Diabetes & Depression

Q: “I was diagnosed by my doctor as having diabetes some time ago. Lately, I have been feeling really down in the dumps. My blood glucose levels have been good generally. I am taking my medication. Even so, I still am not feeling myself. I feel tired a lot of the time. I am losing interest in a lot of things that I used to enjoy. Should I be concerned?”

A: When you are dealing with a disease like diabetes, it always is appropriate for you to be concerned about any changes that you detect in your overall health—and in your mood.

What you describe sounds like it may be depression. Unfortunately, people who have been diagnosed with diabetes have a higher rate of depression than does the general population. Indeed, a majority of people who have been diagnosed with diabetes are likely to experience depression at some point in time.

Your first course of action, if you have the symptoms you just described, is to consult with your doctor. Most general practitioners are capable of making at least a preliminary determination as to whether or not you are suffering from depression. Additionally, most internists and family doctors have received some specific training in identifying depression in their patients because of the wide spread occurrence of depression in the lives of people with diabetes.

If you are diagnosed with depression along with your diabetes, there are a variety of different courses of action that you can take depending on how serious your depressive condition actually is at any given point in time. For example your doctor may prescribe an anti-depression medication. Many people have had great success with anti-depression medications that presently are on the market. (As with any medication that you might have been prescribed for your diabetes, it is very important that you take your anti-depression medication as directed. Depression is a manageable disease for many, many people through the proper use of these types of medications.)

In addition to medications, there are a number of other steps that you can take to reduce the effects of depression and to bring your depression under control. Again, it is important to follow whatever directions your doctor makes in regard to treating your depression.

Proper diet and exercise can be great aids in combating milder forms of depression. Having been diagnosed with depression, you already should be paying attention to your diet. If you end up being diagnosed with a milder form of depression, monitoring your diet and exercising regularly will become doubly important.

Some people can also benefit from counseling. Counseling is regularly meeting with a trained professional to discuss and consider what is going on in your life. Through counseling, a professional will work with you to develop additional strategies to deal with your depression.

In the end, no matter how unsettling it may be to have been diagnosed with diabetes, you can come to an understanding that while diabetes is a life changing disease, it does not have to be a disease that destroys your life.

(David Khorram, MD is a board certified ophthalmologist, and director of Marianas Eye Institute. Questions and comments are welcome. Call 235-9090 or email eye@vzpacifica.net. Copyright © 2005 David Khorram.)