anxiety can induce diabetes?

[indianmommy123]

hi,
i'm from india.
my question is whether a person suffering from moderate level of anxiety disorder can develop diabetes?

my husband, age 35, has high blood glucose levels since march 2013. recent PP reading was 258 and fasting reading was 189, and that is after following food restrictions and with good amount of exercise for more than three months. this reading was in the month of august.

He has a PhD in chemistry and works as a scientist in research labs of govt. of india. he has zeal to work which is a great trait but he has lots of side effects due to this zeal... he works a great deal in his office. He says his boss is a difficult person and the subordinates he deal with are not focused. Also we have a 4yr old autistic (mild to moderate level) son who is our only son. these are his anxiety triggers.

my husband's weight is completely normal. he is 6ft and weighs about 72kg.

Recently he discovered that he might be having anxiety disorder. he says, since his student life he has anxiety for even littler problems. It is not panic attack it is just anxiety that lasts for few hours or days depending on the problem he is facing. when this anxiety hits, there is fear/worry like feeling, his palms sweat and his confidence levels decrease. I've observed too that he has anxiety especially when he has health problems even as slightest as a common cold. during a health problem he demands full attention form every member of the family, and becomes highly irritable. So, we went to a psychiatrist to find out whether he is actually having disorder and the psychiatrist says he might be suffering with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and this disorder might be genetic in this case.

his history is like this, from the age of 18 he has migraine headaches and severe acidity 4 or 5 times a month. Acidity lead to diarrhoea. But he started medication for migraine around age of 26 (reason being unaware). occational increase in blood glucose levels and cholestrol from age of 25. High blood pressure (140/90) since a year, with medication BP is 130/90. And now consistent higher levels of glucose since april 2013, cholestrol is well within limits now.
He had chicken pox in january 2013. he lost weight and muscle tone in may-june. There are no symptoms of diabetes at all.

Is he diabetic or can i hope that reducing his anxiety problem can bring the glucose level to normal?

[nursegirl6572]

I agree with Paxiled's post 100%.

Anxiety can not CAUSE diabetes, but its symptoms can exacerbate its symptoms and complications.  Also, sometimes it can be difficult to determine if symptoms are a result of diabetic issues (ie hypo/hyperglycemia) versus anxiety.  Someone having a panic attack can present with a lot of the same symptoms, and in reverse, hypo/hyperglycemic episodes can cause or exacerbate anxiety.

It's important that BOTH conditions be as well managed as possible.

[Paxiled]

Whether he's diabetic or not depend on the blood glucose levels.  Anxiety doesn't cause diabetes, but it can lead to behaviors that do, such as eating the wrong foods (simple carbs, sugar, alcohol).  Anxiety isn't genetic as far as anyone has proven, but diabetes can be.  Now, you live in India, which has this great tradition of meditation, yoga, and Ayurveda.  Have you investigated any of these?  They teach great coping mechanisms for people who don't adapt well to stress, and are used frequently in other parts of the world by therapists to help people with this problem.