I’m needing some advice on how and when to tell a college room mate about your diabetes.
I want my room mate to have a chance to find a new room mate if they don’t feel comfortable living with me, but i don’t want it to be the first thing i blurt out.
Any advice?
wow! you definitely should not need to worry about that. I’d find that rather insulting if someone didn’t want to live with me because of my disease that accounts for 90% of my life.
However, realistically…it does make some people uncomfortable.
I have two roommates myself but i knew them before living with them so they already knew about my diabetes. Within the first couple of weeks of moving in I made sure they knew where I keep my glucagon and how to use it in case of an emergency. I also told them and made sure they understood that my blood glucose often affects my mood, etc.
Anyways, definitely tell them within the first 2 weeks, if not right away. It’s not like it’s a secret and if they’re going to be living with you then they have the right to know and be aware, not only for your safety but also theirs.
Hopefully that helps you out a little bit. Don’t be afraid to tell people you’re a diabetic…we’re pretty cool hehe 
-Jodie
I’d tell a roommate from the start as you’re getting to know each other. I’d pretty much casually say that you have diabetes & the basics of what that means. I’d ask if she’s ok with it in case you need her help & give her the chance to ask questions.
Hope you get a great roommate!
I think you should tell your roommate fairly early in the getting to know you’s otherwise she may think it is weird that you test your blood and have needles. Obviously you should do the what’s your name where are you from first. When I went to college I got the email addresses of my roommates and so I told them over email during the summer before we moved in. You could see if you can get in contact with your roommate before your move-in date to give them a heads up. Or you could away just take out your meter and say I need to test my blood, I’m a diabetic, and I’m sure she will have a million questions.
Nothing to apologize for and nothing to worry about. I dealt with plenty of roommates in my college years and never mentioned it to anyone in terms of “hey, I’m Pavlo and I’m diabetic.” The first time I pulled out my meter or a syringe they either starred for a while before asking or they simply said “diabetic?” None of them ever freaked out or moved out ot anything. Some were very interested and kind and asked if there was anything they needed to know. Others felt uncomfortable asking so I just told them about the glucagon and what to do if they find me passed out and such.
Your only real concern is if they (or people they know) have reason to steal your needles. There’s also the idiots who think it would be funny as a prank to hide your stuff, but overall I’ve found roommates to be more respectful and adult about it than I expected (and that’s including the frat guys I lived with for a while who were so immature about everything else they ended up getting expelled and their fraternity shut down for five years).
If you act like something’s wrong with you they’ll treat you accordingly. Just do your thing like it’s what everyone else does and most roommates will respond equally.
It has been a while for me since I went to school. I did not have diabetes back then but I was a very different person than what I am today. I was a punk kid with spiked colored hair and wore punk clothes. I wound up going to a small baptist school in texas. This was back in 1989. My roommate was the total opposite of who I was. He was a jock and played basketball. I met the guy the first day and thought that we would move out in a week. I never thought of telling him about me or who I was when I first met him. Eventually we learned a lot about each other and we hit it off. I learned so much from this person and I would think he learned a lot from me. I learned life lessons that I carry with me to this day. So my point to be made is diabetes is part of who we are but not the whole part. Tell them what YOU feel comfortable with telling them and when you feel comfortable. I dont think you need to tell a stranger that you have not met what is your medical condition up front. Meet the person and give them the benefit of the doubt. Get to know them and let them get to know you and go from there.
Also it is different in a dorm situation because you are now out of your comfort zone and now you have to live with people who may not know you and how you are affected by diabetes. As we grow we learn to expand the comfort zones and that is what dorm life is about. I think learning to live with people who are different than us is part of the dorm experience.
Dont worry too much about the situation. I lived with a lot of different roommates and we all were different and had a lot of similarities. Just think of the situations as a learning experience and maybe you will be lucky enough like myself and meet someone who does not know anything about you but learns a great deal from you.
take care