Oct 27 2008
Blood Sugar Up, Spirits Down
By many accounts, I’m a pretty laid back guy. When I find myself bickering, I usually have to take a step back and ask myself what the cause is and if there are any outside influences to my demeanor. Recently, due to some conversations where I was a lot shorter tempered than I should have been, I wondered if one outside influence might lie in diabetes.
The American Diabetes Association lists irritability as a symptom. Separate studies have been done for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes to see if they effect moods. Results showed that there were correlations between hypoglycemia and memory as well as between hyperglycemia and aggression.
Depression also accompanies getting diagnosed. This is true for most chronic illnesses though, so no big surprise.
What information I found pointed out that one’s sugar needs to be significantly out of whack for it to affect your moods. Some people were suggesting that your blood sugar would need to be in the over 180 range before you’d start seeing problems. I’m willing to bet, in my very not at all an expert opinion, that lesser numbers will still effect your moods, but more exasperating minor issues rather than creating them all on their own.
I have yet one more reason to keep a blood sugar diary again, to track my blood sugar vs. my moods. This is recommended to get a more concrete picture of what your diabetes is doing to your state mind. But even before I start, it’s nice to know that I’m not crazy; there really is a connection.
