SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) - Getting diagnosed with type-1 diabetes can be an emotional shock for patients. But a new UCSF study shows that being able to manage those emotions can actually help patients manage the disease itself.
The process of managing blood sugar -- especially for patients who use insulin as part of their strategy -- is immensely detailed and consuming, which can often leave patients feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.
"What we've come to realize now over the last 10 to 15 years is that there is a form of anxiety and altered mood -- akin in many ways to what we know really well in the context of depression, which is also very common -- that consumes individuals with diabetes," Dr. Suneil Koliwad, UCSF's chief of endocrinology and metabolism, told KCBS Radio's Patti Reising on this week's episode of "As Prescribed."
The so-called "diabetes distress" makes a patient's ability to manage their blood sugar even more difficult.
"The motivation to do so, the ability to attend to all those details really diminishes as people's mood falls. And with that falling mood comes elevated blood sugars and poor control," said Dr. Koliwad. "That furthers the anxiety and furthers the reduction in mood and quality of life. And then that further reduces the emphasis placed on and the ability of one to manage their blood sugars effectively. And so it can form a snowball-like effect."
Diabetes distress is linked with poor self-management, such as missing medication doses, elevated glucose levels, more incidents of low blood glucose (hypoglycemia), and lower quality of life. The condition often goes underdiagnosed, but researchers believe it affects 42% to 77% of adults with type-1 diabetes.
Recent work, including the UCSF study , has utilized a formalized strategy to rapidly allow providers to identify individuals who may be suffering from diabetes-related distress, including metric based questions that allow individuals to self-identify or for providers to identify their patients.
"What this newly developed set of surveys does is identify what aspect of the management of diabetes is really getting in the way of an individual feeling in control, because the lack of control leads to helplessness and helplessness tends to lead to both anxiety and depressed mood," said Dr. Koliwad, who was not involved in this particular study.
"Then you identify how do we intervene to improve that specific thing that is getting in the way of good care, whether that's improving one's ability to get their insulin, dealing with the issues that the individual may be facing relative to costs of getting insulin, understanding fear and anxiety around injections, needles, and blood glucose monitoring, not necessarily understanding jargon that's being thrown around and providing education and a variety of related topics," Dr. Koliwad added.
Patients can then work with their doctor to develop a course of treatment to assist in alleviating the issues related to their specific problems.
Dr. Koliwad said the takeaway is that chronic conditions are really common and they require connection to manage.
"Our society as a whole is dealing with issues of loneliness, disconnect, and isolation now more so than it ever has," he said. "We know now in many contexts what the impact of isolation, loneliness, and disconnection can do to people. So if you take that and add to it the commonality of diabetes and under best circumstances, the amount of work that's required... you can see how a lot of people can become really isolated and that isolation can lead to excessive amount of disconnect. And that disconnect can really worsen the diabetes."
"I think all of us in society are benefiting from better connection these days, and I think that applies really most notably to people with chronic conditions precisely like diabetes," Dr. Koliwad added.
Listen to this week's "As Prescribed" to learn more. You can also listen to last week's episode to hear about UCSF Health hitting a major milestone with 15,000 robotic surgeries, here .
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
"As Prescribed" is sponsored by UCSF.
Most Popular
Comments / 0