Befriend, Date, Engaged to a Type 1 Diabetic

Not long after we started dating, I asked my now husband, then boyfriend, to tell the world what it was like being the partner of a Type 1 Diabetic.

I asked if he wanted to update this for a more recent post and he was very adamant, no, this is what he wrote and I should re-post it.

So, here it is.

With mutual friends pestering me to take a friend of theirs out on a date, I met my soon-to-be wife Elré. I was told beforehand that if things look to be getting serious I should always keep in mind that she’s a T1D all of her life and that it will be difficult at times.

Well, being an open minded and resourceful guy, I thought ‘How tuff could it be?’. Well, let me tell you.

I knew nothing.

If not for being totally in love with my fiancé and feeling and seeing the heaps of love that she has for me, I would probably have wanted to run away.

What I thought I knew about diabetes was absolute rubbish. In fact I still don’t know a lot about diabetes. What I do know now is that the perception of what diabetes is, is totally wrong. There’s different types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2.

Being as my fiancé is a Type 1, I’ve read up quite a bit on this. So now I know that we will be reading all of the labels on every food item that we buy, we will do maths daily by counting carbs, testing blood sugar levels, calculating the amount of insulin that she needs to inject, not too little, cause then her BSL (Blood Sugar Level) will rise, which is BAD, not too much, cause then her BLS will drop, which is BAD. Just the correct amount to keep the BLS nice and stable at around 6. So I’ve become Goldilocks!? (Not too hot, not too cold, just right)

Every aspect of our life together is affected in some way by her diabetes. Going for a walk, “Ok, just wait I need to check my BLS”. Making dinner, “remember not to use to many of this or that.” That however is one of the many challenges to our life that I do like, I love to create her something healthy and tasty to eat. It does help that I myself will be eating the same food, and I prefer good food 🙂

So now that we’ve been together for 8 months and living together for the past 2 months, would I change anything? Well I would like to have a little more space on the bed, but other than that, I love my T1D fiancé and would gladly count carbs with her for the rest of our long lives.

Oh, before I sign of, one other thing which is actually 3. I’ve heard and read people saying that their T1D partners have this tendency to be 3 different people all rolled up into one. The “normal” version, the BLS high version, which becomes cranky and irritable without warning, and the BLS low version, which basically just becomes a zombie with no real emotion or response. I can however state that none of the extra “personalities” have got a change in hell against the stock standard PMS fiancé.

I love my soon-to-be wife, and will always do. 

If you have any questions, please do leave a comment. I will organise the answers for you!

E xx