- Messages
- 1
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
Hi everyone,
I wanted to ask some advice on helping friends / loved ones understand (as best they can) what it's like to be type 1 when it's something of an invisible condition.
I developed T1 quite late (aged 27) and after a brief stint in hospital after being diagnosed came home and tried to get on with it as best I can. I've managed it okay - ups and downs of course, but decent Hba1c results and good control on the whole.
Thing is, after a few years of this, and looking and largely behaving the same to friends and family, I feel like the condition is starting to take a bit of a toll and I'm not quite sure how to articulate this. Externally I appear to be the same person I suppose (though I'm not shy about injecting / testing around anyone!), and everyone says how glad they are that I seem to be managing, which is thoughtful. But there's quite a lot of work that goes on underneath - carb counting, calculations, taking care around exercise, general stress, carrying equipment, prescription management, mitigating special occasions like Christmas, etc etc... and sometimes it seems like all that work, along with managing any wobbles, makes me feel a bit isolated from them. And I'm not sure how to go about talking about it without sounding sorry for myself. I wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar?
Thanks for reading this
I wanted to ask some advice on helping friends / loved ones understand (as best they can) what it's like to be type 1 when it's something of an invisible condition.
I developed T1 quite late (aged 27) and after a brief stint in hospital after being diagnosed came home and tried to get on with it as best I can. I've managed it okay - ups and downs of course, but decent Hba1c results and good control on the whole.
Thing is, after a few years of this, and looking and largely behaving the same to friends and family, I feel like the condition is starting to take a bit of a toll and I'm not quite sure how to articulate this. Externally I appear to be the same person I suppose (though I'm not shy about injecting / testing around anyone!), and everyone says how glad they are that I seem to be managing, which is thoughtful. But there's quite a lot of work that goes on underneath - carb counting, calculations, taking care around exercise, general stress, carrying equipment, prescription management, mitigating special occasions like Christmas, etc etc... and sometimes it seems like all that work, along with managing any wobbles, makes me feel a bit isolated from them. And I'm not sure how to go about talking about it without sounding sorry for myself. I wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar?
Thanks for reading this