January 28, 2005
Behavior, Mental Health
Question from Canada:
I’m a 13 year old female with diabetes. Lately, I have become super paranoid about what my blood sugar level is. I check about 50 times a day and I always feel low. I have anxiety problems, too, and I often feel like I’m going to faint. Is this just hormones or something else?
Answer:
It sounds like what you are experiencing is anxiety versus hormonal changes. Sometimes, low blood sugar reactions can resemble panic attacks and panic attacks are a symptom of anxiety. I would encourage you to talk to your diabetes health care team about this and ask for a referral to a mental health counselor (psychologist or clinical social worker) that can work with you about your anxiety. You may also want to ask the mental health counselor to talk to your diabetes health care team to help determine realistic goals for how often you should check your blood sugar.
DB
