In my - perhaps too simple view - psychological stress sure can induce, e.g. adrenalin, which increases blood sugar; very strong (like a shock or trauma) or continuous stress (over months) may then lead to too much glucose over a longer period, but even increased production of insuline, not enough insuline to get back to normal levels. Is this just plausible, or are there other facts supporting the idea?
Dear Dr. Eibl,
Dear Robert,
Maybe the following recent papers will help you on the subject:
Joseph JJ, Golden SH. Cortisol dysregulation: the bidirectional link between stress, depression, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2017;1391(1):20-34. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334212/pdf/nihms808984.pdf
Hackett RA, Steptoe A. Type 2 diabetes mellitus and psychological stress - a modifiable risk factor. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2017;13(9):547-560. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruth_Hackett/publication/318080827_Type_2_diabetes_mellitus_and_psychological_stress_-_a_modifiable_risk_factor/links/59e9fbb0a6fdccef8b08c560/Type-2-diabetes-mellitus-and-psychological-stress-a-modifiable-risk-factor.pdf
Harris ML, Oldmeadow C, Hure A, Luu J, Loxton D, Attia J. Stress increases the risk of type 2 diabetes onset in women: A 12-year longitudinal study using causal modelling. PLoS One 2017;12(2):e0172126. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172126
Best wishes from Munich,
Martin
Thank you, Martin, for your helpful links (I had found only one of those before: Nat Rev Endocrinol). It seems there are several studies out there, implying a connection between depression and diabetes type 2, but less significant correlations between psychological stress and onset of diabetes - a major problem seems to be how to measure psychological stress (it may be easier to "measure" or detect a trauma, but, I guess, there may not be enough patients/volounteers around a study group, and which had developed an immediate diabetes directly after a traumatic event.
Thank you very much Sarmistha for pointing me to this paper; it seems to be likely, that stress induces catecholamines, like adrenaline, which also induces heart rate, blood pressure and somehow glucose can rise more after psychological stress and mainly postprandial, but the effects appear to be not too dramatic.
I am wondering now if it is safe to say that other stress factors, for example, a chronic or acute infection of a failed tooth implant is more likely to really induce the onset of a severe diabetes type 2 - of course such an infection also goes along with psychological stress, but the body somehow has to fight with an infection, which also may get worse under diabetic conditions, i.e. a plausible vicious circle - with the chance to use antibiotics to "treat" the diabetic conditions?
Dear sir
I agree that the stress hormone and insulin counter-regulatory hormone may raise the plasma sugar, but predisposing factors are important (obesity and overweight, family history of diabetes, and genetic factors), one cannot draw a cause and effect. The chronic stress may induce inflammatory markers and cytokines and thus insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In a predisposed patients stress may accelerate the process and unmasked type 1 diabetes.
The mechanisms linking stress to diabetes remain relatively unclear but likely include indirect and direct pathways. Direct mechanisms include overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system that is robustly implicated in this process. Some studies show that downstream effects include increased inflammation together with elevated oxidative stress (a form of damage to cells in the body).
Both factors are strongly linked to the onset of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes. On the indirect front, stressed individuals can also develop depression and then display perturbed dietary behaviour, e.g. increased consumption of energy-dense foodstuffs and decreased micronutrient intake. Here altered stress-mediated dietary patterns together with lower metabolic rates can subsequently contribute to the onset of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Dear Robert
Please, read in the following link, I hope will be useful for you.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/28/2/290
Good Luck
My own brother had diabetes for few days when he learned that my mother was very sick.
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