Decreasing Sugar Intake in Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder

Those of us with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder may have to decrease our sugar intake because a lot of the medication for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder makes us crave sugar (Psychiatric Drugs and Weight Gain). To lighten the load, I am cutting out sugared sodas right on the heels of dropping alcoholic beverages. Let me tell you how decreasing sugar intake in my schizoaffective disorder is going.

Decreasing Sugar Intake in Schizoaffective Disorder to Lower My Blood Sugar

Last year at my annual check-up with my general physician, we noticed that my blood glucose levels were high. Since I had quit smoking (which also raises blood sugar levels), my doctor wasn’t too hard on me about the levels. But it worried me. I’ve been trying to exercise, but that hasn’t really been working out, especially since now it’s winter and it’s so cold out.

So I decided to cut out sugared sodas. I won’t lie to you. This has raised my anxiety, not helpful for my generalized anxiety disorder. However, I know it’s something I need to do for my body. I don’t want to become pre-diabetic or end up with type 2 diabetes.

Decreasing Sugar Intake in Schizoaffective Disorder Is Causing Me Anxiety

I’m puzzled and concerned about the anxiety brought on by cutting out sugared sodas. But I know the anxiety isn’t just from reducing sugar consumption, it’s from the political climate in the U.S. right now too.

In retrospect, I probably should have waited until I was more habituated to not drinking alcohol before giving up sugared sodas. But I’m not going back now because I believe in finishing what I start.

Still, we all need to give ourselves room for change. I wrote an article about how I was running every day (Exercise Can Help Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder). Even though the exercise itself was good for my anxiety, it piled on a lot of pressure to go running every day, and that pressure was bad for my anxiety. So I stopped running and decided I would take lots of long walks instead. That petered out, too. Now I’m trying dance classes, taking a break from them when I need to.

Exercise is good for our health. But with schizoaffective disorder, cutting out sugared sodas is also an important thing I can do for my health right now. And it has barely occurred to me to start smoking again, another health boost. As far as politics in America go, I’m doing what I can to stand up for my beliefs in equality for all and women’s rights. The things I have to do are to take care of my health, take care of my marriage, work, and go to therapy. As I read that last sentence, I realize the things I have to do are a lot of things. But I believe in myself. I can do them. And if could quit smoking, I can quit consuming so much sugar.

Photo by Elizabeth Caudy. Find Elizabeth on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and her personal blog.