What It’s Like to Be Intimate When You Have an Insulin Pump

Carissa Trast is like many other New York 30-somethings: She works hard, is super-active, and loves hanging with her friends. And she just so happens to be one of the close to three million Americans living with type 1 diabetes, a disease that prevents the body from producing insulin.

But the 32-year-old HR consultant, who lives in Brooklyn, doesn’t let her injections and her insulin pump hold her back from anything, whether it’s running a marathon (she just completed her first one last year!) or feeling things out with a new guy.

In fact, Carissa’s diabetes has never been a dating deal-breaker for dudes, mainly because she’s so open about it. “It’s not something that I tend to hide from anybody, whether it’s someone I’m dating or not dating,” says Carissa.  “For example, when I’m in a group setting and I’m on injections, I often will take out a syringe and take a shot at the dinner table if I’m [feeling] sick, even if there are people at the table who I’m not close with—it’s not something that I’m very self-conscious about.”

No surprises here—Carissa says that her insulin pump is something the guys she dates are aware of before they ever enter the bedroom. “I’ll disconnect and put it to the side it really doesn’t become a conversation,” says Carissa, who explains that she disconnects her insulin pump, which leaves a little insert mark on the skin, when she goes for runs or bike rides, too. 

They’re pretty cool about it, actually. “I don’t think that there have been any real strange or surprising responses,” says Carissa. “I think that people are more familiar with type 1 diabetes than I used to think.”

Carissa says that while it’s not something she necessarily brings up super early on in a relationship because she’s very involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (she’s participated in fundraising activities like the Ride to Cure), a lot of times the men she’s seeing will already know that she has diabetes.

When it comes to type 1 diabetes, a low blood-sugar level can be dangerous (in extreme cases a person can go unconscious)—which is why Carissa always checks her levels throughout the day and before heading out for dinner or drinks with a potential love interest.

Carissa says she has felt her blood-sugar level rising (this can be caused by eating more than usual or skipping an insulin injection, but it’s not as dangerous as low blood sugar) during a date. “I’ve definitely left a date and noticed that my blood sugar was high and maybe I had a beverage that had too much sugar in it,” she says. “I wouldn’t necessarily take my pump out during a first date, but I would just go to the bathroom and do it at that point.”

“When we would get into fights, he would tend to suggest I test my blood sugar if I was being sort of angry or irritable,” says Carissa. “But he would say that just to make me angry more than anything else.”

Carissa says she was actually impressed with how much that same boyfriend wanted to learn about her condition. “When you care about somebody you want to understand what they’re going through,” she says. “You want to be there for them the best that you can. I have a lot of friends who have diabetes, and their partners are very involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, for example. They want to understand and make a difference.”

More from Women’s Health:
12 Dating Tips That Will Transform Your Love Life 
How to Stop Dating Jerks
13 Signs You’re Not Over Your Ex