Tuesday, June 22, 2010

How is living with your partner's diabetes for YOU? Tell us more ...

Since I've been receiving some wonderful comments and email from the posts that I've put out here on my experiences of living with someone with type 1, I thought I'd ask you all to share some of your experiences too.

Although we know that we are not alone in living with someone with diabetes, we also know that it can be somewhat isolating at times. There aren't nearly as many resources or knowledgeable sources for the kind of specific issues we as spouses, partners and loved ones of people with diabetes face. One of my biggest goals in starting this blog was to provide a place that people might find some commonality with their own experience - a chance to hear from someone who "gets it". But I would love to hear from more of you - you all have as much experience, wisdom and "lessons learned" as I do. Let's hear them! Let's put it out there and see if indeed there ARE things that we can enlighten each other on... find support for ... get validation of...

So I would ask: How is it for you in your daily living with a person with diabetes? What are the most critical issues you face? The biggest challenges? The most powerful wins? The biggest anxieties?

How much do you feel "control" issues affect your relationship (yours or theirs!)? Are you happy with how your loved one takes care of themselves? How much does diabetes-related fear and anxiety affect your overall wellbeing? How well do you both communicate around their diabetes? Are there any "hidden emotions" at play in the relationship around the diabetes? Are they (or you) getting "burned out" by it all? How do you cope?

What else? I'd love to hear your story.