MHM Magazine

44 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | Issue 2 | 2022 MHM My journey with diabetes and mental health began when I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) at the age of 10. I remem- ber the day distinctly; I’d stayed home from school as I was not feeling well. My mom jokingly exclaimed, “Why don’t we just test her sugar?” (As my brother had been diagnosed four years earlier we had the equipment). We test- ed my sugar, and it was 17.6. My mom called my GP to ask what we should do, and he was con- vinced I needed to see a specialist at once as this was an abnormal glucose reading. So off I went to my amazing endocrinologist, and I was officially diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Two days later, I was back at school with no more than just my insulin, a juice box (in case of a low), and a sarmie. As uncere- moniously as that, I continued with my everyday life. Looking back on it now, I am amazed at how well I adapted to this new life of having to care for myself every day. I was blessed to be in a position where I was witness to someone living with diabetes and had two very supportive parents. However, even with this amazing support system at hand, I struggled immensely while growing up with trying to navigate living with diabetes and living a seemingly “normal life”. I remember always struggling with going out on dates with boys or even being around my friends and properly managing my sugar as I felt that if I were to test or inject in front of them, that I would not be worthy of their love, but would in- stead be labelled a freak or be too much to handle “with my chronic disease”. I recently ran into an ex-boy- friend of mine, and he asked how I’d been. I made a comment about how I was sick with the flu and he commented how “not much has changed”. I remember while dating him that I went through a bad patch of always being sick with something. People who know about diabetes know that one of its lovely features is a weakened immune system. I remember leaving this conversation so angry and upset as if I sought out ill- ness or something. A family friend made the remark that I “don’t look diabetic”, as if my diabetes should present as some mystic fog that surrounds me whenever I enter the room. One of my friends in primary school was scared to touch me because she didn’t want to catch diabetes. I remember the constant re- marks of kids in school saying that my parents fed me too much sugar as a child or that if I changed my diet my diabetes would be cured. I can’t count the amount of time I’ve been asked if I “should be eating that as a diabetic” or strangers stopping me while I’m out to ask what my CGM is. Most recently, I was in a grocery store and after explaining what my CGM was to a stranger, he proceeded to ask if I was “allowed to eat” every item I pulled from my trolley. These examples just scrape the surface of what I’ve experienced dealing with people in relation to my diabetes. Having to go through interpersonal challenges like this every day and having to do the job of a vital body organ, while also dealing with the everyday life stressors that everyone else faces, I can’t believe that there’s almost no mental health support for per- sons living with diabetes and other chronic conditions. Most people are diagnosed with T1D when they’re still very young, and are then left to navigate their diabetes, and handle these diabetes-related stressors all by themselves. I’ve been to see various psychologists in my life and while some try to relate or help, I’ve always felt that they just don’t understand diabetes and what living with it is like. They lack the physiological understand- ing of diabetes and I think this is evident when they are trying to give interventions. They’re not to blame as there is a fundamental lack of education around diabetes in the public. As previously mentioned, I was blessed with an amazing support system, but not everyone is as lucky. I recall several visits to my endocrinologist where I’ve seen families in disarray over a diabe- tes diagnosis. Many of them sent off to adopt this new way of life without any psychological help or coping skills. Many endocrinolo- gists do amazing jobs of adopting the counsellor and doctor role but, DIABETES AND ITS TOLL ON MENTAL HEALTH By Courtney Sandham LIVING WITH...