Mental health.

I find my blood sugars effect my well being. High really brings me down.
 
Not really the mental health support in my area is pretty much nothing unless you want to pay lots of money for it. I do have medication from the gp that has been helping but that's it.
 
AlicePalace said:
Hi I am wondering if anyone else finds that their mental health affects their blood sugars. Mine have been all over the place lately. I have a lot going on at home but struggle to talk to people.
I don't have many friends so I have been feeling lonely a lot lately that's why I joined here today.
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You have plenty of friends here who are marvellous with peer support regarding your Diabetes (It's been great for me) - so sorry to hear about your granddad and your mental health struggles and I'm no medical expert but it probably will affect your BG - it's good to talk though, so if you need to talk, or just let off steam I've found the support on here amazing
 
mashedupmatt said:
You have plenty of friends here who are marvellous with peer support regarding your Diabetes (It's been great for me) - so sorry to hear about your granddad and your mental health struggles and I'm no medical expert but it probably will affect your BG - it's good to talk though, so if you need to talk, or just let off steam I've found the support on here amazing
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Yea it's nice to talk to people that get it as they live with diabetes too. My friends dont always understand
 
It can be hard. I find that when I am struggling with my bloods I can feel more lonely as I feel like no one understands
 
AlicePalace said:
It can be hard. I find that when I am struggling with my bloods I can feel more lonely as I feel like no one understands
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It is hard - We all understand here - it can be very frustrating and depressing, and despite all your best efforts to stop it happening, sometimes it doesn't work - we are all different but you are not alone
 
Thanks. I am glad I found this. Something else that doesn't help is I have a lump on one side of my tummy from 9 and a half years of injections and it is quite big. The doctor told me it should just go down on its own but it affects my mental health when I find clothes dont fit comfortably over or on it because it makes me feel sad it's hard to describe
 
If you are under a doctor for depression and anxiety then the next step is to ask the surgery what support they have ?

This could be counselling or a mental health nurse or worker who you can speak to over the phone initially

If they think your problem will be helped by the local mental health team ......psychiatrist, psychologist , support worker , nurses etc ......they will see if they can help

If not then it will be up to you to get other support from people like MIND if they operate in your area

I have a mixture of all this at various times

There is not enough help but there is a bit but you have to reach out

Best wishes
 
AlicePalace said:
Thanks. I am glad I found this. Something else that doesn't help is I have a lump on one side of my tummy from 9 and a half years of injections and it is quite big. The doctor told me it should just go down on its own but it affects my mental health when I find clothes dont fit comfortably over or on it because it makes me feel sad it's hard to describe
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Phonelines

Samaritans
Anxiety uk
No Panic
 
The doctor that prescribes my tablets is at the surgery but doesn't really support me just prescribes the tablets
 
Hello @AlicePalace,

I saw your first post on this and I wasn't sure how I might usefully contribute. I understand the problem and I've had my moments when I've felt 'why, how, what ... !' - against this daily challenge; but since my T3c is a consequence of the removal of my pancreas to remove a tumour caused by Pancreatic Cancer, I always have the fall back consolation when I'm feeling miserable (or angry) that my D means I'm still alive and have beaten the cancer. I realise that my backstop is absolutely no consolation or use to you.
AlicePalace said:
Yea it's nice to talk to people that get it as they live with diabetes too. My friends dont always understand
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I was fortunate enough to get some counselling, which was very therapeutic, talking to and with someone who listened a lot and let me get my rant out into the open; my counsellor knew nothing about diabetes and didn't need to - he just listened and encouraged me to talk with his useful questions. He knew something about cancer and understood my background fear that my cancer might not be fully resolved (I'm now pretty sure that it is!). During the last session he offered ideas that he felt could help me manage my 'angst' when my D was blatantly niggling me. The trouble is telling you what I got out of counselling doesn't help you and I don't know how you can resolve that - other than encouraging you to share those frustrating moments with the Forum members. At least sharing allows you to let off steam, in an anonymous way and might from time to time get suggestions back that lead to reducing, if not fully resolving, some of the daily D challenges.
AlicePalace said:
It can be hard. I find that when I am struggling with my bloods I can feel more lonely as I feel like no one understands
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There is no question: it can be hard. The big issue is STRESS. Stress inevitably alters our BG and for most people raises our BG. So getting stressed about our D is, ironically, adding to our BG variability. I also did some "Mindfulness" training which included a huge list of distraction techniques as well as specific ways of calming myself. You can access Mindfulness ideas on line and there are certain useful books with some great ideas. Glycaemic variability is simply bad for us, so anything we can do to achieve flatter graphs on our CGMs is better for us in both the short and long term.
AlicePalace said:
The doctor that prescribes my tablets is at the surgery but doesn't really support me just prescribes the tablets
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This doesn't make it right, but I think all GPs are themselves overloaded with increased nos of patients, each needing an increased amount of their diagnosis and consultation time. So the consequence is that few of us get the support that we actually need from GPs and Health Care Professionals (HCPs). Alas, I don't believe there is an easy answer or simple solution; I wish there was.,

My late step-mother, in the 40 odd years that I knew her (she was more a step-grandmother to our children, than step-mother to me), always used to say when her various permanent ailments were disrupting her life: "never mind, there is always someone worse off". Pretty good advice really and saying it brings a more positive mindset to the common daily hassle you and I have because of our D. Then yesterday morning on the earl TV news, there was a reminder to me about 16 yr old Isla Grist, a young lady who was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa (ED). This is an extremely rare skin disease and her life is totally dominated by her ED (see https://www.debra.org.uk/islas-story). So the next time I'm frustrated by my D I'll try to remember Isla and her constant challenges; this should make my D management trivial in comparison to Isla's problems.

Anyway this long ramble doesn't provide immediate solutions for you @AlicePalace. Just some observations; and at least keep talking on here about Mental Health issues - there are people listening.
 
Thanks. It's hard when there isn't much support around and no clubs. I don't really know anyone else that has type 1 diabetes. I have had it for 10 years
 
AlicePalace said:
It can be hard. I find that when I am struggling with my bloods I can feel more lonely as I feel like no one understands
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I sympathise with this too. I haven't been measuring for very long and I haven't had it for very long, but I've been rather unmotivated lately and it does feel very lonely and stressful all on its own (without Life as well) when the bloods go all over the place. In my case, my weight has been steadily coming down since making lots of changes but the sugars haven't. Yesterday I had a really low-mood day because of all that (again, without mentioning Life...)

I'll try and join your hobbies thread! Big hugs. I'm very sorry for what you are going through at the moment.
 
AlicePalace said:
Hi. Feeling a bit lonely
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Sorry to near that @AlicePalace

Bank Holiday Weekend coming up - anythng going on in your area you could go to for a bit of distraction? Even if going on your own? Or maybe a chance to meet others with overlapping interests?
 
Hi @AlicePalace Is there anything in particular that’s made you feel lonely? When I was a similar age to you, I used to sometimes feel a bit down at the weekends, especially Sundays. I felt they were quite pressured in a way, and Sunday itself seemed too quiet for me.

Is there anything nice you can do? Any craft? A boxset of a new series you can watch? I don’t know if this is any comfort, but as I got older, I found I became more at ease in my own company. I’m not sure why, but I did. I’d do things like read or write, or watch a film or TV show. Sometimes I’d get fascinated by a topic or place or person and research that. Being busy helps.
 
AlicePalace said:
Hi. Feeling a bit lonely
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I'm so sorry to hear this. Is there anyone you can talk to? Or perhaps somewhere nice that helps you ground yourself? I do like immersing myself in books or films, when I'm lonely and I can't travel, but when I can I go and watch the ocean, it always helps me feel well in myself. For other people I know, it's different kinds of places.
I hope you have someone you can talk to.
 
Inka said:
but as I got older, I found I became more at ease in my own company.
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I think there’s a lot in that - but not necessarily limited to age.

The current cloud of FOMO Insta FaceTwit deception where all you are fed 24-7 is people appearing to continually live unimaginably fun and vibrant lives is putting huge pressure on young people. And it simply isn’t true. All you see is everyone else’s highlight reel. But real lives aren’t like that.

Your life is enough. You are enough. Just as you are.

Sometimes being on your own is GREAT. It can be nice to share moments with people, but there’s a real bit of learning happening for many people about how amazing spending time by yourself can be. No one else’s needs or wants to worry about. Stay as long, or as short at any thing as you want. Go down weird exploratory rabbit holes of your own making that no one else would be interested in. Have random encounters with strangers. Notice details. Spend time in the moment - fully alive and unworried about whether anyone else is bored or wants to be somewhere else.
 
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