21 Comments
On a scale of 1-5, how much are your personal relationships (social and intimate) affected by living with T1D? (5 = the most affected, 1 = the least affected)
You must be logged in to post a comment.
© 2023 T1D Exchange. All Rights Reserved.
Science says that lasting relationships come down to—you guessed it—kindness and generosity. No mention of cancer, T1D, leprosy, or the bubonic plaque. You can do cloud-chasing assemblages of words, but on the whole, people are pretty darn good. 😇👍
Yes, but the problem is they don’t understand my illnesses and I don’t get all of theirs. It’s hard to walk in another shoes especially of a different kind.
Living with T1D is what it is and I am who I am. I have long accepted life with T1D and people who know me totally accept me for being me regardless of whether I have T1D or not. It’s a non-issue in relationships with people – personal, social, professional, casual, and intimate.
I clicked 2.
I don’t smoke or do drugs (hmmm… these add risks of complications without diabetes: to worry about a1C than these?), and a light to moderate drinker. Spend a lot of time volunteering (HumaneSociety), in my garden, on my too!s, with my attack pit and SaberTooth Cat, and reading g my days are full.
But living a somewhat healthy lifestyle kind of separates me? Still a great life.
as a single guy, I’ve learned the hard way NOT to bring up T1D on a first date!!
This question is so vague, any answer from 1 to 5 could be accurate. In as Ahh Life noted. Relationships come down to kindness and generosity … and probably a few other things like that.
Anyway, I answered “4”. As much as I hate to admit it, Not just my diabetes, but also celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders affect most parts of my life. I have great, loving relationships with my wife and friends. However, intimacy is affected at level “5.” Other activities, like going to restaurants, are limited by celiac disease. Throughout my life low, and high blood glucoses have affected my abilities to do certain things. Some people do not react well to witnessing a low blood glucose reaction.
Honestly, it’s a tough questions to answer. But, what relationships really come down to is respect for others, sharing thoughts, conversations, doing things together, and spending time together. Oh, and also kindness and generosity.
As I age, diabetes is increasingly the central focus: meals, travel, medical procedures, bad days…. Trying to be completely honest here
I get you. Me too.
As a caregiver for our young T1D child, our relationship has changed and will be very different from what we anticipated, not necessarily in a bad way either!
I actually just broke up with my boyfriend and a big reason was because he never expressed any interest and actively pushed back on learning how my diabetes works. I realized he isn’t a very caring person and that if something happened, he wouldn’t know what to do other than call 911.
You made a smart choice Samantha. It took me many years to find my husband, who always listens attentively and has helped me when I’m too low on numerous occasions. He was worth waiting for so don’t give up, there ARE good men out there.
Good you were wise.
I’m not sure how to answer, but I put 3. My wife gets woken up frequently by all my alarms and cooks special food for me, but she does both gladly. So yes, it affects us, but it could be much worse.
I chose 4. Life with a chronic disease definitely impacts all aspects of my life. My spouse and I have been together over the past 41 years. Our relationship continues to be strengthened by the compassion, patience and love that we have for each other.
Well said.
My problem, like I suppose most, is eating. You know what I mean.
Intimate, I believe a lot.
Regular day to day relationships and social encounters little to none.
I dislike how this is worded, as if “affected” is a bad thing. EVERY person in my life who I consider a friend or a close coworker knows that I am T1D. I educate, I advocate, and sometimes I am called on to help when a family member receives he diagnosis.
Kind of shaking my head at all the people who answered 1 or 2 to this.
On MDI. Sometimes injecting at a lunch or dinner is a hassle. I try to be discreet
My answer reflects more how it affects my marriage (a decent amount) than all other relationships in my life (not very much at all)
I said “4”. 5 or 10 years ago, I would have said “1”. With CGMs and smartphones/receivers blaring alarms, daily life is affected all the time. My husband, bless his heart, is patient, but he gets tired of hearing the alarms and waiting on me to take care of clearing it or correcting the out-of-range BG (because FDA won’t approve “swipe and clear for alarms”). The alarms are needed, but definitely impact quality of life.