Does Your Blood Sugar Make You Moody?

Originally published September 2009.

We women already have to deal with varying degrees of PMS each month.  Diabetic women have even more to put up with: moodiness from fluctuating blood sugar levels. 

No, its not fair but, its the reality. 

Our greatest defense involves two elements:

1.  Blood sugar control

Your number one goal should be to attain near normal blood sugar levels.  Obviously, this isn’t easy but, with time and effort you can do it.  I suggest checking blood sugar more often for a time. 

This not only helps control your blood sugars but, also helps you learn what your levels look like at different points throughout the day.  By doing this you can discover vulnerable times where your blood sugar consistently struggles and then you can focus on eliminating those problem areas. 

Check in the middle of the night for a week as well.  You want to make sure your blood sugars are staying level during all of those hours.

2.  Choose positive thinking

This is very important no matter how cheesy it sounds.  When your blood sugar is high and you feel like strangling someone, take a deep breathe.  Give the appropriate amount of insulin or medication and remember your blood sugar is high only temporarily. 

Remember that even though high or low blood sugar can affect your mood-you are still in control of it.  You can choose not to snap at your boyfriend or husband.  You can choose whether or not to beat yourself up over your less than perfect diabetes control. 

The problem is, if you get all upset over your blood sugar, chances are you will have a tough time bringing it back to normal. 

A doctor once advised me, “don’t think so much, just do what you gotta do”.  So now, when my blood sugar is too high or low, I just take the necessary steps to bring it back to normal and I don’t think about it anymore or linger on the fact I messed up.  Soon, blood sugar is back to normal and this psycho woman who possessed me is gone.