This may seem strange but ever since I’ve developed gastroparesis and subsequent anxiety / depression I suddenly feel very lost without my sister around. She lives interstate and has her own life but when she visits, which she does every month or so I’m very distressed when she leaves. I’m 42 years old with no other family of my own expect my elderly mother who lives with me . My psychologist says it’s a form of anxiety and stress from my illness and having her around is like a security blanket. Not sure how to overcome this ? Does anyone else feel a certain extreme attachment to loved ones when dealing with this chronic disease ?
Yes, me too. Our mother is gone ten years now. My sister is five years older than me. She’s my go-to person when I’m upset about all my health problems. I have many health problems. She is very lucky and has relatively few. It’s like she has taken the place of my mother. Her voice is calming and she always knows the right things to say to make me feel better. I don’t know what I would do without her.
Yes. I totally get it. I just wished my sister lived nearby as I’m more distressed when she goes home and I find phone calls just aren’t the same as being around in person.
I understand how diabetes and its complications can be socially isolating, since you now have something significant in your life which most others do not, so it is more difficult to find things to share in order to build bridges to other people. This can lead to dependency relationships with those few people you do know.
But with gastroparesis, there are fortunately some things you can do to minimize the effects of the disease. If you don’t mind losing your libido, which is the drug’s main side effect, you can take domperidone, which in adequate doses can eliminate the symptoms. Some doctors are afraid to prescribe it because of its cardiac effects, but these have been greatly exaggerated, and no patient in North America has ever died from using even very high doses of domperidone in all the many years it has been available.
In addition to that, if you puree your food that will go a long way to eliminating the effects of gastroparesis without medication.
I’m sorry your sister isn’t closer. Mine doesn’t really live near me either. I usually only see her two or three times a year. We text, we email and we talk on the phone. That seems to be enough for me.
Then we always have this forum to reach out to people who know exactly what we are going through. I find that to be a big help too.
I was on domperidone but they took me off it as it dramatically increased the ‘qt’ waves on the ekg. So yes cardiac concerns. I am considering asking to go back on it and maybe reduce the dose perhaps.
Yes. This forum is great 
I find phone calls to my sister and face time etc make me more distressed 
that she’s not actually here. I’ll have to learn to cope I guess. I realise I just feel scared of being alone when I’m really sick.
Absolutely. My best friend died in the spring and he was my best chronic illness support person. Now, I survived before I knew him, so I knew that I would survive without him. But, I feel that I am half the diabetic that I was. I do not have anyone who understands as deeply or as intuitively, the experience of chronic illness. I really trusted his judgment and his ability to assess me. He cooked for me a lot and kept a mental note of how I was looking and feeling. I dont have anyone else who really understands, deeply, my relationship with me illness like he did. It sucks.
I’m sorry that you lost someone so dear to you. It’s heartbreaking to feel the loneliness.