Can High Blood Sugar Cause Anxiety

Dopamine And The Glucose Effect

Glucose, or blood sugar, is the simplest of the carbohydrates. It is also essential for human survival. Glucose acts as the primary source of energy for every cell in the body, and the brain depends on it. An even supply of glucose keeps the brain functioning in a balanced way.

However, consuming too much added sugar may lead to increased irritability and peaks and drops in energy levels. Although the initial intake of sugar may feel positive, it will cause blood glucose levels to drop. It is this that affects the mind and body so dramatically.

For some people, however, sugar can be incredibly addictive. When a person consumes sugar, the mesolimbic dopamine system in the brain offers a reward, thereby increasing mood. The dopamine system starts working when feelings of pleasure approach.

Because these are added sugars, however, they are not beneficial to the body in any way. A high intake of these will mean chemical changes in the body. These occur to prevent overstimulation, so the body may crave more sugar on future occasions to achieve the same high mood.

How Can I Reduce Stress In My Life

There are many things you can do to reduce stress. The following are some suggestions:

• Take your medications as directed and eat healthy meals.
• Use relaxation techniques such as deep breathing.
• Get some exercise. You can reduce stress though activities such as dancing, walking, or biking. Do something that you enjoy.
• Remember to keep your sense of humor. Laughing helps to reduce stress.
• Join a support group. You can meet people with problems similar to yours and make new friends.
• Seek out professional help in order to talk about whats troubling you.

There are additional strategies that you can use to help reduce stress in your life. Talk to your diabetes educator or doctor for more ideas.

Ask Your Primary Care Doctor Or Diabetes Healthcare Team For Help

Just because youre dealing with anxiety now doesnt mean youll be dealing with forever especially if you get the help you need. Talk to your healthcare team about a referral to a therapist or about starting a medication to help you lessen your anxiety. There are so many options, but they can only help you if you ask for help.

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How Low Blood Sugar Causes Anxiety

Three hormones your body makes work together to keep your body in balance. Among other things, this means keeping your blood sugar levels appropriate for good functioning. These hormones are cortisol, insulin, and thyroid.

They make up the hormones most involved in a part of the NeuroEndoMetabolic Stress Response circuit called the Bioenergetics circuit. The NEM consists of six inter-related circuits made up of three organs or systems each that works to keep your body in a state of homeostasis, or balance. So, when stress becomes chronic and severe, regardless of source, the NEM works to counter the stress.

Stress In People With Type 2 Diabetes

For people with type 2 diabetes, high levels of stress can lead to an increase in blood sugar levels. When there is a high level of cortisol in the body, it causes body tissues to be less sensitive to insulin. Therefore, more blood sugar is available in the bloodstream. When this happens, blood sugar levels become imbalanced and can reach dangerously high levels, especially if it is left untreated.

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What Is High Blood Sugar

Hyperglycemia is the medical term describing an abnormally high blood glucose level. Blood sugar is measured in a sample of blood taken from a vein or from a small finger stick sample of blood. It can be measured in a laboratory either alone or with other blood tests, or it can be measured using a handheld glucometer, a small device that allows frequent monitoring of blood glucose levels without the need for a doctors office or laboratory.

Hyperglycemia or high blood sugar is a hallmark sign of diabetes and prediabetes. Normal ranges for blood glucose measurements can vary slightly among different laboratories, but in general a fasting glucose level is considered normal if it is between 70-100 mg/dL. Glucose levels may rise slightly above this range following a meal. Random blood glucose measurements are usually lower than 125 mg/dL.

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How Common Are Elevated Symptoms Of Anxiety

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Consider Taking A Medication

to help improve your mental state now while you work on other areas of your life. Your anxiety may be directly related to a part of your life that you can change, but while youre in the process of thattaking a medication that helps increase the good chemicals to outweigh the anxiety can make a big difference.

Some medications for generalized anxiety are actually classified as antidepressants:

• Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• Monamine oxidase inhibitors

Medications used specifically for anxiety attacks or panic attacks are in a category of their own and work more immediately:

• Benzodiazepines

Some of these medications might have an impact on your blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. Talk to your doctor about the potential of these before starting the drug, so you are prepared to make adjustments in your dosages.

Also, remember that there are several different kinds of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, so the first you try may not be the right fit for your body and your depression.

Difference Between Panic Attack And Low Blood Sugar

When youre feeling unwell and lightheaded, how you can tell if its because of low blood sugar or youre having a panic attack? It can be quite confusing.

Both these conditions can manifest with the same symptoms, which can lead to a common misdiagnosis. Some diabetics tend to confuse their symptoms with a panic attack, which might be actually due to hypoglycemia.

When a person feels unwell, lightheaded, sweaty, and has an increased heart rate, he might think its a panic attack. However, this is not only the case every time. Low blood sugar is another cause of these symptoms.

How to differentiate between them? Lets discuss them individually.

Panic Attack- this is usually an attack of sudden intense fear and anxiety. It can happen due to any stressful situation such as bereavement or sometimes without any apparent cause.

Low Blood Sugar- this condition, also known as hypoglycemia, occurs when your blood glucose level drops to a very low level. It can have various causing factors, such as skipping a meal, intense physical activity, etc.

While they both have different causes and factors, symptoms such as trembling, sweating, racing heartbeat, dizziness, etc. are common in both. They both tend to drain the energy out of a person, leaving them helpless.

An important characteristic that can differentiate between them is that blood sugar level fluctuates with diet and the symptoms of hypoglycemia can reverse.

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Emotional Stress May Cause A Rise In Glucose Levels

We are mostly aware of physical stress and how to manage it. Emotional stress is more complicated to detect and so more difficult to manage. Feelings like fear, anxiety, anger and excitement all cause the body to secrete stress hormones into the bloodstream, to help prepare the body for the so-called fight-or-flight response. When the body is under stress, the adrenal glands become enlarged and produce two hormones – adrenaline and noradrenaline. While the main role of noradrenaline is to prevent blood pressure from falling, adrenaline is an important blood glucose regulating substance1. Raising blood glucose is important in stressful situations, as the body prepares itself for a lot of physical and mental activity. The release of adrenaline helps achieve this and, combined with the increase in blood pressure, ensures the supply of oxygen and glucose to all parts of the body².

For people who do not have diabetes, the body releases insulin to reduce high blood glucose levels. However, for people with diabetes, stress may contribute to increase blood glucose levels for many days, weeks or months.

Research Into Sugar And Anxiety

Animal research seems to confirm these ideas. A study in 2008 found that rats that went on a sugar binge and then were deprived of food seemed to have a dopamine imbalance that lead to increased anxiety.

Another study published in 2009 found that long term sugar use seemed more likely to impair memory and reduce the ability to fight anxiety, although the mechanisms of how this happened are unclear. These studies suggest that sugar may affect your ability to cope with anxiety.

What to Do About Anxiety and Blood Sugar

The simple solution is to maintain a healthier diet. A healthier diet will be less prone to symptoms of sugar and insulin imbalances that often lead to panic and anxiety attacks. A healthier diet will also improve your body’s ability to cope with stress, and potentially provide you with more energy that you can use to exercise or change your lifestyle in other ways.

What is a healthier diet?

It is a diet that is:

• Free of processed foods .
• High in vegetables and moderate quantities of fruit .
• Foods of different colors .
• Foods with little to no added sugar.
• Meals that are high in protein, fiber, minerals like magnesium, and fatty acids.

Cutting down on refined sugars is important for overall health, and while it won’t have a significant impact on your anxiety, minor changes can add up over time. The healthier your body feels, the more youll feel good on the whole, and the easier it will be for you to manage your anxiety.

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Don’t Opt For Intermittent Fasting

Many people use intermittent fasting, or eating only during certain times a day, as a way to lose weight. For people vulnerable to anxiety and depression, however, intermittent fasting can make you more vulnerable to sudden mood swings and episodes of anxiety. It’s best to avoid intermittent fasting on a daily basis if you fall into this category.

How To Cope With Anxiety

When it comes to coping with anxiety, its important to find effective ways to deal with stress. For some, a regular meditation practice helps with stress management.

According to the Mayo Clinic, finding ways to better manage your time, practicing good sleep , eating balanced meals, and exercising are other ways to find relief, too. You want to calm the body down so it can better deal with stress day to day, Bereolos says.

Also, a diabetes or anxiety support group can help you cope with anxiety, especially if you think youre the only one experiencing it. It can help to rationalize your thinking, which in essence helps to treat the anxiety and depression going on, Bereolos says.

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How Stabilizing Your Blood Sugar Relieves Anxiety

I found this case report where a 15 year old girl was eating a poor diet of mostly refined carbohydrate that was causing her blood sugars to go up and down like a rollercoaster, causing severe hypoglycemia anxiety.

Switching to a diet that balanced her blood sugar levels significantly improved anxiety symptoms!

From the article:

AB is a 15-year-old female who presented with concerns of generalized anxiety disorder and hypoglycemia symptoms. Her diet consisted primarily of refined carbohydrates. The addition of protein, fat, and fiber to her diet resulted in a substantial decrease in anxiety symptoms as well as a decrease in the frequency and severity of hypoglycemia symptoms. A brief return to her previous diet caused a return of her anxiety symptoms, followed by improvement when she restarted the prescribed diet. This case strengthens the hypothesis that dietary glycemic index may play a role in the pathogenesis or progression of mental illnesses such as generalized anxiety disorder and subsequently that dietary modification as a therapeutic intervention in the treatment of mental illness warrants further study.

If you are suffering from anxiety, it is super important that you make sure your blood sugar levels are nice and stable and DO NOT ever dip into dangerously low levels.

I cant stress this enough!

As we have talked about, low blood glucose can both trigger and mimic anxiety symptoms, so avoid it all costs.

Fear Of Low Blood Sugars

A fear of low blood sugars is a very common and justified form of anxiety that anyone taking insulin or other medications that decrease blood sugar levels could develop.

Often, severe anxiety and fear around lows develop after experiencing an intensely severe low blood sugar that left you unconscious, in need of a glucagon injection, seizing, or occurred during a situation like when you were driving.

A traumatic low blood sugar experience can completely rob a person of their confidence in their ability to manage and treat the average low blood sugar. A severe low could happen to any of us and coming back from that experience psychologically isnt easy.

The biggest challenge with a fear of hypoglycemia is that you will inevitably experience low blood sugars again in your future unless you purposefully run your blood sugars high all the time in an effort to avoid them altogether. This doesnt, however, appease your anxiety because now you are putting your long-term health and safety in danger with consistently high blood sugar levels.

Rebuilding your confidence in your ability to manage your low blood sugars and bring your blood sugars back into a healthy range overall takes time.

Diabetes psychologist Dr. Mark Heyman from the Center for Diabetes and Mental Health works with his patients on exactly this.

Talk to your healthcare team! Explain to them how youre feeling, how youve been coping by restricting insulin to keep your blood sugars higher and ask for help.

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What Are Symptoms Of Depression

Too much stress sometimes can lead to depression. People with diabetes are more likely to be depressed than the average person. You may be at risk for depression if you have any of the following symptoms for more than a week:

• Feeling sad or irritable
• Having lost interest in activities you enjoy
• Feeling worthless

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The Effects Of Thyroid Hormone On Anxiety

The thyroid also responds to changes in cortisol. If your thyroid gland becomes dysfunctional, you can experience low energy, changes in mood, difficulty regulating body temperature, and weight gain. Depression and panic attacks may also result.

From the above, you can better understand how low blood sugar causes anxiety.

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What Is An Anxiety Disorder

An anxiety disorder is a psychological condition characterised by persistent and excessive anxiety and worry. This is also known as clinical anxiety. The worry is accompanied by a variety of symptoms:

In contrast to non-clinical anxiety, which is a normal response to a perceived threat or stressful situation, an anxiety disorder is problematic as it affects day-to-day functioning and causes significant distress. It cannot be attributed to the effects of a substance , a medical condition , or another mental health problem .

Anxiety disorders can take many forms, including:

• generalised anxiety disorder: intense excessive and daily worries about multiple situations
• social anxiety disorder: intense excessive fear of being scrutinised by other people, resulting in avoidance of social situations
• panic disorder: recurrent, unpredictable, and severe panic attacks
• specific phobia: intense irrational fear of specific everyday objects or situations .

• restlessness or feeling on edge
• being easily fatigued
• sleep disturbance

A subthreshold anxiety disorder is characterised by the presence of elevated anxiety symptoms that do not meet the full diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Although less severe, such symptoms are typically persistent, can also cause significant burden and impairment, and deserve attention in clinical practice.

What Happens To My Blood Sugar Levels When Im Stressed

During stressful situations, epinephrine , glucagon, growth hormone and cortisol play a role in blood sugar levels. Stressful situations include infections, serious illness or significant emotion stress.

When stressed, the body prepares itself by ensuring that enough sugar or energy is readily available. Insulin levels fall, glucagon and epinephrine levels rise and more glucose is released from the liver. At the same time, growth hormone and cortisol levels rise, which causes body tissues to be less sensitive to insulin. As a result, more glucose is available in the blood stream.

When you have type 2 diabetes, low blood sugars from too much medication or insulin are a common cause of stress. The hormonal response to a low blood sugar includes a rapid release of epinephrine and glucagon, followed by a slower release of cortisol and growth hormone. These hormonal responses to the low blood sugar may last for 6-8 hours during that time the blood sugar may be difficult to control. The phenomena of a low blood sugar followed by a high blood sugar is called a rebound or Somogyi reaction.

When you have type 2 diabetes, stress may make your blood sugar go up and become more difficult to control and you may need to take higher doses of your diabetes medications or insulin.

During times of stress, individuals with diabetes, may have more difficulty controlling their blood sugars.

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Keep A Close Eye On Your Blood Sugar Levels

Its always important to keep tabs on your stress and blood sugar. Thats why we recommend a fasting blood sugar test at every yearly physical.If your blood sugar starts to creep upwards, we can be proactive and start measures to help you.

This is particularly important if you have diabetes or prediabetes. In fact, if you have these conditions, we may suggest that you have blood sugar screenings more often. We can guide you through when you should check your blood sugar, and our dietitian can help you select healthy meals.