How do you handle a partner's severe lows?

My wife has Type 1 and she's had a few really bad lows over the years where she wasn't able to treat herself and needed help. The most recent one happened at night and honestly it scared me more than I expected.

She uses a CGM and I can see her readings on my phone, but sometimes the data stops updating or I don't notice an alert immediately. Now whenever I'm away from home for work I catch myself checking my phone constantly because I'm worried something could happen when nobody is there.

I don't want to become controlling or make her feel like I'm monitoring every number. I just want us to have a better backup plan for the rare times when a low becomes an emergency.

For people with Type 1, or partners of someone with Type 1, what have you set up at home that actually helps you both feel safer?

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@meenal242 wks ago

My husband follows my CGM too, but we agreed beforehand on when I actually want him to call me. Otherwise every little dip turns into 'are you okay??' 😂 Having rules around it made both of us less anxious.

@akash-m2 wks ago

That's a good idea. I think part of my problem is that I don't really have a line between 'normal diabetes stuff' and 'I should actually check on her.'

@rohit172 wks ago

Please make sure you know where her glucagon is and how to use the specific one she has. My wife and my parents both know where mine is. Hopefully they never need it, but an emergency is not when you want to be reading the instructions for the first time.

@akash-m2 wks ago

We do have glucagon, but I honestly haven't reviewed it in a while. That's something we can fix immediately.

@vikramreddy2 wks ago

After multiple severe lows I'd also want her diabetes team involved, especially if they're happening during sleep. Technology and backup alerts are useful, but I'd want the actual pattern reviewed too.

@akash-m2 wks ago

Yeah, that's fair. I've been so focused on finding a better alert system that I probably shouldn't treat the technology as the whole solution.

@avinash912 wks ago

I'm the Type 1 person in our house and one thing I really appreciate is that my partner asked me what I wanted them to do instead of deciding for me. They have my CGM data and know the emergency plan, but they don't comment on every high or low.

@rameshreddy2 wks ago

This matters so much. There's a huge difference between 'I know how to help if you need me' and feeling like someone is grading your glucose all day.

@harshvardhan2 wks ago

We keep fast carbs in ridiculously obvious places. Bedroom, kitchen, car, my bag. I used to have everything in one cupboard and realised that wasn't very useful if I was low upstairs.

@akash-m2 wks ago

We have stuff in the kitchen but nothing beside the bed. Considering the worst episodes have been overnight, that suddenly seems very obvious.

@ruchishah2 wks ago

My husband works nights, so we have one other family member who can physically get to me if something looks seriously wrong and I'm not responding. Just having one backup person made him stop feeling like everything depended on him.

@akash-m2 wks ago

That's probably what we're missing. Right now when I'm at work I feel like I'm still the only person responsible for noticing something.

@preeti082 wks ago

One practical thing: test the whole alert setup occasionally. We discovered my husband's phone had quietly stopped allowing one of the notifications we thought he was receiving. Better to discover that on a normal afternoon than during an emergency.

@sandeeprao2 wks ago

This happened to us after a phone update. Everything looked connected until we actually tested it.

@nikhilpatel2 wks ago

My wife has Type 1 too, and I had a lot of anxiety after her first severe low. Having an emergency plan helped because I finally felt like I knew what to do instead of just waiting for the next bad night.

@akash-m2 wks ago

I think that's a big part of it. I'm not trying to control her diabetes. I'm just scared of being too late one day.