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Support groups for partners of those with chronic illness?

User Profile: casiopea3199
casiopea3199 January 1st, 2021

I've posted on here a few times about my partner, and how his being chronically ill has affected my life. I love him very dearly and would do anything for him, but I've taken to realizing I'm not putting myself first. Mostly I feel alone, and like I don't have much guidance on whether or not I'm "doing this right" I guess. I've tried seeing if there are support groups for this but I can't seem to find any that fit what I'm actually going through. Most are for long term intensive caregivers, or specifically for spouses, and usually the problems are mostly to do with memory and mobility. I'm 21 in a 3 year relationship with someone 25 with a chronic illness that doesn't really center around mobility or memory issues as it tends to with older couples. It is still severe at times (an aggressive form of Crohn's, he's almost died a few times, extreme weight fluctuations, has a permanent ostomy) but most days it's just mild minor things that happen that make me start to feel upset about the situation we are both in, like lethargy making chores or going out hard, or not being able to eat most foods I enjoy, etc.

I guess I know I need to talk with someone about it, but I've not found any sort of support group for young people in relationships with someone who is chronically ill. I guess because it's not as common as people who are older in this situation. I wouldn't call myself any sort of caregiver per se, but there are struggles we deal with that I guess are hard to understand without someone else having been through it. But I've yet to find a community where I can find someone to talk to about this stuff who understands and can empathize. Do any of these support groups/forums/communities exist, specifically for young people? If not, how would I start one?

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User Profile: Asher
Asher January 10th, 2021

Thanks for sharing this great idea with the community.