Depression

World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 every year, the theme for world health day 2021 is Building a fairer, healthier world. This year Depression is increasing higher. The best we can do is spread awareness around Depression and here’s an effort to do that. Depression can be due to different reasons and strangely, diseases like diabetes can lead to Depression.

Depression is a mood disorder that is brought about by a persistent sadness feeling and lack of interest. It affects how someone feels, behaves and think and as a result, can lead to a physical and emotional breakdown. Once moods being down occasionally is quite reasonable. However, there are people whose feeling of sadness can’t just go away. To them, life looks hopeless.

What are Depression Symptoms?

Depression can be more than a constant state of sadness or feeling “blue.”

Major depression can cause a variety of symptoms. Some affect your mood, and others affect your body. Symptoms may also be ongoing, or come and go.

The symptoms of depression can be experienced differently among men, women, and children differently.

Men may experience symptoms related to their:

• mood, such as anger, aggressiveness, irritability, anxiousness, restlessness
• emotional well-being, such as feeling empty, sad, hopeless
• behavior, such as loss of interest, no longer finding pleasure in favorite activities, feeling tired easily, thoughts of suicide, drinking excessively, using drugs, engaging in high-risk activities
• sexual interest, such as reduced sexual desire, lack of sexual performance
• cognitive abilities, such as inability to concentrate, difficulty completing tasks, delayed responses during conversations
• sleep patterns, such as insomnia, restless sleep, excessive sleepiness, not sleeping through the night
• physical well-being, such as fatigue, pains, headache, digestive problems

Women may experience symptoms related to their:

• mood, such as irritability
• emotional well-being, such as feeling sad or empty, anxious or hopeless
• behavior, such as loss of interest in activities, withdrawing from social engagements, thoughts of suicide
• cognitive abilities, such as thinking or talking more slowly
• sleep patterns, such as difficulty sleeping through the night, waking early, sleeping too much
• physical well-being, such as decreased energy, greater fatigue, changes in appetite, weight changes, aches, pain, headaches, increased cramps

Children may experience symptoms related to their:

• mood, such as irritability, anger, mood swings, crying
• emotional well-being, such as feelings of incompetence (e.g. “I can’t do anything right”) or despair, crying, intense sadness
• behavior, such as getting into trouble at school or refusing to go to school, avoiding friends or siblings, thoughts of death or suicide
• cognitive abilities, such as difficulty concentrating, decline in school performance, changes in grades
• sleep patterns, such as difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
• physical well-being, such as loss of energy, digestive problems, changes in appetite, weight loss or gain

The symptoms can extend beyond your mind.

Can Diabetes can lead to Depression?

Diabetic people do not have depression but are at higher risk of getting depression as compared to those people without diabetes. This is so because diabetes requires a lot of resources to manage it daily. The management process can be so stressful and can lead to depression. One needs to regularly watch diet, keep on checking sugar levels and so forth. This extra work can make one feel lonely and separated from other family members leading to depression.

There are times when one can face complications like nerve damage due to diabetes, or one might have problems regulating blood sugar levels. This makes one so frustrated and gets the feeling that one is losing control of managing his or her diabetes condition. The sense of frustration and things getting out of hand may lead to depression.

Some people live in denial and do not want to accept their conditions. Diabetic patients are not an exception and many of them live in denial. This denial is because of depression. Patients at this level become incapable of performing diabetes self-care practices. Regular checking of blood sugar level may become too tedious for people in this category. At this stage, one lacks the energy or zeal to soldier on. Eating becomes a problem, and this might affect one’s health.

Tips for getting rid of depression

If you want to get out of depression then you need to accept it. Hence the, first tip of getting rid of depression is acceptance. One must first accept his or her condition as diabetic. It is not the end of life once you find out that you have diabetes. People living with diabetes can live a normal life like those without diabetes. All one needs to do is positively adopt the diabetes management practices such as checking diet, exercising regularly, always checking the blood sugar level among others.

It is always important to seek help from a professional if one notices sign and symptoms of depression. Don’t be afraid and keep things to yourself on the road to recovery is through sharing your experiences. Talk to your doctor, and he will give you the necessary advice concerning your condition. Your doctor might refer you to a health professional such as a psychiatrist, psychologist or professional counsellor.

Psychotherapy with a professional health care provider is the other tip of overcoming depression. A therapist will help you analyse the problems leading to depression and help find ways of solving the problem.

Anytime you feel depressed try to engage yourself in activities that you love, like reading, binge-watching, talking, sleeping, playing etc. We will soon update this post with more tips and a rehab centre. Also, there is no medicine for depression however there is medicine for the side effects of depression-like weight loss or weight gain etc.