THE COMPOUNDING OF ALARMS: PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON A MOTHER CARING FOR AN INFANT WITH A GLUCOSE MONITOR DURING WARTIME: A REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48047/aaykxs26Keywords:
ontinuous glucose monitoring (CGM), infant caregivers, maternal anxiety, caregiver burden, alarm fatigue, war-related stressAbstract
Caregivers of infants with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) already carry a well-documented psychological burden, driven in large part by loud, unpredictable device alarms that signal hypoglycemic danger. When this burden is layered onto a wartime environment in which air-raid sirens are a recurring feature of daily life, the caregiver is exposed to two structurally similar but functionally distinct alarm systems that compete for the same threat-detection circuitry in the brain. This paper reviews the literature on CGM-related caregiver anxiety and on the psychological effects of war sirens on mothers, and integrates it with research on fear-potentiated startle and auditory trauma sensitization to propose a conceptual model of "compounded alarm exposure." It argues that the co-occurrence of a medical alarm and a war alarm does not simply add two independent stressors but may amplify each through shared neurobiological pathways, producing heightened hypervigilance, sleep disruption, and anticipatory dread. The paper closes with recommendations for device design, clinical screening, and psychosocial support for mothers in conflict settings
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