Updated on September 25, 2024.
If you have diabetes, prediabetes, or blood sugar on the high side of normal, you have probably heard about the many potential health complications that may come from diabetes—from heart disease to vision loss to nerve damage.
It’s important to recognize that diabetes can also take a toll on your personal life. Here are three key ways diabetes may affect your social, emotional, and financial well-being—and what you can do about it.
Relationships may be strained
Diabetes can have a variety of effects on your personal connections with others for several reasons.
Your mood may fluctuate with your blood sugar levels. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, can cause many symptoms, including irritability and impatience. And hypoglycemia can also trigger epinephrine (adrenaline), which can cause anxiety, among other symptoms.
Irritability, anxiety, or impatience can be difficult for friends, family, and colleagues to understand—they may take your diabetes symptoms personally. To help bridge tense moments, make sure you’re having open conversations with your close loved ones during calm moments, when your mood is improved.
Share with them the ways that diabetes can affect your mood and why. Invite them to be an active partner in your diabetes lifestyle too by educating them about the disease and by supporting your diabetes self-care and diabetes management regimens.
Diabetes can affect sex. Some people with diabetes experience vaginal dryness, a lowered libido or sex drive, and erectile dysfunction. There are many possible reasons, including high blood sugar levels, inflammation, low testosterone, nerve damage, or side effects from some drugs. Many people with diabetes also have depression. Medicine used to treat depression, like antidepressants, can affect your libido and sex life.
These issues can impact the level of connection you’re able to have with your intimate partner(s) or spouse. To help ease diabetes’ impact on your sex life, the most important step to take is to speak with your healthcare provider (HCP) about your symptoms and concerns. Often, sexual concerns can be treated through better overall management of the diabetes itself.
If better diabetes management doesn’t help, you may want to consult a sexual medicine specialist and/or a mental health professional. Stress and emotional tension can affect sexual desire, and specialists will be equipped to advise you on helpful strategies.
Friends and family members may be affected. Your diabetes affects you the most, but your friends or family members who are closest to you may also be affected. They may have concerns about your day-to-day physical and mental health, or they may feel stress about potential or real medical costs.
Sometimes their concerns can translate to behaviors or attitudes that aren’t helpful. For example, they may question or try to control your food choices. This can cause friction in relationships.
Someone’s concerns may be due to misunderstandings or lack of information about diabetes. To help your loved ones channel their concerns into more constructive actions, invite them to learn about diabetes, how you might be able to eat a certain amount of sugars and carbs, and how you count your carbs.
Mental health can be affected
The mind and body are interconnected, and diabetes can have both direct and indirect effects on your mental health.
Diabetes distress is real. Some people with diabetes find it stressful to deal with the burden diabetes places on daily life. This kind of stress can trigger anger, frustration, fear, low motivation, avoidance behaviors, or feelings of isolation.
Diabetes distress is different from clinical anxiety or depression—it’s a unique experience, though it can happen alongside depression or anxiety. It can even trigger burnout or exhaustion. And when you’re feeling stressed, worn-out, or unmotivated, it might be hard to prioritize connecting with others in meaningful ways.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends treating diabetes distress with a variety of approaches:
- Consult an endocrinologist—not just your family physician.
- Ask your HCP for a referral to see a mental health professional who is familiar with chronic health conditions.
- Work with a diabetes care and education specialist, who can help you form a diabetes management plan tailored specifically to you and your life.
- Join a diabetes support group so you can be with people who really understand the challenges and who may offer helpful tips and support.
Depression is a common comorbidity. People with diabetes are two to three times more likely to have depression, according to the CDC. As many as half don’t get diagnosed or treated.
Among the many symptoms of depression, some can get in the way of feeling connected with others. Depression can make some people feel tired, hopeless, and irritable, and it can also bring headaches or digestive problems that cause some people to feel disinterested in activities they used to love.
The good news is that treatment really can help. A 2021 systematic review published in the journal Brain and Behavior looked at how effective a range of treatments are for people with both diabetes and depression. They found that all the treatments, including medication, psychotherapy, group therapy, online treatment, and exercise, were very effective. If you’re experiencing symptoms of depression, the first step to take is to ask your HCP for help.
Financial stress is significant
Diabetes tops the list for the most expensive chronic health condition. People with diabetes pay 2.6 times more for medical care than people without diabetes, a number that increased by seven percent from 2017 to 2022. Half of all adults with diabetes in the United States report having financial stress.
Even for those with health insurance, the cost of treatments like insulin can be very high. From 2017 to 2022, the price of insulin increased by 24 percent. Almost a quarter of adults with diabetes find themselves paying very high out-of-pocket costs for their medical care and experiencing food insecurity—and Black Americans pay the most of all groups.
Often, people with the condition will forego or ration vital medication or treatment because of the cost. It’s easy to draw a direct line from diabetes self-care to economic well-being. A 2022 study published in Diabetes Care refers to this harmful relationship as “financial toxicity.”
So how can you cope with the financial burden of diabetes? A 2021 report published in Clinical Diabetes offers practical advice to people with diabetes, listing helpful resources that can help offset the cost of medications and diabetes supply items, including:
- Manufacturer copayment reduction cards. Most brand-name medications post special copayment savings offers or cards on their websites. They can be applied to help lower your out-of-pocket payments.
- Refill prescriptions strategically. If you refill close to the end of the year, rather than the beginning of the new year, you can save on some of the cost, especially if you have a Medicare part D plan.
- Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs). Manufacturers of medications offer PAPs to help people with diabetes get the medications they need for free if they qualify. Ask your HCP to help you find PAPs that are available to you. Needymeds.org can also help.
- Shop around. Pharmacies offer different prices, and sometimes insurance companies have preferred pharmacies. Coupons are also plentiful and can be found on some websites.
- Check to see if you can be covered by Medicaid. Eligible people can apply, and if you get coverage through Medicaid, then you’ll be able to access low- or no-cost medications.
These resources can have very specific eligibility and application criteria. The American Diabetes Association has information about these and other key resources on their website.
While diabetes can affect more than your physical health, it’s possible to reduce blood sugar and manage your condition.
