Click to expand...
I do yes, always have plenty of dextros on me. I think it’s just like I feel like I’ve ‘failed’ though if I have a hypo even if that sounds silly.

Honestly I’m not sure, maybe because I feel singled out or different in some way, maybe because I’m super self conscious of people seeing me and asking questions, staring or just generally making me feel uncomfortable. Probably both of those things but I’m also just not entirely sure, it just seems to be a very deeply ingrained issue I can’t get over.
 
sg295 said:
I do yes, always have plenty of dextros on me. I think it’s just like I feel like I’ve ‘failed’ though if I have a hypo even if that sounds silly.

Honestly I’m not sure, maybe because I feel singled out or different in some way, maybe because I’m super self conscious of people seeing me and asking questions, staring or just generally making me feel uncomfortable. Probably both of those things but I’m also just not entirely sure, it just seems to be a very deeply ingrained issue I can’t get over.
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With the feeling like you’ve “failed” you haven’t there are 42 different things that affect BG.
People might not even notice you doing your BG test and injection as they might be too caught up in their own conversations (I’ve never gone through this so may not be very helpful, I’m the kind of person to sit on a bench in the middle of the town square and do my injection so I can get a Costa!)
 
Lily123 said:
With the feeling like you’ve “failed” you haven’t there are 42 different things that affect BG.
People might not even notice you doing your BG test and injection as they might be too caught up in their own conversations (I’ve never gone through this so may not be very helpful, I’m the kind of person to sit on a bench in the middle of the town square and do my injection so I can get a Costa!)
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That’s true, I always just feel so disappointed when I see numbers I don’t want to see, whether that’s too high or too low.

Wow I wish I was that confident! I can just about cope with injecting in front of friends (even that I had to work on!) but really can’t when it’s people I don’t know which I’m trying to get over but am really struggling which is majorly impacting my social life and quality of life.
 
I get anxious about hypos even now, but you most definitely shouldn’t think you’ve failed! If you’ve ‘failed’ then we all have because every Type 1 has hypos. It’s a risk of controlling blood sugar properly.

It sounds like you’re still in that early stage of upset and a bit of anger too. I totally get what you mean about feeling singled out. It isn’t fair, but you’ll gradually feel less focussed on that.

You do need to sort the injections in public gradually. Remember - most people won’t notice you at all. You’ve been surrounded by people before your diagnosis who’ve had Type 1, but you wouldn’t have noticed them injecting. Choose someone you trust and inject in front of them.even if you have to get them to look away for a second or two, that’s ok - it’s a start. Each time you do it, it will get easier.

You got Type 1 by random chance. It’s not a judgement on you, and neither are you blood glucose numbers. You’re trying to do the job of a pancreas and it’s not easy! Injecting in public makes life easier. It also sends a message that people with disabilities or medical conditions are just like anyone else. It’s not something to hide because if you hide it you’re tacitly saying it’s something to be ashamed of - for you, for me, for children with Type 1.
 
I think it’s totally normal to have anxiety around a chronic condition that can be so variable so don’t feel guilty about it.


If you hate injecting in front of people then pop to the loo. It’s not always glamorous but will give you a private space to manage your insulin. But most people won’t even notice you doing your injection at the table so just getting on with it with minimal fuss eventually just become habit. Not everyone wants to inject around other people though so there’s no problem if you need to go and do it in private.


Speak to your GP about your anxiety. There are ways they can help. CBT can be really helpful and you can usually self refer for support for that too.
 
The one thing with restaurants/cafés or wherever. Never use the toilets to do you injection and testing! They may look clean but you never know and this wouldn’t help your confidence with injecting and testing in front of strangers. @Thebearcametoo we were typing at the same time with completely opposite advice, sorry
 
Hi @sg295 !
Seems like you are in the position of diabetes managing your life, rather than you managing your diabetic life. It doesn’t need to be that way.

Your reluctance to inject in the presence of others isn’t an uncommon fear, but it isn’t really all that difficult to overcome. The vast majority of ‘the public’ either won’t notice if you do it discreetly or won’t really care if they do notice. It’s not as if you wave a massive needle about and stab yourself with it. My attitude to anyone who doesn’t like to see me do it, is ‘if you don’t like to see, then don’t watch’. I’ve actually had one or two quite interesting conversation with folk who asked me about what I was doing and they were usually quite interested to learn a bit about diabetes and insulin.
Your fear of hypos while exercising might be mitigated if you could check your glucose level about every 30 minutes and if you see it rapidly falling and/or approaching a hypo take some glucose and head off the hypo. I don’t know how you monitor your BG, but before I started to use a Libre CGM, if I was out on a bike ride I’d stop and test with a finger prick. However now I’m using a Libre I just set an alarm to tell me I’m going low and if it goes off I stop and swallow a few jelly babies. I also have a carby snack before I set off and if it’s an after-lunch ride I’ll often skip my bolus.

I’m sure others will pop up with supportive suggestions. I wish you all the best.
 
Inka said:
I get anxious about hypos even now, but you most definitely shouldn’t think you’ve failed! If you’ve ‘failed’ then we all have because every Type 1 has hypos. It’s a risk of controlling blood sugar properly.

It sounds like you’re still in that early stage of upset and a bit of anger too. I totally get what you mean about feeling singled out. It isn’t fair, but you’ll gradually feel less focussed on that.

You do need to sort the injections in public gradually. Remember - most people won’t notice you at all. You’ve been surrounded by people before your diagnosis who’ve had Type 1, but you wouldn’t have noticed them injecting. Choose someone you trust and inject in front of them.even if you have to get them to look away for a second or two, that’s ok - it’s a start. Each time you do it, it will get easier.

You got Type 1 by random chance. It’s not a judgement on you, and neither are you blood glucose numbers. You’re trying to do the job of a pancreas and it’s not easy! Injecting in public makes life easier. It also sends a message that people with disabilities or medical conditions are just like anyone else. It’s not something to hide because if you hide it you’re tacitly saying it’s something to be ashamed of - for you, for me, for children with Type 1.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Yes that’s true, I think as well as a fear of failure I also panic about what if I can’t bring my levels back up or sort this out on my own? What do I do? Particularly if I’m at work or something.

I need to take some steps to get over my fear but for me just taking that initial step is so hard for some reason. I pretty much do either just hide or if I can’t hide just avoid it all together.

Even though I know it’s not my fault or anyones fault I think it’s just the fact I feel different and isolated and like no one fully understands (except you guys on here of course!) as no one in my family/friends has it.
 
Thebearcametoo said:
I think it’s totally normal to have anxiety around a chronic condition that can be so variable so don’t feel guilty about it.


If you hate injecting in front of people then pop to the loo. It’s not always glamorous but will give you a private space to manage your insulin. But most people won’t even notice you doing your injection at the table so just getting on with it with minimal fuss eventually just become habit. Not everyone wants to inject around other people though so there’s no problem if you need to go and do it in private.


Speak to your GP about your anxiety. There are ways they can help. CBT can be really helpful and you can usually self refer for support for that too.
Click to expand...
I generally do try to sneak off but sometimes it’s tricky like if you’re just out and about randomly like on a walk or at the beach and there’s not really anywhere to go so I try to avoid those situations.

I ended up speaking to someone at diabetes uk as I was rather fed up and upset about it all earlier and just needed to talk to someone. They advised me to contact my diabetes nurse to see if they have any ideas/suggestions for me so hoping something can be done
 
sg295 said:
Hi,

Yes that’s true, I think as well as a fear of failure I also panic about what if I can’t bring my levels back up or sort this out on my own? What do I do? Particularly if I’m at work or something.

I need to take some steps to get over my fear but for me just taking that initial step is so hard for some reason. I pretty much do either just hide or if I can’t hide just avoid it all together.

Even though I know it’s not my fault or anyones fault I think it’s just the fact I feel different and isolated and like no one fully understands (except you guys on here of course!) as no one in my family/friends has it.
Click to expand...
That’s a fear that I definitely have of what if someone finds me if I collapse from a hypo I can’t fix myself (lowest hypo 1.7 and only felt about 3.9 😱 ) Do you have anything on you that says you have T1 diabetes? Like a necklace or bracelet as this may help stop that fear
 
Dave W said:
Hi @sg295 !
Seems like you are in the position of diabetes managing your life, rather than you managing your diabetic life. It doesn’t need to be that way.

Your reluctance to inject in the presence of others isn’t an uncommon fear, but it isn’t really all that difficult to overcome. The vast majority of ‘the public’ either won’t notice if you do it discreetly or won’t really care if they do notice. It’s not as if you wave a massive needle about and stab yourself with it. My attitude to anyone who doesn’t like to see me do it, is ‘if you don’t like to see, then don’t watch’. I’ve actually had one or two quite interesting conversation with folk who asked me about what I was doing and they were usually quite interested to learn a bit about diabetes and insulin.
Your fear of hypos while exercising might be mitigated if you could check your glucose level about every 30 minutes and if you see it rapidly falling and/or approaching a hypo take some glucose and head off the hypo. I don’t know how you monitor your BG, but before I started to use a Libre CGM, if I was out on a bike ride I’d stop and test with a finger prick. However now I’m using a Libre I just set an alarm to tell me I’m going low and if it goes off I stop and swallow a few jelly babies. I also have a carby snack before I set off and if it’s an after-lunch ride I’ll often skip my bolus.

I’m sure others will pop up with supportive suggestions. I wish you all the best.
Click to expand...
I definitely need to learn to adopt a more confident mindset like that, the thing is that’s not naturally what I’m like so it’ll take a long time for me to feel that confident.

I use the freestyle libre 2 and it’s been life changing in a lot of ways for me! I think I also need to try to learn to get back into exercise and enjoy it rather than constantly be afraid of going low but again I feel like that might take time.

Thank you though, just hoping I can tackle these issues eventually
 
Lily123 said:
That’s a fear that I definitely have of what if someone finds me if I collapse from a hypo I can’t fix myself (lowest hypo 1.7 and only felt about 3.9 😱 ) Do you have anything on you that says you have T1 diabetes? Like a necklace or bracelet as this may help stop that fear
Click to expand...
Yes I’m super nervous about that, even though the lowest I’ve had so far is 2.6 (which made me feel absolutely dreadful!) I have an alert bracelet yes although I don’t always remember to wear it so just hoping if I have that it might give me a bit more confidence that it would be ok
 
sg295 said:
Yes I’m super nervous about that, even though the lowest I’ve had so far is 2.6 (which made me feel absolutely dreadful!) I have an alert bracelet yes although I don’t always remember to wear it so just hoping if I have that it might give me a bit more confidence that it would be ok
Click to expand...
Maybe when you take the bracelet off you could leave it somewhere where you know you’ll put it back on? For example next to your car keys?
 
Lily123 said:
Maybe when you take the bracelet off you could leave it somewhere where you know you’ll put it back on? For example next to your car keys?
Click to expand...
That’s a good idea thanks, I’m not always good at remembering where I’ve put stuff so if I try and keep it with my car keys it might help
 
sg295 said:
Yes that’s true, I think as well as a fear of failure I also panic about what if I can’t bring my levels back up or sort this out on my own? What do I do? Particularly if I’m at work or something.
Click to expand...
But you know you can sort out a hypo, right? It's not rocket science: we eat, wait, and our levels will be high enough again.

In many contexts eating a biscuit or something is kind of normal (because there's tea and snacks generally). In others it'll help if at least some people understand you have T1 and are liable to want to eat a few jelly babies sometimes.
 
Inka said:
It sounds like you’re still in that early stage of upset and a bit of anger too. I totally get what you mean about feeling singled out. It isn’t fair, but you’ll gradually feel less focussed on that.
Click to expand...
I second that - the things that I focused on after dx no longer bother me. As @Inka says, it’s early days for you. Everything’s new and stressful. Getting a Libre REALLY helped me too with the enormous anxiety I felt around hypos and exercise, teaching, etc. Just keep flashing! And you can head those pesky lows off before they get too low.

As for injecting in public, I started out going to the toilet to do it, but gradually realised that no-one even notices when I jab at the table. I remember going for lunch with the big macho scary roofing team who were working on our house and being really nervous getting out my kit - none of them even noticed, they were too busy comparing tattoos and discussing chainsaws.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is to distance myself emotionally from my diabetes, which helps me not to get upset about the BG roller coaster. I’m sure you’ll find this will come with time.
It’s really hard to begin with, this diabetes lark, but it does get better. 🙂
 
I think as well as a fear of failure I also panic about what if I can’t bring my levels back up or sort this out on my own? What do I do? Particularly if I’m at work or something.

Totally relatable @sg295 I hate hypos and they can be scary. What I do is try to stay above 5mmol as much as possible. That keeps my hypo signs sharp and also means I’m nicely above the hypo zone so have a kind of buffer. I also test lots so nothing sneaks up on me. I also always carry hypo treatments and have plenty everywhere. Dextro or 150ml cans of Coke are good as it Glucojuice. That last one is expensive but I keep a couple of bottles for emergencies as it’s very concentrated and works super-fast. Just having those things prepared gives me relief from worrying. I also keep lots of top-up snacks just in case I need them.

I don’t have many hypos but I know I’ve got myself covered if I do have one. So, to answer your question, I treat early particularly if I’m at work or out and about. I treat as my sugar is going low not when I’m actually hypo. That wards off the vast majority.

I have an alert bracelet yes although I don’t always remember to wear it

I have a MedicAlert bracelet and wear it all the time so I never have to remember to put it on. It’s made for constant wearing. That makes me feel happier too.
 
I find the invisibility of the condition sometimes difficult to deal with. People don't realise the day-to-day balancing required to stay well and so they forget. This is good because I don't want diabetes to define me but can feel very lonely on bad days!

I was receiving counselling for a heap of unrelated issues when I was diagnosed so got some neutral support as part of that which I think has helped with how I've adapted. You can self-refer in most areas if this is something you'd be interested in - link here: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/mental-health/find-a-psychological-therapies-service/
 
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