Being diagnosed with diabetes is one of the scariest situations that a person can face. The fact that people experience diabetes fear is no surprise. Diabetes is a disease which can cause disability, heart disease, stroke, coma, and even death. Those who have the disease must struggle to avoid sugar, fat, and other harmful foods while making many lifestyle changes that can be very difficult. In addition, many people have a diabetes fear of injecting the insulin that they need. This is particularly true for children.

Some people who don’t even have the disease have diabetes fear. Diabetes fear is called diabetophobia. A person may become dizzy, agitated, and upset around triggers such as literature, TV programs, and discussions of the disease. This is especially true for people who have seen individuals suffer with the disease or people who are overweight or have poor eating habits.

Diabetes fear can lead to anger, denial, and serious depression. According to Diabetes.co.uk, diabetes and mental health is a serious issue that is often over looked.  Many mental health problems manifest after diagnosis for many patients, so much so that some diabetes organizations are considering making psychiatric care and counseling a part of regular treatment.

 

Diabetes and Anxiety

 

Managing diabetes can be a difficult thing, and diabetes fear and anxiety can contribute to this difficulty. There are a number of people with diabetes who have brittle diabetes. This is a type of diabetes that worsens because the person either has a pre-existing mental problem or an existing one from the stress of handling the disease.

When the disease is not handled well, then the person’s blood sugar levels become erratic, switching from extreme highs to extreme lows. This causes more hospital stays, missed work, and other stresses which in turn cause the disease to again get worse. This vicious cycle is difficult to break, and it often takes a prolonged hospital stay to fix the problem.

Diabetes fear and anxiety can contribute to a number of issues. One of the most notable is depression. Learning to manage stress well is going to help you through many of these hardships. Relaxation techniques are highly recommended. These include tactics such as breathing exercises, progressive relaxation, meditation, visualization, and self-hypnosis.

A very helpful way to relieve diabetes fear, anxiety, depression, and anger is through exercise. Exercise helps you to relieve these feelings by reducing tension, but it also causes the release of endorphins which makes you feel better. Not only that, but through exercise you are gaining better control of blood sugar levels. Yoga, walking, swimming, and biking are great exercises for a diabetic.