Sleep Advice

[Emilyjeaton]

Hi everyone.

My partner who is 30,was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Thursday and if I’m honest I’m struggling to get my head around. I’m keeping as positive as I can but seem to find myself waking up in the middle of the night to check on him. I’ve hardly slept since we found out so feeling pretty rubbish from lack of sleep.
Is there anyone else here who struggles sleeping next to there partner and is this normal for me to feel like this? He has seemed to get his head around it pretty quick and slept like a baby since finding out!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Emily and welcome

I think your concerns are probably similar to those experienced by parents whose child has just been diagnosed and perhaps some parents will chip in with how they managed, but I suspect you will just get over it with time, particularly if he doesn't have any hypos during the night. I know as a newly diagnosed diabetic, having a night time hypo was something that worried me for a while, but it didn't happen for probably 6 months and when it did I was so used to treating daytime ones that it was no big deal and I treated it and went back to sleep. My partner is very laid back and never bats an eyelid when I have a hypo daytime or night time and in some respects that is a relief. I did need him just to be there with me either in person or on the end of the phone, the first few of daytime hypos, for reassurance, as it felt really scary, but since I have got used to dealing with them, it is just a normal part of life now and I am confident that my hypo treatment will work and I will be back to normal in 15mins or so.
Being newly diagnosed your partner will have been used to having quite high BG levels, so he should be very sensitive to his BG getting low and easily wake up if it does happen overnight but it is also likely that his diabetes team have adjusted his basal insulin to keep him at slightly higher than normal levels particularly overnight to prevent it happening.

When does he take his basal (long acting) insulin and what is it... Levemir/Lantus etc ? If he takes a single dose in the morning then it's action is likely tail off in the early hours which would make him even less likely to have a hypo through the night. All I can really do is try to reassure you that in these early days particularly, he is much less likely to have a hypo and that if he does, he is likely to be very aware of it, whereas, if you have been diabetic for a lot of years and had lots of hypos then your sensitivity to them is reduced and that is when problems can occur.

Hopefully that will help you to sleep a little easier.

 

[Deleted member 27171]

Hi @Emilyjeaton welcome to the forum, though sorry you’ve had the need to find us.

I cant answer this from a partner perspective but from a parent perspective I would say it is completely understandable and yes, normal.

I did feel similar to begin with but as we got more confident and knew that insulin doses were correct if readings before bed were ok I soon stopped getting up to test every night - there were times was it was necessary eg if had treated a hypo/hyper not long before bed or if my son had a particularly active day/was ill, but the need to do it just for peace of mind did lessen.

It is quite soon since diagnosis and some anxiety is certainly to be expected, it will ease and there’s always plenty of people on hand here to offer advice support when you need it.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Yeah again a parent not partner but I think it’s petty common in the early days. You’ve both got a lot to adapt to and it will get easier.

 

[Caroline2020]

Hi everyone.

My partner who is 30,was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Thursday and if I’m honest I’m struggling to get my head around. I’m keeping as positive as I can but seem to find myself waking up in the middle of the night to check on him. I’ve hardly slept since we found out so feeling pretty rubbish from lack of sleep.
Is there anyone else here who struggles sleeping next to there partner and is this normal for me to feel like this? He has seemed to get his head around it pretty quick and slept like a baby since finding out!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Emily - so sorry to read this. Lack of sleep makes everything worse ☹️. I think your anxiety will probably lessen if you know your partner is taking control of his health - which might take some time. All you can do is be supportive - read everything you can on diet and do what’s right re shopping and cooking and go along on walks and everything. My partner didn’t show his anxiety to me when I was diagnosed 2 months ago and I really appreciated it. I needed to work this out for myself. If he’d been pestering me or saying “why don’t you do this” it would not have helped. Your partner might need that space too. Now 2 months in I can talk about it more openly but it took that time. I also felt guilty that l might become a burden to him. Now I know I can manage it, that’s less likely. No easy answers, but lockdown is a good time to get into good diet and exercise habits. Hope you’ve got some good friends you can talk to. Caroline