Type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes, has become an epidemic in the United States. Latest statistics report that 20.8 million Americans, 7 percent of the population, have this form of the disease. What's to blame? Genetics, racial group, and unfortunately, in more and more cases, an increasingly sedentary and obese population overdosed on sugar and fats. Interestingly, what can help stave off type 2 diabetes is also good at warding off depression: exercise and a good diet.

Not everyone with diabetes, however, fits into the unhealthy demographics. Athletes, children, and the physically fit among the rest of us can also find ourselves confronted with diabetes. But for everyone dealing with this condition, depression can be a unexpected complicating factor.

Implicating Depression

Just as it is an early symptom of Parkinson's disease, depression may be an early symptom of diabetes. A Kaiser Permanente study of some 1,680 subjects found that those with diabetes were more likely to have been treated for depression within six months before their diabetes diagnosis. About 84 percent of diabetics also reported a higher rate of earlier depressive episodes.

A 2004 Johns Hopkins study tracking 11,615 initially non-diabetic adults aged 48 to 67 over six years found that “depressive symptoms predicted incident type 2 diabetes.” An analysis of 20 studies conducted over the past ten years shows that the prevalence rate of diabetics with major depression is three to four times greater than in the general population (American Diabetes Association).

Whether depression comes before diabetes or after the diagnosis is made, treating the depression can help you keep your diabetes under control. Why? Because you'll feel more up to the challenge.

Treating Depression in People with Diabetes

Managing your diabetes means testing your blood sugar when it's required. Probably more so than in other diseases, with diabetes you have a great deal to say about how you're going to feel. If you feel depressed, you may not eat properly. Diabetes that is in poor control can cause symptoms that look like depression.

If your blood sugar is high, you'll feel anxiety. If it's low, you'll experience fatigue. Balance is key to managing this disease, but if you don't feel like doing anything, let alone monitoring your blood sugar levels, you're going to be so out of balance that you're likely to crash and burn. But if that blood sugar's too low at night, you'll find sleeping difficult.

Antidepressants work for depression in diabetes. So does psychotherapy. You're making significant changes in your life, and for now, diabetes seems to be in charge. With time, however, you'll come out on top.