Living well with Diabetes: supporting your emotional wellbeing

Looking after your emotional wellbeing is an important part of living well with diabetes.

Living with diabetes can involve more than managing blood glucose levels, medication, food and exercise. It can also have an impact on how you feel emotionally, with the ongoing demands of managing a long-term health condition sometimes leaving you feeling overwhelmed, frustrated or exhausted. While taking care of your physical health is important, looking after your emotional wellbeing is just as valuable. Understanding the emotional side of diabetes and finding ways to support your mental wellbeing can help you feel more confident, balanced and supported in managing life with diabetes.

The emotional side of living with diabetes 

Living with diabetes can have quite the emotional toll. Whether it’s due to the ongoing physical demands of diabetes management or the constant worrying about your glucose levels or general health it can very quickly become very overwhelming. It can feel frustrating when your things don’t go to plan even more so when your diabetes management doesn’t go to plan. Not only is it frustrating it can cause physical symptoms that can completely disrupt your day. Dealing with all of these stressor everyday can also cause those with diabetes to feel different to others. It’s important to acknowledge that these feelings are normal when experiencing a chronic illness and you’re not alone in feeling them. However it is also important to be aware that if these feelings of stress, worry or low mood around your diabetes start to affect your day to day life then you may benefit from seeking support. 

Diabetes Distress: when managing diabetes starts to feel overwhelming

Diabetes distress refers to the emotional burden that can come with managing diabetes. Diabetes distress can affect your motivation, wellbeing and how managing diabetes feels. 

Some signs that you may be struggling with diabetes distress are:

• Feeling constantly overwhelmed by diabetes

• Avoiding or becoming frustrated with diabetes management 

• Feeling like you’re ‘failing’ at managing your condition 

• Losing motivation 

• Feeling emotionally exhausted 

• Spending a lot of time worrying about diabetes 

The connection between stress and diabetes

Having a strong mind-body connection is very valuable when managing diabetes, but also can become very overwhelming as when our body is under physical stress our mind can become stressed and emotionally drained. Stress can affect many parts of our physical health such as sleep, energy , mood, motivation, concentration, daily routines and even blood glucose. Stress can make everyday demands of diabetes feel much harder to manage. 

Looking after your emotional wellbeing

Some strategies that you can use to help diabetes feel more manageable and take some of the emotional weight off are; 

Give yourself realistic expectations

• Diabetes management isn’t about being perfect, you will have difficult days but you’ll also have some really good days. The uncertainty can be difficult but if you try to wake up with the expectation that everyday will be perfect you will find yourself becoming burnt out very quickly. 

Notice how you’re feeling 

• Check in with yourself not just emotionally but also physically. 

Create manageable routines

• Small realistic habits can feel more achievable than trying to manage everything at once. 

Make space for things you enjoy

• Diabetes doesn’t have to take over every part of your life 

Practice self compassion 

• Try to speak to yourself in the same supportive way you would speak to someone else 

Reach out for support 

• You don’t have to manage your diabetes alone. 

When might it be time to seek support

You may find that you will benefit from support if you are experiencing:

• Persistent anxiety or low mood

• Feeling overwhelmed or emotionally exhausted

• Difficulty coping with your diagnosis 

• Significant worry about your health 

• Loss of motivation 

• Changes in sleep or daily functioning 

• Feelings of guilt or shame around diabetes 

• Difficulty adjusting to changes in your health 

You don’t need to wait until things feel unmanageable before asking for support 

How can psychology help

Psychology can support you by helping you adjust emotionally to living with a chronic illness and develop healthier coping mechanisms. Psychological support doesn’t replace medical care but can work alongside your existing health care team. 

Our provisional psychologist, Napoleon Forde, has a particular interest in working with clients who are having trouble managing the emotional side of diabetes. Napoleon has lived experience so can provide an understanding and compassionate point of view. For more information on Napoleon you can visit his personal bio here.