Diabetophobia (fear of diabetes) is an irrational, sometimes disabling, fear of being diagnosed with diabetes. As with all phobias the impact of diabetophobia on daily life depends on the individual. How you decide to react to your fear, even if that’s not a conscious decision on your part, will at least in part govern how you react when you’re face to face with your phobia.
Some people manage to live relatively normal lives by suppressing their fear reactions and actively avoiding triggers. More severely affected people can experience disabling reactions to the mention of diabetes or anything that brings the disease to mind. The good news is that it’s perfectly possible to change how you react to the various triggers that cause your fear, so long as you know what to do and how to do it.
Diabetes is quite common and the correct diagnosis is not difficult. Effective treatments eliminate or delay many of the complications that cause a fear of diabetes. Modern treatment options such as insulin pumps can virtually eliminate daily injections that are another cause of fear. Treatment for diabetophobia might begin with convincing the sufferer these facts are true. This takes away or weakens some of the causes of fear.
Certain drugs are often prescribed for phobias but some medical professionals believe drugs only mask the symptoms and do not work on the root causes of phobias. Fear of diabetes is one phobia that responds well to education-based approaches.
Providing the sufferer with the actual facts and statistics of diabetes to highlight the irrationality of the fear is part of the treatment. Combining this knowledge with methods of reprogramming the unconscious mind to stop the tendency toward fear has proven effective for many phobias.
Some home-study courses for self-treatment of phobias can be found online. These can be highly effective. If you have a fear of diabetes that is interfering with your daily life you should start your treatment with a visit to a professional. A doctor can check you for diabetes to reassure you. He can check for underlying conditions such that can increase your susceptibility to fear disorders. Adrenal insufficiency is one well now contributor to fear reactions.
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