Hi, my name is Jessica and I would like some advise on, how to help a close friend who has type 1 diabetes and is extremely shy about. I found out a while ago that my friend was diabetic however she never likes to talk about it and we don't push her to as a group of friends. We worry as friends as she gets extremely embarrassed about the situation to the point, she would not take insulin or check her blood pressure when out with us - even when we tell her not to be embarrassed and support her along the way. I would appreciate any advice from anybody who understand what can happen within the future to make my friend more comfortable and allow her to take care of her self with our help if she would like that. Her mother worries about her staying out as she hides the fact she has diabetes but I want to be able to look after her self without me sounding pushy or interfering. Thankyou for anyone who has any advice on this situation x
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satindoll
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Unfortunately poppet there isn't a lot you can do, maybe tell her you understand her concern about other people and or strangers knowing, as they may start treating her differently, and you are happy to keep her secret till she is ready to share.......but that you are ready and willing to help if needed, this may take the pressure off you both, whilst giving her the reassurance she can ask for help if needed.....
Ann1982
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What a kind friend. My sons friend when he was young had diabetes T1 and her mother didn't worry when she was out in his company because he knew what to do in all situations. Perhaps you could learn more about it yourself to be able to help if she has a hypo etc. Probably the best thing you could do though would be always to have a phone with you in case so you can call for help and have some jelly babies or gluco tabs with you for emergencies. Take care of each other.
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Hello @Secretx Welcome to the forum, what a lovely friend you are. The best advice I can offer is to just be there for her, maybe mention it's cool and if she does want to talk then fine, but just being a non judgemental, caring friend is the best thing for her. If she's shy it probably means she could be embarrassed about it and wants to just be accepted as normal, each of us handle our t1 differently, maybe just mention what she does to treat her hypos, having a good friend is someone who can recognise when she goes low and needs glucose to treat it ? It might open her up to talking about it a bit more, but I do think she just wants to be as normal as possible so be prepared if she doesn't want to talk about it though.
catapillar
Well-Known Member
Why would your friend with type 1 need to check her blood pressure? Do you mean blood sugar? That's what people with diabetes have to check.
It's lovely that you want to support your friend and help her not to feel embarrassed about managing her diabetes. Is it possible that she has, discretely tested and injected without you having noticed and without the group of friends all saying how fine it is that she injects? It's a lovely thing to say, but it might just be drawing attention to something she would rather not have everyone's attention on.
If you can have a chat with her in a quiet moment to say you recognise how important it is that she test and inject, and you're sure she's done it around you without you noticing so no one is bothered by it and no one would make a big deal about it that might be nice. It might also be nice to indicate you'd be open to being someone to talk to about diabetes, if she wanted to, or to offer to be educated on diabetes,ask he if there's anything she thinks you need to know about diabetes. Let her lead the way on it.
