STUDIES have shown that dealing with diabetes mellitus (DM) and depression is never easy. When you have these two disorders at the same time, you are going to suffer more of its DM complications.
Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic disorder in which there are high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period that causes frequent urination, increased thirst, and increased hunger. While depression is a serious affective disorder that causes feelings of sadness and or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. Both of these illness, if left untreated, can cause other problems.
Although, people with DM said that the psychosocial demands of DM leads to affective disturbance, depression might be cause by something else, like genetics. So, if you have depression, you need to consult a doctor specializing in mental health because the treatment for DM and depression are different. There is a need to comply with its medications – both for DM and separately for depression.
It is true that managing DM complications, complying with diet and monitoring of blood sugar affects the quality of life. However, depression too has its consequences more than it affects the quality of life. Because depression shatters the totality of life.
More so, DM and depression is an illness which I find to destruct people slowly. DM causes irritability when you want to eat something you cannot, anger when people surrounding you monitors what you eat and frustrates you when your blood sugar is up.
For depression, it frustrates you without reason. You become hopeless when everything seems to appear okay. You cannot sleep or you might over sleep and there is loss of interest in things once is pleasurable to you.
Indeed, the stress of daily diabetes management and depression itself slowly shatters one’s life. People with DM and depression may feel alone or may set themselves apart from their friends and family because of all this extra work. However, new research have shown that by addressing depression, glycemic control is enhanced, mood and quality of life is significantly improved.
Whatever is true with DM and depression – I guess both of these illnesses impact the physiologic and affective aspect of an individual, though it may be frustrating but there is always hope to overcome its struggles. In DM, you learn self-discipline while in depression, you learn self-preservation.