I am mentally and emotionally mixed up a lot. The doctors say the more you worry, the more your sugars will be up. Once you get worried, you get bad to worse, and then over time, you become stressed. It seems of late, my disease is from worry. [T]he doctor told me to lose weight, to change my diet, I tried all. Nothing helped; he later realized that it is my worry. Worry leads to blood pressure...Now I am stressed always…for not being able to control the things that I am supposed to control. Then you feel guilty, and it’s all down to me. I lost grip on myself, so I will have all those complications, my eyes and heart, and may be death. (Participant 5, female, age 42)

I feel hard pressed to cope with my condition on top of taking care of my two sons and a husband. My days are so full already, cooking, cleaning and managing the housework, and in addition to that I have to be extra careful about what I eat, how I rest and what I do. It looks like too much of work without any help or support from anyone (Participant 4, female, age 46)

It hasn’t affected me emotionally or mentally as I continue to follow a normal life. I monitor my levels and manage my diet and my sugar levels are almost always in control (Participant 13, male, age 45)

I suffer from major depressive episodes as all my life is tied down to measuring and managing my sugar levels. On the surface, I try to remain normal and happy, but I really do not feel happy about it all. (Participant 6, male, age 46)

Emotionally, I think I am ok as I take the additional medical issues as part of ageing. But, I do feel that my family worries for me and that gets me little down at times. I am scared that I might die of a heart attack or just go into a coma. When I exert myself and my symptoms soar, I end up being more anxious and worried... My wife is always worried of losing me and I can see the looks in my son’s eyes. It all pains me greatly. (Participant 25, male, age 55)