Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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If you have T1D, have you also been diagnosed with depression? If so, were you diagnosed with depression before or after you were diagnosed with T1D? Cancel reply
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I was diagnosed with and treated for situational depression as an adult related to an episode of PTSD that had nothing to do with diabetes.
Yes it’s normal to feel sad or stressed out at times, whether you have diabetes or not. That doesn’t mean you have depression. I’m grateful diabetes is the worse thing I have. I’ve seen my peers and relatives in my age group suffering from Alzheimer, Parkison, blood clots and other things they have no way to fight. Actually diabetes has made me stronger and more determined to fight this condition. The word “depression “is over rated.
The poet Yeats wrote in his famous “Second Coming,”
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
I may be the worst. But full of passionate intensity am I. Neither depression nor PTSD are to be taken lightly. The DSM does not have either condition manifesting itself solely as “sadness.” Some are, but some are also vigorously and indefatigably aggressive. In our family, the manifestation has resulted in one death, one near-miss, and one pending. Do not treat these two conditions lightly. Please.
The most ironic thing I got from working in a mental health clinic in the army (yeah decades ago) it’s the kind of normal to react to different stressors. If there’s no reaction in any way than it just might mean we’re not acting or reacting normally. White there’re times I get depressed when I consider friends who died of other problems; sisters death of cancer: I’m actually doing well.
Just do I can figure out this this old age trash, a different part hurts every day!
(today moving out a the damaged house)
I was diagnosed with T1D at the age of 4. Looking back I believe I had depression most of my life but was not diagnosed until around 31.
I was never diagnosed, but for me, it went like this:
1. This is never going away! 🙁
2. I can live with this 🙂
3. First health issue crops up. Uh oh! I’m soon dead 🙁
4. Many people in the world are worse off than I am 🙂
T1 44 years.
I’m sometimes a little frustrated having to deal with diabetes. I am in a position to educate others about diabetes and this gives me purpose and happiness. I am fortunate that at 72 I am able to participate in many physical activities like walking, biking, yard work, wood working, resistance exercises, and more.
Yes, a mild form of depression called dysthymia.
No diagnosis, but I anger a lot easier than I used to, particularly at the effects of T1: alarms from my Dexcom (particularly at night, mostly in-necessary compression lows), the time waiting to eat, and figuring carbs, and the need to get up for injections right after I sit down to enjoy a read or some TV!
At 82 years of age and more than 50 years with diabetes I’ve never been diagnosed with depression.
Your survey at 63% answering NO supports that having diabetes doesn’t mean you’re necessarily vulnerable to this condition. On the other hand I feel that having diabetes, even when not a blessing, makes you more determined to fight for health and life.
Agreed – it has been my experience that living with T1 diabetes tends makes to make one more resilient, aware of oneself with an enhanced determination to take care of the body, heart and mind which gives us a fighting chance to live a healthy life against the odds. Ultimately, we make our own choices on how to react or deal with stressors mentally, emotionally, and physically to the best of our abilities.
Which brings up the question – what is depression and what causes it? Is it something physical, emotional or mental? Or a complex combination of all three???
I respectfully disagree that having diabetes doesn’t mean diabetics are more vulnerable to depression. We are more vulnerable.
In 2019, the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) said that 7.8% of all US adults had depression. The % changed based on race, age, and gender, but there was no % listed that was over 15.2%.
The sampling in this group only represents Type 1 diabetics and it LIKELY (although this next bit is just supposition on my part) represents highly motivated diabetics who are more likely to take care of themselves and also diabetics that have easy access to computers and time for this group.
The 7.8% of all US adults likely has many diabetics included in it which leads me to make the supposition that those without diabetes and diagnosed with depression is likely a lower percentage than 7.8.
Therefore, my reading of 30% of Type 1 diabetics being diagnosed with depression IS significantly more than the general population.
I think that the supposition that having diabetes makes you more determined to fight for life is something that can only be determined on an individual basis. I don’t think it is a general trait of diabetics. It is unfair and dismissive of struggles to say that all diabetics are more determined or more resilient. (Because those that are struggling will feel like they must be doing something wrong if it’s hard for them.)
Just because you have not struggled or struggled minimally does not mean there aren’t diabetics who have struggled _mightily_. There are 30-ish% who are saying they are there.
In my opinion, a 30% statistic should make everyone massively concerned! That’s one in three-ish diabetics having depression. And depression makes dealing with diabetes harder than it already is.
And not talking about the struggle is a problem. Especially if these individuals are shamed into keeping silent. Encouraging those to seek mental health help is the best way for this group to help!
Please celebrate that you have been in the 60-ish percent that didn’t get depression!!! I will celebrate that with you. But, don’t dismiss or diminish or treat as insignificant the 30% who were brave enough to say yes… and even more, those that were courageous enough to give their stories!
Let’s celebrate this courage!!! Let’s all give them a respectful “thank you for sharing!” instead of a “meh, it’s not that big a deal.”
It’s a good time for everyone to remember that diabetes is different for each individual who has it. (as an example, being diagnosed in adulthood is a vastly different experience than being diagnosed as a child.)
I realize times and people had changed. Decades ago it was considered normal to be depressed over uncomfortable events, situational times. Divorce, work, and illness. Who would be happy with a diabetes diagnosis?
But support systems have changed, yeah I’m old but used to be a time we could talk to someone patient (not always wiser?). Not crazy, don’t necessarily need “mood altering” meds, not clinically depressed, but sometimes needing just a friend. Unfortunately with so many people are still alone. Reading here the feeling of depression often came years after diagnosis. Admittedly maybe a compilation of years and events.
I take exception that a diabetic diagnosis makes one headed for a diagnosis of depression. Granted I don’t run with depressed folks, they run away? With all statistics aside now is the absolute best time to be a diabetic.
…never boiled a syringe
…never sharpened a needle
…real glucose stripes rather than urine strips
…thanks to newer insulin and technology diabetics are no longer magically advised to forgo having children, no longer cautioned about activity, no longer cautioned about “planning for your demise”
THAT would be depressing, but this world doesn’t revolve around me and my comfort. No matter what I say. Might get it of here alive
During adolescence I was diagnosed with depression and briefly “treated” with electric shock therapy. That was many decades ago and since then have not been diagnosed as depressed.
Diagnosed with depression about 10 years after T1D Dx. Took a long time to find right medication. SSRI medication (Prozac, Zoloft etc.) made me suicidal finally after many hospitalizations they put me on Ritalin and Wellbutrin and I have been doing much better with the Depression. Apparently that is an unusual combination of meds but they tried me on everything and it took 5 years to find the right medication so if you are depressed and having trouble finding the right meds don’t give up. Just keep trying different medication. Eventually they will find what works for you.
I was diagnosed with depression after my T1D diagnosis but it was not related to the T1D.
Diagnosed T1, age 4 1/2 yr. Dx with depression around age 47-48.
I had no physical ailments as a child but was almost always depressed, increasing after vitamin b anemia and epilepsy, but after diagnoses of thyroid and diabetes and other ailments it hits occasionally but continues to improve. I am a much happier person realizing that life is a fatal condition we all share.
Oh, Molly! I was reading your post thinking, “Yikes! This person has SO much on their plate!!” But that last sentence made me LOL! Thank you for that… and, I hope I was supposed to laugh… gallows humor and all that!
Gallows humor, yes.
We all eventually share the same heart beat rhythm.
It reminds me to enjoy myself with others.
No, and more to the point I AM NOT depressed. I know I am fortunate and I support anyone who is and hope they can find the best treatment for it.
Thank you, Patricia, for those lovely words!
Diagnosed with depression after T1 diagnosis, along with ADD. However I had symptoms all my life.
Diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
I agree with those who say not to treat it lightly!!! And, please respect the struggle of and try to empathize with people who DO have it.
Depression isn’t a “normal sad”.
And, as I said in one of my “replies”, 30-ish% who answered yes is nothing to dismiss. Everyone should be concerned with this number!
Diagnosed after T1D (late-onset at 47), but have had episodes of depression since puberty that went undiagnosed until my 30’s.
I was emotionally fucked up BEFORE I developed TID in 1959. My fucked-up mental state contributed to TID onset. Capitalism, realization that all life could be destroyed in nuclear warfare (still our greatest threat), the Cold War, screwed up family life, and shift from Einstein to quantum mechanics paradigm, genetics….all factors.
Not to mention exposure to radiation as a “downwinder” from Hanford, still the most contaminated toxic waste site in the Western Hemisphere. (Born in Pasco. With 1947 radioactive plume, my dad moved us to Seattle. You have any doubt about radiation increasing risk for diabetes? Check the South Pacific islands where US tested nukes. Look at after affects in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
I’m on an approved RXd anti-depressant, but Percocet or opium would be more effective in feeling “normal.” Caffeine helps. Canned pink salmon from Alaska, sardines, walnuts, low carb, many cruciferous veggies and spinach, almonds, sunflower seeds and this website all help me cope. Wouldn’t you LOVE to see the 300 page algorithms, the protocols that the TID used to win Olympic swimming gold medals? Or the TID that climbed Everest? I’m willing to volunteer for stem cell (CRSPR) cure. We know this CRISPR is effective because it’s been used to defeat COVID-19.
Diagnosed before T1D. Took 4 years to overcome. Been free of it ever since 2000.