Medical Illness and Anxiety Disorders

Medical illness sometimes brings with it anxiety disorders, and James L. Levenson, MD, has provided a good description of some of the more common ones in his article in Primary Psychiatry, 2006 (13:4, 27-30).  

Diabetes is one of these illnesses, and there is continuing debate about its relationship to stress.  The problem remains whether stress causes diabetes or whether it is a behavioral change vis-à-vis people under stress, which causes them to engage in behaviors that bring on diabetes.  Physicians know that diabetic patients have 2-3 times more depression than is found in the general population and that stress can contribute to difficulty in controlling diabetes.  

Undetected and undiagnosed thyroid disorders also contribute to a person's anxiety level.   The symptoms often mimic GAD, as well as cognitive disorders, and patients may have symptoms of depression, such as lack of energy, fatigue, and some mild tremor.

Problems with adrenal disorders also cause depression, anxiety, hypomania/mania and even psychosis.   Symptoms often found in psychiatric disorders such as apathy, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, nausea, vomiting and weakness are also seen in these endocrine disorders.

A loss of libido in both men and women may not necessarily signal anxiety or depression, but a testosterone deficiency.  Although the level of testosterone has been established in men, it has not yet been identified in women.  

Related Topics: Depression May Up Type 2 Diabetes Death Risk, Mental Illness Common in the U.S.

Technorati Tags: chronic illness, anxiety, diabetes, stress