DEALING WITH STRESS

stop the stress

Find your calm with these tips and strategies to manage stress and anxiety.

You’re packing for a family trip that you’ve been looking forward to for months. Yet the week before, your heart races, your stomach is in knots, and you lie awake at night, worried that you forgot to pack your meter or your hotel won’t be in a safe neighborhood. By the time you’re boarding your plane, you’re exhausted.

This type of worry isn’t garden-variety stress. It’s anxiety—and most people don’t realize there’s a difference between the two.

“Stress stems from something actually happening that is stressful, while anxiety is anticipating that something in the future will go wrong,” says Jenny Taitz, Psy.D., a board-certified clinical psychologist in New York City.

About 18 percent of Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, And if you have diabetes, you’re more likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Anxiety is a natural part of our body’s fight-or-flight response. When we encounter a threat (real or imaginary), we feel stress, which triggers the release of adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones are meant to prime the body for action by accelerating heart rate, tensing major muscle groups, and thickening blood, but they can potentially wreak havoc on your blood glucose levels.

In small doses, this heightened awareness can be a good thing. “Anxiety can be a signal to pay attention, marshal our resources, and make changes where necessary,” says David Sack, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist and CEO of Elements Behavioral Health, a network of addiction treatment centers. “But when we can’t turn off that anxiety, and worry is all we experience, then anxiety has become a problem.”

Feeling overwhelmed by worry and irrational fears to the point that your everyday life is affected may indicate you have a diagnosable anxiety disorder. The mental toll can be devastating, especially for PWDs.

“People will eat junk foods because they can activate pleasure centers in the brain and temporarily relieve stress,” says Mark Heyman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in San Diego who specializes in diabetes and also has type 1 diabetes. “People may also engage in avoidance behavior—they won’t be physically active or they avoid diabetes self-care.”

And it’s not all in your head. Anxiety can manifest in intense physical symptoms, including dizziness, digestion issues, headaches, high blood pressure, and even tingling in the arms and face. Fear and worry regarding these physical symptoms can actually increase anxiety, triggering cycles that are difficult to break out of, Taitz says.

Whether you’re occasionally overwhelmed by anxiety or it’s truly paralyzing your day-to-day life, simply wishing you felt in control won’t give you much relief. But there are ways to cope. Read on to learn how.

Lighten Your Load

Anxiety can rear its ugly head when we’re going through major life changes, like being diagnosed with diabetes. Here’s how to deal with the negative emotions that can come with a type 2 diagnosis or when dealing with diabetes burnout—the overwhelming frustration and fatigue that comes from managing a chronic condition.

Educate Yourself “The more you learn, the more empowered you’ll feel,” says Paula Wilkerson of Albany, New York, who was initially terrified by her diagnosis. “Now I know the diagnosis doesn’t mean life is over. You can begin an even better life that includes taking better care of yourself and understanding your body,” she says.

Challenge Your Thoughts When we feel anxious, we tend to default to “what if” thinking, which catapults us directly to the worst-case scenario: What if I forget my medications? What if there are no healthy options on the menu? What if my coworkers act differently around me if I tell them I have diabetes? Instead of letting these catastrophic thoughts repeat in your head, try identifying and addressing them, says Marla W. Deibler, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist and executive director of The Center for Emotional Health of Greater Philadelphia in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. “Ask yourself, ‘Is that really likely to happen?’ or ‘If it does happen, could I handle that?’” You can try digging emotionally deeper, too—like a therapist might—by asking yourself, “If something bad does happen, what might that mean for me?”

Open Up to Family and Friends Rather than shutting out people who care, invite them to support groups. Involve family and friends in your diabetes care. Let them know how you’re feeling. Tell them that if you seem angry sometimes, it may be due to your own frustration. Getting loved ones involved will help them understand diabetes and also keep you from feeling isolated.

Set Realistic Goals Unattainable objectives set you up for disappointment. Set small, achieveable goals. Do the best you can and accept that you won’t hit 100 percent every time.

Focus on the Positive Rather than dwelling on the prospect of developing complications someday, consider the healthful behaviors you’re learning and how those new habits will help you lose weight or boost your confidence and keep you from developing complications.

Get Involved Volunteer for a diabetes-related event. “These activities are therapeutic and encourage positive thinking, instead of the ‘poor me, not me’ mantra,” says Karmeen Kulkarni, RD, BC-ADM, CDE. “Being around people who have diabetes will help you share your feelings, plus you may pick up tips.”

Get Help When Needed If you try these strategies and still feel that your anxiety is weighing you down, you may benefit from the help of a therapist. It’s tough to admit you need help, especially when stigmas continue to be attached to mental health. “But asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness or of personal failure,” Taitz says. Therapy has a high success rate of treating anxiety. In some cases, antidepressants or antianxiety medications can be helpful on your journey to recovery. Consider it no different than medicine you’d take to treat a physical ailment like diabetes.