By Katy Walker, LCSW, LDE, and Laura Hieronymus,
DNP, MSEd, RN, MLDE, BC-ADM, CDE, FAADEH
aving diabetes can cause stress. Think about
the times you’ve experienced stress in rela-
tion to your diabetes. Between checking blood
glucose levels, monitoring food intake, taking
your medication, and making healthy choices,
the sheer thought of all you have to do can
become overwhelming. Stress affects the “fight
or flight” hormones in your body. When you have
diabetes, these stress hormones—adrenaline,
cortisol and norepinephrine—can contribute to
high blood glucose levels. Additionally, feeling
this type of stress may make it harder for you to
take care of yourself. Some stress is unavoidable,
but the good news is that you can learn to handle
stress so it doesn’t get the best of you (see sidebar,
“The four As of stress relief”).
Ongoing stress can also leave you more vulner-
able to developing negative coping strategies,
such as denial, as well as increase the likelihood
of mental health issues. Individuals with diabetes
are 50% more likely to suffer from depression
or anxiety and are also at higher risk for other
mental health issues, such as posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD). Similar to staying healthy with
diabetes, staying mentally fit is another impor-
tant step for your overall well-being. A mental
health-care professional may be a necessary
part of the multidisciplinary (team) approach
for treating diabetes (see sidebar, “Referral to a
mental health professional”).Diabetes and
Mental Fitness
DiabetesSelfManagement.com 21