Type 1 Type 1 diabetes and borderline personality disorder

Not quite - I'm the one with T1D and my daughter has been diagnosed with BPD. Therefore I cannot fully understand exactly how you feel but from my experiences with my daughter I know life isn't easy for you. I do hope that you have some good support around you. Are you seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist? Are you doing anything like DBT? There is enough stigma and discrimination around diabetes, let alone BPD, but with the right help you can recover from BPD, contrary to what a lot of the literature says. If you happen to live in Melbourne Australia I can certainly help put you in contact with some good people

Hi @Tinyface. Sorry for taking so long to reply to you - I've been away with no phone reception. My daughter is doing very well now due to a very good DBT clinic in our area. Nobody can understand what another feels because we're all different. As no one else in your group has diabetes they have no clue and of course brittle diabetes just makes it that much harder for you. You have a right to tell them to not judge you - to me, saying you can't self care is judgmental. With regards to your diabetes, how do you manage that - MDI, pump? This could be an area that could be investigated to help smooth out the brittleness of you diabetes management

Hi Tinyface,

I have sometimes-brittle type 1 diabetes and I went through a period where I developed BPD-like symptoms. Everyone around me felt they were "walking on eggshells", I was splitting with everything, paranoid, and struggling with anger, getting emotional for no reason but being sure there was a reason.

Eventually I started to suspect that hypos during my sleep were causing me brain damage. I started ruthlessly avoiding hypos. Over the past year I have returned to almost full health.


I'd be very happy to chat

Hi Tina

How are you doing today? I wish I could give you a big hug right now.

By the way, how long have you had diabetes?

Hi @Tinyface, it's a long time since you posted but I just stumbled into this thread. My daughter has T1D (dx 19 years ago when she was just 9 months old!) plus BPD for about 6 years. Technically it was "emerging BPD" because of her age at the time of diagnosis. I feel for you as I have seen up close the challenge this pair presents. Feel free to reach out any time. A

I too am the parent of a Type 1 daughter who was diagnosed with BPD last year, while she was away in her first year of university. She was Dx with type 1 diabetes at age 11.
Mentat I would love to hear more about your experience too. I wondered how much her symptoms could be due to hypo's .... and would love to understand more... And Andrewau I would love to connect with you...
Last spring was terrifying, but she is doing much better now... but of course I still worry. She has switched to a vegan diet (initially vegetarian, but she found she was having difficulty with all the dairy), and this has helped her diabetes immensely, A1C is excellent and her insulin has been reduced significantly. I am not sure if it is the veganism exactly but the fact that she is making such healthy choices now. She also is on medication and seeing a therapist for her BPD.
I am looking for ways to support her mental health, and would love to hear what you feel would help.

Hi BCHolly, thanks for reaching out.

I spent 5 years in hell trying to find answers. Medical professionals failed to help. I went through a long list of keywords (like PTSD, BPD, brain damage), and finally connected the dots and realised that non-convulsive epilepsy might fit the bill.

I pushed for a test and it came back negative. A year later I pushed for a test again and it came back positive. Such tests can produce false positives but I started epilepsy medication and it has worked wonders.

I still have epilepsy. I still have to look out for my triggers (like hypos—AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE—exercise, social anxiety, and intense focus). But I can have a mostly satisfying life.

I'm not saying this applies to your daughter. But if you feel, as a parent, that something really doesn't add up, then maybe it doesn't. Medical professionals are fallible.

I'm happy to talk about my symptoms and "trips" (seizures) etc.

My daughter was also tested for seizures... but they came back negative.
When they were going through the diagnosis last spring, I had to deal with receiving bits and pieces of info from afar. It was difficult, I wished she was at home so I could play the devil's advocate... because I agree doctors can be fallible. And the university mental health counselors were not very professional, in my opinion. They threw everything in the Mental health dictionary at her...... bipolar, schizophrenia, multiple personalities you name it.... so when the diagnosis came in it seemed too basic to her and she wouldn't initially believe it.
From a far it felt more like it was, stress, anxiety, having to deal with diabetes all by herself for the first time, plus some wacko blood sugars resulting in some weird episodes where she felt she was sleep walking during the day (but nobody bothered to test her blood sugar at the time...), plus poor eating choices etc...
But she has settled on the BPD diagnosis, she is on a very low dose medication (Escitalopram), and with a renewed interest in healthy eating, seeing a therapist regularly (not a school counselor) she seems to be doing much better this year. Still I would love to hear from or talk with those parents or individuals who have dealt with BPD and type 1 for a while now. What has worked, what hasn't, what I should do to support her or look out for... thanks so much.