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New here! Partner of someone with T1

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
S

SunnyDays26

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Carer/Partner
Hi all

Thanks for letting me join this community.

I am a partner of a T1 diabetic who has been diagnosed for over 15 years. We are both in our late 20's 🙂

How do you support your partner? What do you do to relax?

I have been supporting with general support. To relax and rest my mind, I love writing comedy, exploring new places and listening to music or watching some telly (good old comedies, soaps)
 
Hi and welcome.... again.... since I already did that in your other post, but good to see you doing a formal intro post here as well.

Lovely that you want to support your partner and any relaxation or exercise is good.... A daily walk (or run if you want to be a bit more energetic) can be helpful, maybe after your evening meal. The current weather is certainly making that a more enjoyable prospect at the moment.
Interesting that you write comedy. That is quite unusual. Hope you are able to post some good jokes/stories in the "Entertainment...Jokes, quizzes, funny pictures" section. We could do with a bit more humour in these difficult times.

How are you coping as the partner of a diabetic. I understand that can be quite challenging sometimes, particularly if bad hypos are occurring, although I appreciate your partner has mostly the opposite problem at the moment, with high levels.
I think it is important for us diabetics to understand the strain that our condition can put on those closest to us, so a partner or carer's perspective is always useful on the forum to help us see things from another angle.

Anyway, I hope you find being a member of the forum beneficial and if there is anything we can help you and your partner with, just ask.
 
I was diagnosed in my 30s so I have lost of experience before and after D-day and diabetes has made no difference to what I do to relax. I still eat, drink, do sport, ...
On the sport side, I would suggest caution with regard to going for a run or doing any rigorous exercise after eating unless your partner has taken great care with their insulin dose. Cardio exercise such as running and cycling tends to make our bodies more efficient at using insulin so we are at much higher risk of hypoing when we have bolus insulin on board.
This is why I do most of my exercise before eating. I am fine to go for a walk because it has little impact on my blood sugar levels but unless I have significantly reduced my bolus dose (and the amount seems to vary so often that I gave up) that I have with my food.

As far as what support to provide in general for your partner, I would ask them. Apart from trying to understand about diabetes, I have asked nothing from my partner but then I am stubbornly independent. He will ask if thinks I am having a hypo and not noticed and been on hand when he is correct. But apart from that and being understanding if I need to sort out my levels before going out, I don't want him to fuss.
 
Hello SunnyDays26, welcome to the forum.

I always love having partners on the site as a support network can be so important when managing diabetes. I do think just asking more valuable as it seems as it may be the non obvious things that matter to them.

Then you have things like adopting a healthy way of eating together that's fun yet tasty. Finding hobbies that will help with fitness like swimming, biking or diabetic friendly pedicures then spa days.

Lots of ways to relax as diabetes isn't a sentence to a life of doom but a more conscious one.
 
SunnyDays26 said:
Hi all

Thanks for letting me join this community.

I am a partner of a T1 diabetic who has been diagnosed for over 15 years. We are both in our late 20's 🙂

How do you support your partner? What do you do to relax?

I have been supporting with general support. To relax and rest my mind, I love writing comedy, exploring new places and listening to music or watching some telly (good old comedies, soaps)
Click to expand...
 
Hi Sunny Days!

I have recently joined this forum as the partner of a diabetic too and grateful to see another fellow partner!

We are in our late 30s with just over 20 years of diagnosis under our belts with many ups, downs and insulin medication changes along the way. It’s a rough old ride at times and a lonely one at that on occasion. My OH is fearful of hypers and keeps his level on the lower side so hypos are familiar territory for me. I joined this forum after a particularly frightening one and after 14 years together I felt completely alone.
Someone posted a ‘diabetes etiquette’ card on here when i joined which I felt was a good prompter as I am a guilty glucose monitor peeker……but i feel responsible for him and only want to help! There should be an etiquette card for us in response….. “we’re not trying to get at you but we know you well enough to see something isn’t right and want to intervene before it gets worse for you”

I hope to find you again on this forum and welcome!
 
FJS said:
Someone posted a ‘diabetes etiquette’ card on here when i joined which I felt was a good prompter as I am a guilty glucose monitor peeker……but i feel responsible for him and only want to help!
Click to expand...

Probably this one?

I love the idea of an etiquette card for Partners, Spouses and Carers!!

Welcome to the forum @SunnyDays26

My wife always said it was a shame that there wasn’t more support and help available to significant others of adults with diabetes. Parents get help and support, and there are education courses and one-to-one coaching for kids and adults with diabetes themselves… but for partners, spouses and others in a close relationship - they are pretty much left to fend for themselves, and have to work out how to find out the information they need to be helpful and supportive.

Feels like a bit of a gap in the picture really.
 
I have been lucky in this marriage because my husband being self employed instantly offered to take me to hospital appts after they moved the D clinic from the old hospital site, within easy walking distance of the city centre where I worked to the newer main site near Jct 2 of the M6 and then started to come into the consultations with me. I'm missing that now, as he has, with his hospital and GP appointments. (It did take some effort for me on one occasion not to smack one of his consultant's face for making one remark to me, though)
 
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