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10Intimacy & Diabetes

We will share different ways to help you thrive in each area through-out this book. To begin, let’s start with a few questions. Visit Husky-HealthCT to complete the Problem Areas In Diabetes (PAID) quiz. The issues listed can help you identify emotions that make it harder for you to thrive with diabetes.

Diabetes is never welcomed with open arms. It frequently stirs up dif-ficult feelings, such as guilt, fear, and anger. If permitted to thrive, these emotions can create a rift that causes you to damage the relationship you have with your intimate partner, one of the most important supporters of your effort to lead a healthy and meaningful life.

Below is a discussion of several attitudes and behaviors you may ex-perience along with a few suggested ways to deal with them. We will share specific communication strategies in later chapters. If you feel over-whelmed and act in ways that are not healthy or productive, seek the help of a mental health expert who can offer additional guidance.

You May Feel Guilty

Many emotions arise when you are diagnosed with diabetes, but guilt should not be one of them. You may feel that your diabetes magically appeared because of something you did or ate, but that is not true. Each person who gets diabetes enters the world with the inherited potential to develop it. We know there is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes has several environmental triggers, including weight gain and inactivity. But both types require an inherited potential for the dis-ease to develop. There are certain risk factors that make a person more susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 Diabetes Risk Factors

If you are 45 years old or older

If you have a parent, brother, or sister with diabetes

If you had gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy)