Diabetes patients are up to three times more susceptible to depression, according to medical research. It's not just about general well-being and awareness of an incurable disease. Also about the so-called chemical storm – constant fluctuations and increased levels of sugar and insulin.
Julia Królicka learned at the age of five that she had type 1 diabetes.
– In the hospital they tried to give me insulin with a PEN and I remember how I screamed and squealed and then they wanted me to give insulin to the teddy bear and it was the same. I threw the teddy bear at the end of the room and said I wouldn't do it, recalls Julia Królicka.
It didn't get any better after that. As a teenager, she was ashamed of having to take insulin. She felt tormented. Depression set in. – When you're depressed, it's hard to even get out of bed and brush your teeth, let alone manage your diabetes and your whole life, he admits.
The problem is gigantic
Anna Przybylak also struggles with depression caused by diabetes. – I am under constant care of both a diabetologist and a psychiatrist. This is a long-term process. I have also undergone intensive psychotherapy, so all this requires a lot of time, says Anna Przybylak.
Doctors estimate that people with type 1 diabetes are three times more likely to suffer from depression. And the main reason for their problems is that they live in constant fear of hypoglycemia, i.e. low blood sugar levels, which can lead to death. Living in such fear for years causes diabetic stress and the so-called diabetic burnout.
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The problem is gigantic: in Poland we have eighteen thousand children with type 1 diabetes and one in three suffers from depression.
– A child with type 1 diabetes is not only at home, but above all spends most of his time at school, and school is not entirely friendly to such a patient – points out Prof. Małgorzata Myśliwiec from the Department of Pediatrics, Diabetology and Endocrinology of the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk.
Depression in diabetics – both children and adults – also has biological causes: it is caused by frequent fluctuations in sugar and insulin in the body. The latter stimulates chronic stress hormones. However, the activity of serotonin, which is, among other things, responsible for improving mood, decreases.
– As a result, these patients become tense, frustrated, unable to cope, and this is where an intervention is really needed – a complex, integrated one – says Katarzyna Cyranka, M.D., from the Adult Psychological Clinic of the University Hospital in Krakow.
So what to do? Julia Królicka and Anna Przybylak have already developed methods: first of all, they do not hide their depression and diabetes, they talk about it openly, they ask for help and help others, and they use psychotherapy. They take medications, exercise, exercise and know that they are not alone in this fight for a good quality of life.
– When sport accompanies me, I actually feel much better – notes Anna Przybylak. – Thanks to this, I learned to accept my diabetes and it was my light at the end of the tunnel – says Julia Królicka.
Main photo source: TVN24