Accepting and Normalizing Anxiety While Living With Diabetes
by IDS Emotional Health Counselor, Anna Sabino
It's in our blood to be anxious. We all have some level of anxiety. All of us. Even my dog gets anxious, his hair stands up straight in the back when he sees a vacuum bust out of the closet.
Ok ok, not the same, but when it comes to diabetes there is a lot of anxiety….
Normalizing anxiety in diabetes.
We need to expect that there will be some level of anxiety when it comes to managing our blood sugar. Period.
If you are used to living your life very planned out, and have a hard time with spontaneity, shifting plans, etc….your adjustment to life with diabetes is/was typically a bit more challenging…#amIright?
We need to stop pretending that diabetes is going to be "solvable." It is impossible. I see this all the time with my clients. Once we can accept that some level of anxiety is going to be present, the shoulders come down a bit.
Let's rewind a bit and actually define anxiety.
"My job is to protect her from the scary stuff she can't see. I plan for the future." — Anxiety (Inside Out 2)
When our bodies are exposed to a threat (eg, flashing lights behind us, about to give a presentation, etc) it triggers a response physically (cue sweaty palms, heart rate increase).
THE hardest part in all of this in regards to diabetes is that we are exposed to hundreds of these potential "threats" every single day…(double arrows down on the CGM anyone). We have access to so much information that could cause us some level of anxiety. At baseline we don't know what could happen so we often panic and go to the worst case scenario. Also normal.
AND when we're exposed to having these thoughts over and over again on a daily basis we can easily go into overdrive.
Ok Anna, but what do I do if my kiddo is so anxious about having a low that they refuse to leave the house? Or refuse to go to school? This is one of those examples where receiving some significant talk therapy or counseling is helpful. Not everyone with diabetes is going to have a physical reaction in the body that triggers these constant feelings of anxiety each and every time. AND if you or your kiddo is having these thoughts flood into your mind on the regular (like daily) then I highly recommend seeking some help.
My point here is that every single person on planet Earth was born a little anxious. People living with diabetes and who are exposed to forced decision-making hundreds of times a day, um yeah, we gonna be anxious and then some.
It's the "how to meet these thoughts and deal with them" that needs some work.
If these types of thoughts are overwhelming you or your family's brains to the point where you just don't know how to uncover them or process them, then pro help is a great choice.
Here are three "telltale signs" that anxiety is more than the average, "eeek I hope I don't go super low with this trip coming up." (note I am just highlighting SOME of them). Please speak with your healthcare provider to discuss your specific needs.
Anxiety is a vague super subjective hard to actually properly diagnose mental illness but one key indicator is frequency.
If these thoughts are taking over you/your family's brains and it is impacting/shifting your lifestyle noticeably (school/work/travel) etc, it's time to seek some help. Anxiety is also for the long haul. For at least 6 months these symptoms need to be present to receive an official diagnosis.
Everything bothers you. Nothing feels satisfying or "right" to the point where you're so stressed you might experience muscle tension and your body feels like it is so hard to relax.
Trouble sleeping. This is a big one in diabetes because we're so often interrupted by beeping or the fear of the beeping that it can be hard to tell. It's all a vicious cycle. But if you're consistently having trouble sleeping or falling asleep, and/or are "so exhausted all the time" this is another red flag.
At the end of the day, it's 100% normal to feel anxious. I'm here to help you figure out how much of it you can tolerate and offer some strategies to make this whole diabetes thing feel like it's taking over your brain just a bit less.
