Type 1 & Partner Involvement

[Otenba]

Hi all!

I was just curious - how much is your partner/girlfriend/boyfriend involved when it comes to your condition?

Mine is very involved and I appreciate every minute of it (even if there are times I have to tell him that I want to deal with the problem myself lol).

In the past, I would often struggle to help my boyfriend at the time to understand how he could help me or become more involved beyond doing things like hypo prevention because of my lack of understanding of my condition myself. I would feel really alone as most diabetics probably do at points in their life.

The DAFNE course has been a great help to me in this respect. I wasn't even carb counting until a couple of years ago when I did the DAFNE course. It made it all a lot easier to explain to friends and family, so now when he decides to make the dinner or something, I can trust him to know how much insulin I need to take for it. Heaven really, a load of my mind - and it strengthens our relationship too! Lovely!

The knowledge makes a world of difference and I have thought about the what-ifs of my past but I cannot change to what could have been now. Hakuna Matata, eh?

So, how about you?

 

[copepod]

My (male) partner does all I (female) want, diabetes wise, which isn't much, as I can do anything myself. What I can't do is identify what's in what's he's cooked, particularly the proportion of cauliflower to potato in cauliflower cheese, potato to parsnip in some stews, soups, how much pasta / rice / cous cous he cooked and what proportion is on my plate etc. Then I estimate how much insulin to take, as he can't know what other factors such as infection, previous activity, planned future activity, stress etc. Very early on, I explained that if I said I needed to eat something, I really meant it and it meant something sugary, and that was different from saying I wanted to eat or was hungry.

As he can't drive and relies on me to drive often long distances, Cambridge to Fort William and return, three times, once sharing driving with one other, for example, he has to be patient when I need to test before setting off and stop regularly.

 

[ebony321]

Hi all!

I was just curious - how much is your partner/girlfriend/boyfriend involved when it comes to your condition?

Mine is very involved and I appreciate every minute of it (even if there are times I have to tell him that I want to deal with the problem myself lol).

In the past, I would often struggle to help my boyfriend at the time to understand how he could help me or become more involved beyond doing things like hypo prevention because of my lack of understanding of my condition myself. I would feel really alone as most diabetics probably do at points in their life.

The DAFNE course has been a great help to me in this respect. I wasn't even carb counting until a couple of years ago when I did the DAFNE course. It made it all a lot easier to explain to friends and family, so now when he decides to make the dinner or something, I can trust him to know how much insulin I need to take for it. Heaven really, a load of my mind - and it strengthens our relationship too! Lovely!

The knowledge makes a world of difference and I have thought about the what-ifs of my past but I cannot change to what could have been now. Hakuna Matata, eh?

So, how about you?

Interesting post, i've only had one partner since i've had diabetes.. so not much to compare but i couldn't be happier with how much she does for me.

She took it upon herself when we first met to read up on diabetes so she knew the basics, then as time has gone on she knows alot about diabetes and doesn't blink an eye at anything.

She knows i don't like people to pry much into it so doesn't ask all the time, but she'll occasionally ask when i test my BG or sneak a look to see what it is.

I was worried that sometimes it may occur to her that maybe diabetes being a third party in a relationship is too much but she has made it clear when i've asked that diabetes does not bother her and has said some pretty sweet stuff about how proud she is how i take care of diabetes.

She also refers to my pump as our diabetes child :lol:

Saying that i wouldn't blame anybody for being scared at times and i know diabetes doesn't just effect you, its her i get snappy at when my BG is high. When i'm low and it stops us from doing something, or we can't go away at certain times because of appointments.

saying that makes me appreciate her even more, i need to get her a huge gift for all she does i think

 

[Fallenstar]

Well he's not bad for a Yorkshire Bloke I suppose.

He usually see's a hypo as a green light :wink: You know when defenses are down :lol:

He mentioned me going back on Lantus the other day!

 

[Leeds Lass]

I'm the partner of a T1 diabetic and i'm very involved and I think he quite likes it . I go to all his appointments with him but I think that's mainly because he just sits there and i'm the one that asks all the questions!

He's going on the DAFNE course in a couple of weeks and i'm gutted I can't go with him, they'd probably bar me anyway cos i never shut up with all my questions!

LL x

 

[AndyS]

I'm the partner of a T1 diabetic and i'm very involved and I think he quite likes it . I go to all his appointments with him but I think that's mainly because he just sits there and i'm the one that asks all the questions!

He's going on the DAFNE course in a couple of weeks and i'm gutted I can't go with him, they'd probably bar me anyway cos i never shut up with all my questions!

LL x

They won't let you go along? That is a surprise. When I did my DAFNE course a couple of partners turned up on a few of the days. Possibly worth him asking the educator when he actually gets there.

 

[Dragonflye]

Well he's not bad for a Yorkshire Bloke I suppose.

He usually see's a hypo as a green light :wink: You know when defenses are down :lol:

He mentioned me going back on Lantus the other day!

LOL :lol:

My hubby is amazing, the amount he is more than happy to deal/help with including the 3am readings, the nasty 3hour+ nighttime hypos etc... Can't ask much more of him, suprising really to say he's from lancashire :wink: although he does have yorkshire blood in him :lol:

 

[Fallenstar]

My hubby is amazing, the amount he is more than happy to deal/help with including the 3am readings, the nasty 3hour+ nighttime hypos etc... Can't ask much more of him, suprising really to say he's from lancashire :wink: although he does have yorkshire blood in him :lol:[/quote]

ah well Dragonfly that will be the Lancashire side of him then :wink:

mine would really think it was time to rock and roll,if I woke him up at 3 AM :lol: I make sure I treat night time hypos VERY quietly! :wink: :lol:

 

[schwexyeyes]

My partner is great, we've only been together for 15 months and he does everyyhing to help, counts crabs when hes cooked. If I need lucozade he'll go out at daft oclock to get it. Back in June my hba1c was 12.2 and its now 8.8 four months down the line due to fine tuning my ratios with the use if the aviva expert meter which i personally think every type one diabetic should own lol but my partner is great throughout the hypos I've been having.