I can have everybody elses support but I still feel a lone all the time. I have everybody on here and still I get angry sometimes. Most the time it doesn't bother but does anyone else just get really down about having diabetes, I mean really this sucks. My sugar has been all over the place today maybe it's high right now and that's why I'm all mad. I've never met anyone with type 1 diabetes and I feel like nobody can relate not anybody I really know I mean in person.
Does anyone else feel like this?
Has anyone else been recently diagnosted and still knows nobody else who has it?
It seems everyone I tell knows somebody but I DON'T?
I know I'm not alone I really do, I'm just in that "down" mood.
hmmm, i’ve had type 1 for nearly 20 years and i only know 1 person in my life that has it and we only get along because we have a similar approach to our treatment of it. most people follow traditional treatments which i have qualms about so on the rare occasion i do run into another type 1, we butt heads.
still though, as it stands, i only know one type 1 diabetic in real life, but i don’t make an effort to go to group events or things where i could meet others. plus, my hobbies tend to be hobbies i don’t find many diabetics in.
so, although i don’t feel alone as a diabetic right now), i did at times when i was younger. hopefully you can take some solace in the fact that the alone feeling does go away over time; sometimes pretty quickly too.
a note about highs and how they affect moods (at least how i’ve noticed them affecting me). before i was able to improve my level of care, i noticed that i needed about 2-3 weeks of good sugars for my mood to be normal. meaning, for me, having highs one day and normal sugars the next didn’t mean that i was going to be in a better mood on the day my sugars were at a good range.
I have had type 1 for 30 years and i only knew one other person with diabetes until i joined a diabetes group. I found that i liked the group but at times i find the group to not be that helpful. My experience is interesting because i currently have a diabetic service dog because of extremely quick dropping blood sugars that the cgm would alert to after i had passed out. I found that the people in the new group i just joined were insisting that the cgm had to work better than my service dog. I find certain things work for some and not others. I was take aback at the response of the people in the group. I will not be going back i feel i made the best choice to keep me safe i really thought another type 1 would understand.
There is quite few diabetic groups on meetup.com. You might look and see if one is near bye if that is of interest. I almost prefer the online forum verses the in person but that is me. I know just a couple years ago i was part of a group and found the group to be really fun.
I know i had some times when my blood sugars fluctuated that my mood was effected. Even with frequent lows in a day i know i get angry, upset and really moody. I think it could just be the frustration of dealing with D. I know i still have days when im like this really sucks. Why do i have to deal with this. Hang in there.
Hey, I’m 18 & I’ve had diabetes for 10 yrs. Yeah, pretty long time being a kid at the time and all. & to be honest with you I’ve never been in control of my diabetes. Lately I’ve been feeling so alone too. It’s like people don’t understand what you are going through even-though they might have an idea. I’ve never met anyone close to me with diabetes. I’ve been feeling kinda depressed because of all this. I wish I could do more which I can but I just feel stuck!
The mood part. I’m a nervous moody wreck. People think I’m mean or rude or something. & they don’t understand. It’s like one second I am fine & the next I’m angry at the whole world.
Thanks for the reply it’s reasurring to know people do battle these same feelings. 10 years in a long time I’ve only had it for a little of a year and in just this one year I feel like I don’t even remember what it feels like to get a peice of cake and not think if I counted my carbs right. It’s not fair. I know everybody has there stuff but the other day it was really making me mad haha I’m doing better today thought
Oh thank you Tarra I think I will look into that. What are the groups like?
I’ve never heard of anyone having a diabetic service dog, but I think it’s a great idea if that is something you need. You must have went through some really seriouse stuff. I’ve never had any really bad lows yet thank god. My lowest is probably a little over 40. Thank you so much for replying.
Haha Thanks Hiroze. I hope someday these feeling will go away I’ve only had diabetes for a little over a year and I do tend to manage pretty well with the feeling of being alone and nobody really knowing what it’s like it just gets hard at times when I think about it much. But thank you for replying
I have had type 1 for over 21yrs… I still feel this way from time to time… the majority of my “diabetic friends” are actually students of mine, so there is only so much I can talk to them about… I can’t get into what’s actually going on some days. It’s just not appropriate for it to come from me…
Also, when my blood sugars go high, I noticed that I have more of the feelings of “I screwed up” and “life isn’t fair…” then when things aren’t going smoothly.
Hopefully, everything is leveling back out for you!
I felt so alone when I was diagnosed. I was at university and decided to quit drinking so the bar/club social scene was closed to me (that was a personal choice but I also felt awkward being sober amongst a sea of drunk people). What I have done is be open about it. Talk to people about how you are living with diabetes and you will be surprised with how many people are living with it as well. Also, you may decide to be proactive and volunteer for a diabetic foundation. I have in Canada through the Canadian Diabetic Foundation and have found many empathetic and kind individuals are there as well as few who are living with diabetes as well. And remember, the “down” mood is a state of mind. Analyze why you are sad and think of how things can make it better works for me. Sometimes it is EXTREMELY frustrating and as more and more instances occur, it can overwhelm me. Just remember, this is something you will be living with for the rest of your life and you can’t beat it yet never let it defeat you. The best thing to do is to learn how to cope with it. I don’t meen to sound preachy. However, all the best! And know that you are never alone in this struggle.
Hi Jamie:-)Im sorry to hear you feel like this but trust me you are not alone with these feelings.Infact expecting someone to rejoice because they have been diagnosed with diabtes is unreasonable.But its not the end of the world it could be a LOT worse.Diabetes can be controlled ad you can live a relatively normal life!I would advise you to get into contact with your endo and make sure to tell them about you feeling down.It has been proven that there is a link between diabetes and depression.I have had diabetes for over 10 years and I still dont know that many diabetics.If you ever want to email me its no problem!Best of Luck!
I hear ya on leaving the bar scene. That was my weekend and pretty much my whole social life. I made the same decision (figured living was more important than beer). We’re on winter break now so there is no one around to meet/talk to. I feel kind of like I did in summer. I moved here early and there was no one to meet. Now I realize I didn’t have too much in common with the people I was hanging out with other than the bars. I can’t wait for spring to start so I can meet people I actually can relate to.
Hey
I’ve had diabetes for 10 years (soooo doesn’t feel that long) and it gets pretty depressing and lonely sometimes. It can totally isolate you from people.
I’m like a few of the other posters… I don;t drink so the whole clubbing/drinking scene is not for me.
I’m at uni and the whole experience is centered around getting hammered and going out and losing it. It’s sooooo not for me but there’s very little I’ve found that I can do ot help them understand that I’m not drinking because there are more serious consequences for us diabetics.
I’m kinda lucky tho cos I’m on a pharmacy course… and we;ve just had lectures about the big dee. It’s not made them all experts but it’s given the people I hang around with a better insight.
I feelvery lonely sometimes and it;s nice to be able to come on here and reach out to others with the condition… you don’t feel quite so isolated then
Keep your chin up - we ALL have bad days (diabetes or not) and though diabetes can amplify the bad ones we should remember that it could be a whole lot worse!
x
I know exactly what you’re talking about, and I realize this thread was made a long time ago so I hope you’re feeling better. I’ve only had diabetes for…a year and a half? Sounds about right. But that loner feeling kicked in immediately after I was diagnosed.
It’s so weird how everyone else seems to know about fifteen diabetics, along with their entire routine and health habits, yet I’ve only known three. All of them are related to me, one died recently, the other I don’t talk to and the last is my grandpa. It’s really not the best support group. Meanwhile my friend always has comments and criticism along the lines of, “Well these other diabetics I know…” What does she hang out at the hospital 24/7? How does she know all those diabetics and I don’t? And she knows them so intimately too! I call shenanigans. I think a lot of people pretend to know fifty billion other diabetics so they have a valid excuse to give you unsolicited advice and show how clever they are. xD I’ve begun to ignore people who do this.
It would be nice to meet some other diabetics. You know, in real life. Internet support is great but there are some days when you need a literal shoulder to cry on. I recently had a group of friends just completely phase me out of their lives when they realized I wouldn’t be getting drunk with them anymore. One of my closest friends tries, but it gets tiring having to explain to her what I’m feeling. I’d love a friend who knew exactly what I was talking about without the slew of background information distracting from my mental break down. Hopefully I’ll find a friend like that someday. In the meantime I’m glad I found this site. It does remind me that I’m not alone, even on those days when I’d rather just curl into a ball, cry and watch old movies all day.
I just got diagnosed dec 2 but i def feel isolated already. Im in the middle of my soph more year of college where as people have said is pretty centered around drinking. Now that i cant do this its hard to hangout with the same people i did. Like i know you can drink a little but i just don’t feel confident in my ability to handle myself at parties all night and not end up drinking a bit more than i intend, or forgetting to check my bg, not having glucose if im low, etc. it just makes the whole thing not worth it at this time which completely changed my college experience. I was a huge party person through out high school and college before dx so my liver is really loving this slacking in my pancreas. But i definitely can get to feeling down but just try to take my mind off it with what i can and make the best go at it i can. Im also in a drug trial for the D that requires me to fly from Colorado to Atlanta weekly for like 6 weeks i a row with a 3 week break then 6 more weeks in a row and during that there is 4 week long visits. Needless to say this totally sucks and i had to drop a bunch of classes which also totally sucks. So things should get better after that which will be nice but im a ball of stress right now.
Thanks for sharing tyler I’m in college too but I was never really a drinker so it didn’t affect me in that way all I can say is try to surround yourself with people who don’t I’m sure you’ll find a lot of new things that are fun. I’m sorry that you’ll have to deal with this tho it isn’t easy. I was dxd a year and half ago and I’m still struggling to feel normal I’m confident we will get there some day.
I recently became friends with a type 1 diabetic here in NY, it is really cool because you will never feel the awkwardness of having to explain to someone the feelings that I may go through. I will be honest, I still get angry inside about it, but knowing that so many people go through the same things I go through on a daily basis is very comforting. I still also get mad at people if they give that sympathy face when they talk to me about it. I will want to shout at them to go run for run to see who would last longer lol… I also was at the gym a few weeks back and saw someone working out wearing a pump. I walked over to him and we had a very interesting conversation.
It’s amazing how many of us feel alone. I feel like I’m in the same boat as you. Feeling lonely, and down about it. I got diagnosed in February so I’m a new Type 1 and am still working through accepting things. Sometimes I feel like diabetes is this ethereal spirit that is always there with me. Not really hurting me, but always there day in and day out. I hate having to think about it every single day. Every time I change my pump site I think “There, that’ll last till I’m cured”. I still feel like I have braces or something and if I stick it out it’ll go away in a year. I guess I need to figure out how to keep good control without burning out, overdoing it or getting angry. I’m sure that many other people have felt this way.
I just want to say thank you to Jamie for this post and for everyone else who shared their stories. Just hearing how others are feeling makes me feel less alone and more “Normal”. Phew, it’s going to be ok guys
