Chronic diseases such as diabetes affect emotional well-being along with your physical condition. In turn, stress and depression seem to affect blood glucose control in 2 ways:

• Emotional problems can drain a person of the motivation necessary to follow the eating and other lifestyle changes necessary to maintain good control.
• Stress can affect blood glucose levels through the release of hormones such as epinephrine, which triggers the liver to release glucose to provide the body with energy to cope with stress.

Thus it's important to learn how to cope with emotional distress. Here are some suggestions for doing that:

• Discuss your feelings with your doctor or other healthcare provider.
• Seek psychological counseling, ideally with a counselor who specializes in helping people with diabetes deal with the emotional aspects of the disease.
• Join a diabetes support group, where you can learn how others are coping with similar problems.
• Involve your family and friends - let them know how they can help.