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Where do I find help for someone with type 1 Diabetes, and Alcoholism!!!
by slhurley, Jun 03, 2002 12:00AM
I have been dealing with my boyfriend who is an insulin dependent
diabetic, and alcoholic, and is very depressed about life in general. I have tried to get him to go to a rehab for treatment
and he says he will go but never makes an appointment. I have tried to get him to get help to control his diabetes but he never follows through with it...usually I end up saving his life when he has severe low blood sugar. He will end up in the ER and stay for a few hours or days. He comes home with intentions of getting on trac, but that only lasts for a few days and he is back going out with his friends (who are alcoholics from work) and will come home stumbling drunk or I will have to pick him up
early in the morning. You may wonder why I put up with this, I don't have a simple answer. It's just a very complicated emotional mess. I am so stressed out from trying to make this change and he tells me he wants to change. I think he needs drastic action taken. I feel he would benefit from inpatient care for his multiple problems, i.e. Diabetes, alcoholism, and depression. Please let me know if there is a comprehensive treatment facility for him...I just don't know where to turn for
all of these problems.
diabetic, and alcoholic, and is very depressed about life in general. I have tried to get him to go to a rehab for treatment
and he says he will go but never makes an appointment. I have tried to get him to get help to control his diabetes but he never follows through with it...usually I end up saving his life when he has severe low blood sugar. He will end up in the ER and stay for a few hours or days. He comes home with intentions of getting on trac, but that only lasts for a few days and he is back going out with his friends (who are alcoholics from work) and will come home stumbling drunk or I will have to pick him up
early in the morning. You may wonder why I put up with this, I don't have a simple answer. It's just a very complicated emotional mess. I am so stressed out from trying to make this change and he tells me he wants to change. I think he needs drastic action taken. I feel he would benefit from inpatient care for his multiple problems, i.e. Diabetes, alcoholism, and depression. Please let me know if there is a comprehensive treatment facility for him...I just don't know where to turn for
all of these problems.
Your boyfriend is luckier than he can ever imagine having a great person like you to care for him in his time of need... I know exactly what he's going through, as I am a recovering alcoholic W/ diabetes. I wish I had someone like you when I was going through my darkest hours. Luckily my parents came over one evening and I happened to be in a diabetic shock. Anyway I didn't die, and I found help at a great inpatient treatment center. It's called Valley Hope, and it's in O'neil, Nebraska. Check it out at www.valleyhope.com. That place saved my life, and helped restore my sanity. I wish you the best of luck, and if it's meant to be, it will all turn out in the end.
Godspeed,
Jess
Keeping that in mind, you could probably open the phone book and look in the yellow pages. You'll probably find several outpatient rehabs or addiction recovery centers. If you call a few, you can also get a schedule of meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous. Also ask about seeing a medical doctor in rehab, because your boyfriend will definitely need an endocrinologist to get back on track with his insulin--not to mention, his condition will have an effect on the anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds that are normally presecribed.
Another option--have you tried mentioning his binges and chronic drinking to the ER doctors or paramedics? This might make your boyfriend mad, but perhaps hearing a doctor reprimand him and remind him of his fragile condition would help snap him out of it. Again, it probably wouldn't be the magical solution. But it might help in the long run--ie, to bombard him with resources and information.
And the, unfortunately, you will have to let go and allow him to choose his fate. This will be the most difficult part. Fortunately, you don't have to do this alone. I would highly recommend that you seek out an Al-Anon meeting. These meetings can be really helpful. Al-Anon is all about the people who are effected by alcoholics--husbands, wives, kids, roommates, best friends, cousins, etc. And it's all about learning to let go--knowing when to help someone, and knowing when you have no control and have to let go.
Good luck. My heart really goes out to you. I had a boyfriend who is an insulin-dependent diabetic--Type I, diagnosed at age 12. And he was an alcoholic. Still is, I think. I used to have to call the paramedics at 6am, when he was waking up from a hangover and having an insulin reaction. I would feed him grape jelly with my fingers--stuff it down his throat, while waiting for the paramedics. I tried to convince him to stop drinking. His answer was to drink stuff that had 'less sugar'--like beer, and then eat tons of carbs before passing out. Ha. Anyway, after five years we broke up. Not because of the drinking--however, it was a big part of my decision to leave him. He just didn't want to face the music, and I didn't want to watch him die. I had to take care of myself--it felt selfish at the time, but truthfully, I had no control over him and his decisions. So I can feel your pain and I truly hope he listens to you and decides to get help for himself.
Love, Leigh
and has diabetes, one of the things the people in AA do when ever they trying to help some one like your boyfreind , is they go in pairs , if you called your local AA in your area- its in the phone book. AA would send out 2 members to talk with him
about his options , like a detox or short term rehab, or mosy lilly they would ask him if he would
like to atend the local AA meeting in your area., they have them every day at noon, and every night at 8pm. they last for an hour and a half.
my father got sober in this type of situation 36 years ago.
you might even know some one in AA who could help.
good luck, and keep at him.
Also for yourself there is alanon meetins for famly members, and freinds of alcohics. these meetins are very helpfull , when
going through these tough times. also very informitive.
keep posting and let me know how you make out.
peace and my prayers are with you.-----michael
I appreciate your help - 1st timer.
longer acting benzo's that control anxiety with less of a tendancy for abuse. if you have to take 1/2 mg a day for 2 weeks, you may or may not have a seizure. if you do, end up at the er, you might want to check the hospital for chemical dependency. most company UDS check for amphetamines, benzo's, opiates, propoxyphene, cocaine - and i think that is all. some are more intensive, if you are using drugs illicitly without a
prescription, you have a drug problem. what are going to do?
you can detox off these drugs with your doctor's help or a doctor who specializes in addiction. you have to want to help
yourself. i hope writing to the forum was a way of asking for help. i am a dilaudid junky, and i am on methadone maintenance for the time being. this is my 2nd time on methadone, so i know how hard the w/d is. Good luck and Blessings, Ava
Incidentally, I'm an alcoholic and opiate abuser that has diabetes and several other health problems. No doctor's warnings or even the thought of certain death ever deterred me from indulging this insanity. Whoa!, some will make it and some won't and I firmly believe that we, the addicts, have to come to grips with our chosen way of life! You can try ever so hard but you cannot convince your friend to change anything. The point is that "you" must take care of yourself and let "him" do the same.
Surely, you must already know that most hospitals offer treatment for what your friend suffers from? Hopefully, he is intelligent enough to "want it".
As for me...I've been gone a long time from this forum due to some unfortunate things I've done. I humbly submit that I've had a relapse but am now back on course again. The word "sojourner" is for some reason bouncing around inside my head!
J.B.
I already had a seizure while asleep. Woke up with a sore tongue from biting, and black&blue shins, from the kicking
People can die of aspirating during a seizure. Don't do it. Call your doc, explain it to him,if he won't help(and I think he will no one wants a pt. to risk a seizure) go to the E.R. for now. Then find a doc you can trust, This is your life,don't risk it.
Well, actually this is more to you, Skip....
I have to say that I am feeling better than I have at least in the last ten years now being off all forms of drugs (excluding aspirin now)... This is the weirdest feeling I have ever experienced in my life. I just celebrated seven months of sobriety from alcohol today! The last time I had any Ultram in my system was over two weeks ago. So I think I'm well on my way to a good recovery. I am mainly an Alcoholics Anonymous type of guy, so those are the meetings I prefer, however, I do hit some of the NA meetings from time to time. I have to say that complete sobriety takes a bit of getting used to, but-damn it, it sure beats the hell out of looking for pills or a bottle to help you get through the day. Well, enough of the drug and alcohol **** for now. It makes me feel a bit guilty talking about how well I'm doing, so I'll stop for now.
Skip, about your father's condition and your family's "dysfunctionality"--- man, I know exactly what you're going through and it is hell to say the least. My grandmother recently passed away, and my dad and his sisters had to go through the assets, and dividing the estate was one crazy endeavor. As my