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1

My girlfriend and I attend are freshman in college. She has told me that for the first time she can't really relate to anyone.I don't have diabetes so I can't exactly relate to what she is going through. She hasn't met anyone else on campus who also has type 1 juvenile diabetes.
I don't really know how to help her. I was just wondering if there was anything you knew of or any advice or recommendations you could give.
Thank you so much
I really appreciate it,
Brian

2

Where do you attend college? Perhaps there are support groups through local hospitals or even through the health center on campus?

Do you attend a large college? I am just recently diagnosed... and am also a freshman in college. I go to a medium sized campus and randomly met another type 1 diabetic in one of my classes last semester.

I also found out just yesterday that one of my good friends plays volleyball with someone who has type 1 diabetes. I have yet to meet him, but I'm sure I will eventually through my friend. If you are on a large campus, I'm sure there is bound to be one or two other people who are diabetic. I would definitely talk to the health clinic or even the disabilities services. I am apart of the disabilities services and I'm sure if I asked them to tell others my name (like give them permission since there is the confidentiality agreement) they could tell other type 1 diabetics that I am looking to talk to people. So perhaps that could be an option for your girlfriend.

 

Also have her join this site! I'm sure just talking to someone, even not face to face, could help. Sometimes it's even better because you don't have to worry about them judging you. I feel that I can say anything I want on here because I don't know any one here personally.

 

Best of Luck!

Feel free to keep asking questions. In no time I'm sure you will find out a lot about diabetes from others on this site and then will help to relate to your girlfriend. I think it's awesome that you want to help her and relate more to her.

 

-Melissa

3

I attend Syracuse University. I haven't heard of anything done locally or on campus I just contacted the local chapter of JDRF but they haven't got back to me yet

Yes, Syracuse is considered a large college
Yeah thats what i was thinking too, about the health center but I knew about the hipa law so I knew they wouldn't be able to give me names...I could let them know the situation and see what they say
Thanks for your help
4

If you feel a need to network with local diabetics try using sites like Facebook, I'm a member of a local diabetes group. To help your gf with getting used to college, I found it simply felt nice to have a core group of friends I could trust to buy me a candy bar if I needed it and not treat me like a lab rat when I tested my blood sugar.  Learn what you can, and figure out what level of support she wants (sometimes we don't want someone reminding us not to eat candy).  Hope this helps.

5

Do you mean you're a member of a local diabetes group in the Syracuse, NY area or just a local group to your area?

6

Sorry, I'm in a group local to me, but I'm sure someone started a similar group around the Syracuse area.

7

Any idea if there are any resources I could use to find something like that locally?

8

In order to find more diabetics at my university I started my own Walk for the Cure Team. After hanging up posters and traveling about campus wearing my shirt i made for the walk i met ALOT of diabetics... they kinda seeped out of the wood work. Everyone started telling me "this person" "That person" or "my friends" or even "I have" diabetes. It was amazing. so then I donated the money I collected to the walk (cuz I wasn't able to get busy students together in time) but that was ok because I had built up my connections.

9

How did you organize a walk for diabetes at your university, I would be interested in doing that but wouldn't even know where to begin

Thanks

Brian

10

My first instinct was to search Facebook (if you're not a member you can create an account with fake data just to check this out), with the term "syracuse diabetes" and found a group called "American Diabetes Association- Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes Syracuse". Don't know if the event is over but the members could be good contacts for organizing a walk or finding other diabetics.

Google gave me a listing for an ADA branch in syracuse, phone number (888) 488-9864, and ADA's website has a feature to enter your zip code for extra specific information.