diabetes and depression

[Guest guest]

Or soemthing like that! Yes, I've had depression with

a capital " D " . In answer to an earlier question to

the list that I never responded to, when I first

learned of my diagnosis, I was almost relieved. It

helped to explain a lot of things, including a

depression that was so severe I was hospitalized.

Since I have been managing my diet and medication, I

am using a much lower dose of anti-depressant

medication and generally feeling better mentally. I

also know that occasional spells of low spirits/mental

fogginess are not necessarily a sign that I'm losing

what's left of my mind but could just be my body

making a few imperfect adjustments to amines and

enzymes and hormones and neurotransmitters and all the

stuff that somehow hang together and keep me going.

In the older model of medicine, in which an imbalance

of humors was seen as the source of disease, diabetes

was believed to be caused by a melancholic

temperament. I don't think this idea was just pulled

out of a hat but was based on some observation.

As recently as the early 20th century, doctors would

advise their patients with diabetes that they might

expereince occasional bouts of tears that are not

really indicative of any emotional problem but just a

symptom of their disease. (Perhaps when insulin came

along around 1918, the medical profession decided

those days are over? Someone with time and access to

a library of old medical textbooks might be able to

research this.)

So, yes Jany Diabetes and Depression are not only

realted, in my experience they are on very intimate

terms with one another.

Max

Subject: Diabetes and Depression

Reading all the posts makes me think (who me?) of

other things

that are or could be related to diabetes. My question

for now is:

How many of you have Diabetes and then Depression?...

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