Diabetes Awareness Month

In Support of Mental Health Awareness Month

 There are 2.1 million Americans who have Type One Diabetes.

 

The CDC reports it is one of the fastest growing chronic conditions.

 

 People with Type One Diabetes experience the following:

 

·       20 percent increase in depression

·       Two to three times the rate of anxiety

·       Fear of hypoglycemic emergency

·       Burn- out and distress over having a “full-time 24/7 job” of just staying alive (there are no vacations from T1D)

·       Increased risk of eating disorders

·       Alarm fatigue (due to medical technology with alarms for high or low blood glucose)

·       Higher rates of sleep interruptions, (poor sleep can lead to a constellation of physical and mental health issues)

·       Negative thoughts for not meeting A1C, (despite technology advances only 25% A1C in developed countries

·       Caregivers also experience distress.

 

Ideas to help

I’m not a doctor, so please don’t take this as medical advice.  Please reach out to your medical team for advice.

Some studies show positive results with the following:

·       Therapy

·       Peer Support

·       Group Therapy

·       Positive reinforcement over negative

  

TIPS ABOUT PEER SUPPORT

Studies are few, but evidence shows that peer support can help people with T1D.

Be careful about online outreach.  Ensure that you are getting advice from a legitimate source. There are a lot of scams around diabetes and health care overall. Try an introduction over Zoom or reach out to your doctor.  

Our Children’s Hospital has a teen support group. You could start there.  You probably won’t align fully with everyone.  Don’t take medical advice from them, but do reach out when you’re having a rough day or night with Type One.  

Group therapy support can be both online and in person.

Studies suggest positive reinforcement works better than the old-fashioned blame and negativity.  One study paid teens to check blood and they did check more.

 

SLEEP IMPROVEMENT

The more we know about sleep the more we understand how much it contributes to both physical and mental health.  For example, resilience and decision- making skills needed for managing Type One are impaired when you are sleep deprived.  Additionally, sleep deprivation leads to unhealthy increases of cortisol, damaging your body.

If a person’s health management forces them to do stuff overnight, it’s forcing them to be unhealthy.  It’s almost like having someone smoke to lose weight.  I try to tell my child who has Type One Diabetes to try a snack before bed so they won’t be low.

But even with planning, Pod failures and Dexcom failures happen.   Exercise crashes happen.

The other scary thing is sleeping through alarms. Many people don’t wake up for a fire alarm let alone a Dexcom alarm.  Many people have to download loud Apps or trouble-shoot sleeping through alarms, but this can disrupt sleep which is not healthy.

Alarm fatigue (or I prefer “alarm rage”) happens when someone can’t sleep when they are enraged by hearing alarms or unconsciously tuning it out.

Time in range should not be the only measure of success.

Things like:

·       Quality of life

·       Positive attitude

·       Self- Confidence

·       Self- care

·       Exercise

·       Healthy Eating

·       Checking Blood Sugar 

 

Places to find help

·       Ask your medical team. 

 

·       American Diabetes Association (ADA)

·       ADCES 

·       Beyond Type One

Children with Type One Diabetes (CWD

·      Diabetes Online Community (DOC)

·     Type One Nation