Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Depression makes us Bitter


No, really I mean it literally. A study published In May in the Annals of Family Medicine showed that in people with diabetes depression increases the risk of serious hypoglycemia by 40%. Hypoglycemia (dramatic drop in blood sugar) is a serious condition that sends a lot of people to the ER and can be fatal.

It is also the case that Depression is often (not always) accompanying diabetes. People with diabetes often take drugs that at this point work very well, sometimes too well in that they drop sugar levels too low. This being the case, depression can lower these levels even more sending the patient into a hypoglycemic episode. The lead researcher of the study, psychiatrist Wayne Katon, cautions people with diabetes to pay attention to symptoms of depression and seek treatment for it.   
Of course it is my strong opinion that there is no physical condition that if not caused by depression is not exacerbated by it. As I said in a previous blog, the tears the eyes will not shed the body will weep.

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