Emotional Diabetes

By David Mendosa, Health Guide Monday, March 09, 2009
We think about controlling our diabetes with diet and exercise and usually with medication too. Seldom do we even consider the fourth leg. But a study published in the latest issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine and a forthcoming one by a Ph.D. student who just wrote me emphasizes the impor...
Kim Benjet, Health Guide
3/ 9/09 9:56am

Thanks for posting, Dave! I'll be interested in seeing the results of Waitkoff's research.

 

Kim

3/ 9/09 11:03am

Thanks David!

 

I too am often mystified at how little attention our psychological health gets when living with diabetes.  It is nice to see new things happening in that arena.

3/ 9/09 2:52pm

Our emotional state is effected easily by many variables. Strangely enough, even contracting one's facial muscles to express a particular emotion will unconsciously sway one's emotional state, proving that there really IS something to "putting on a happy face".

 

 

 

David Mendosa, Health Guide
3/ 9/09 6:23pm

Dear Karen,

 

I agree! So I make a point of smiling at myself when I look into the mirror the first thing every morning. Sometimes it isn't easy, but it always works!

 

David

3/ 9/09 6:59pm

Yet another one of your myriad of healthy habits, David!

Anonymous
Norman Savage
3/10/09 3:51pm
I'm a writer living in New York City and have diabetes for over fifty years. My doctor, before he retired, was a past president of The American Diabetes Association and he knows, first hand, what a crazy life I've led. Many years ago I began a memoir about all the years of being diabetic, what it meant to and for me, and what it led me into and out of. I realized then, but even more today, that for some reason there are very few books that talk about the emotional roller coaster that people with diabetes are on. There are books about the emotions that one goes through with cancer, heart disease, rare forms of genetic disorders, etc., but one rarely comes across "us" who face, on a day to day basis the mood swings, the concerns, the possibilities for heart attacks, strokes, amputations, kidney disease, blindness and the like, not to mention having to test, monitor, predict, cheat, lie, fortify before, during, after sexual encounters or those sticky, messy, unpredictable feelings that attach to us after we're diagnosed with the illness, like "fragile" and "damaged." I've lived a life of madness and mayhem. I’ve had diabetes for 50 years and have been addicted to one substance of another for 45 of those years. It has been a beautifully joyful and painful schizophrenic ride: drugs, booze, women, music, writing, and learning with each new success or defeat. This memoir tries to come to grips with all of life's fractures and contains everything--even you. My memoir was going to be published by a major New York house until the economic crisis hit. My agent suggested I keep writing my new novel and wait until the crisis corrected itself. After forty-five years of writing, I was tired of waiting. To get a look at the memoir and the interview you can Google my name, Norman Savage, or contact me at: nksavage at earthlink dot net. Also, if you want to get directly to the memoir or interview I've included a few links: http://smashwords.com/books/view/715 Interview : http://blog.smashwords.com
David Mendosa, Health Guide
3/10/09 8:24pm

Dear Norman,

 

Thanks for your message. I'm sure that a lot of people will be reading about your crazy life!

 

Best regards,

 

David

3/14/09 3:37pm
I just got home from work. It's been a pretty miserable week--blood sugar swings, trying to make a buck in this economy with a stupid fascistic boss hanging over our every move, pecking away and peeking into the dark. It's strange: the days pass quickly and then like a kidney stone. Seemingly no rhyme or reason. Then, an hour ago, I found the first review of my memoir, JUNK SICK: CONFESSIONS OF AN UNCONTROLLED DIABETIC. It was so good it almost got an old man like me embarrassed. The reviewer was perceptive and sensitive in how he handled the diabetes, the process of addiction, and the attempt that we all share of climbing out from under. Here is a link to the review: http://www.teleread.org
Anonymous
Carol
8/ 6/09 6:50pm

Dear Norman,

Your message regarding emotions raising blood sugar levels was confirmation for me.  I was in NY and heard someone mention that very same thing.  I monitor my sugar levels daily, watch what I eat and also keep a log.  I was constantly puzzled why my "numbers" were high when I knew I was doing everything I was supposed to.  I intend to read your writings posted on the internet.  I hope the time will come, sooner than later, when you can publish your writings.  Many people like myself will find answers and relief as to why their sugar levels are so erratic.  Thank you very much.

 

3/15/09 2:01pm

DEAR DAVID, WE SPELL OUR LAST NAMES THE SAME WITH AN "S" INTEAD OF A "z" IN MENDOSA...I LIVE IN THE BOSTON AREA AND AM CURIOUS..PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. THANK YOU. I'LL BE WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU. MY E-MAIL ADDRESS IS ................mrsbfv11@comcast.net.................................

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By David Mendosa, Health Guide— Last Modified: 04/05/13, First Published: 03/09/09