The Truth About Diabetic Mental Health [From A T1d]

There’s a mental health crisis going on in our world. This, unfortunately, means that people with the trauma of diabetes may get pushed to the side. If your mental health isn’t good all the time, that’s okay. I’ve been there too. Whether it’s really bad burnout, the social anxiety that comes when an alarm goes off, or you just aren’t feeling like dealing with it today, all of these feelings are completely normal. The things you do are not easy. I’ve told many people, just because we carry diabetes well doesn’t mean it’s easy. There’s a reason that we are called diabetic warriors. Just know you are not alone.

Diabetic Mental Health: Burnout

I was having really bad burnout to the point I wasn’t taking great care of myself. I stopped dosing when I ate, stopped really caring about anything, and stopped being myself for a really long time. And in that time when I went into my youth group I put on a fake smile which I had mastered. Few people noticed. I didn’t want them to notice. I wanted to feel okay. I wanted to go in and actually want to be there, but I didn’t.

Burnout is something you can’t get through if all you do is fight it. It’s annoying, trust me I know. If you’re like me, then you would rather be able to physically fight something than wait for it to get better on its own, right?

Burnout is no place to live. It will destroy you mentally, physically, and spiritually. All anyone would tell me was to just “Take some time, don’t do anything, and just chill out.” I’m in high school, and the world doesn’t just stop when I want it to.

Then, I found a diabetic on Instagram. Her profile is called Dank Diabetes Memes. Funny, right? I didn’t realize that there was someone like me. She made fun of diabetes, while basically saying it sucked. I appreciated it so MUCH!

The fact that someone on the internet has the same problem as me made me feel better. Someone else was saying it’s okay not to be okay. I could DM her and ask questions, and she never made me feel stupid for not knowing. She made me realize that I wasn’t a bad diabetic for having burnout. In fact, it was normal.

Everyone has different ways of dealing with burnout. The things that work for me might not work for you, and that’s okay. Here’s what has worked for me. Take it worth a grain of salt. No worries if the things that make me feel better aren’t the same as yours!

When I get really burnt out I find something that I can have FULL CONTROL OVER! Whether that’s a piece of glass art, skateboarding, working on the bass line I really want to learn, or finally cleaning my room which has fallen into shambles, those are things I have some control over. If that’s not what you need, that’s completely fine. Sometimes that doesn’t work for me either. Sometimes it just takes time and time to say, “I hate this, it sucks, and I don’t want to do it”.

If having control is out of the picture, I turn to my family and those 10 trusted people. Last summer I was really struggling, and I finally caved. I told one of my best friends that I wasn’t doing too good. She completely understood. She never pressured me to do anything, but she did encourage me to get out of the house. We hung out at least once every week from that point on.

Telling someone you need help does not make you weak. I promise. It might make the way you’ve been acting make more sense to them. If they know you well they may have already noticed. They can help even if you don’t think they can.

If you need more help than these two options, that’s not a problem either. Talking to a therapist is always an option. Never worry what you feel with diabetes isn’t valid. It is. I have looked into therapy for myself.

The things you have to do are harder than most people know. You weren’t meant to carry it by yourself. John 8:29 says,”And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone.” Jesus himself has said he was never alone. If God sent him for us, then he is surely with us.

Diabetic Mental Health: Anxiety

You’re walking into a library, and your BG decides to take a nosedive causing your dexcom to start screaming in the most quiet place you can think of. You get that overwhelming wave of embarrassment and anxiety. Right? You’re at a sleepover, that constant worry that once everyone finally goes to sleep you gonna hear that dreaded sound. This feeling is normal, especially for new diabetics.

It’s scary, and makes you not wanna go places because of what could happen. Okay, go back and reread that last sentence. Notice that “could” is in italics. Don’t let the worry of what could happen make you miss the now! Confidence comes with time and experience. When you first learned how to ride a bike, you didn’t immediately become a BMX biker. Right? [If you did, you were a prodigy!] When, you first learned how to use a swing you probably weren’t as comfortable going as high as you are now.

If the part that makes your anxiety flare is when people look at your devices, that’s okay. People are going to be people. They’re going to look at something they don’t understand. If it makes you more comfortable, they make special patches you can put over your device that make them less obvious. If you are like me and don’t really care anymore, there are some really fun patches out there, too. [Here’s my favorite brand: Pump Peelz]

No one expects you to be able to control everything with T1d. Do the best you can do at the pace you are comfortable at. I’m proud of you.

YoOoOoO, you made it to the end! Congrats! I’m not super good with really deep stuff so enjoy this meme. :]