Has anyone here been a diabetic for more than 40 years?

CarbsRok

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Hi. I have been Type 1 for 52years. Now 74years and very soon going on a pump. Bit apprehensive but after reading Pumping Insulin and going on DAFNE course feel ready to take on the challenge.
Wow many congratulations to you. Once you get your head around the pump I'm sure you will be fine. Take one day at a time and anything you don't understand ask. Smart thinking on buying the book as well.
 
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yingtong

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Good for you Gemma2 ,I've been on a pump for 5 weeks,I've been type1 for 52 years and I am 67 years old,yes it's hard work to start with but I'm getting my head around it now.Very good luck when you start on the pump.
 

rochari

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154
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Sitting here with a big smile. Today it was my turn to get the 50 year medal and very nice it is too. You know, it has really brought the memories back of all the changes (good and bad) over those many years and how the heck I managed it I'll never know. I should maybe take some time out to calculate just how many injections I've given myself or draw up a list of some of the daftest most ridiculous places and situations I've been in when trying to take the injections. Now I want to start a collection so it's time to begin working hard to get the one for 60 years!

Bill
 

CarbsRok

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4,688
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pasta ice cream and chocolate
Sitting here with a big smile. Today it was my turn to get the 50 year medal and very nice it is too. You know, it has really brought the memories back of all the changes (good and bad) over those many years and how the heck I managed it I'll never know. I should maybe take some time out to calculate just how many injections I've given myself or draw up a list of some of the daftest most ridiculous places and situations I've been in when trying to take the injections. Now I want to start a collection so it's time to begin working hard to get the one for 60 years!

Bill
Many congratulations Bill :)
 

pipkin

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Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Yes I have been diabetic type 1 since the age of 10! In March this year I clocked up 43 years as a type 1 diabetic
I was unfortunately found by my husband in a diabetic coma in January this year, unfortunately this has left me with a brain injury, I am now under a diabetic team at GWH in swindon and the head injury team at GRH IN Gloucester so living half way between the 2 I spend a lot of my time travelling to either 1 hospital or the other. I do realise that I am 1 of the lucky ones though.
 

Ladybirdy75

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I was unfortunately found by my husband in a diabetic coma in January this year, unfortunately this has left me with a brain injury, I am now under a diabetic team at GWH in swindon and the head injury team at GRH IN Gloucester so living half way between the 2 I spend a lot of my time travelling to either 1 hospital or the other. I do realise that I am 1 of the lucky ones though.

Sorry to hear that @pipkin
 

Dodo

Well-Known Member
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418
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Sitting here with a big smile. Today it was my turn to get the 50 year medal and very nice it is too. You know, it has really brought the memories back of all the changes (good and bad) over those many years and how the heck I managed it I'll never know. I should maybe take some time out to calculate just how many injections I've given myself or draw up a list of some of the daftest most ridiculous places and situations I've been in when trying to take the injections. Now I want to start a collection so it's time to begin working hard to get the one for 60 years!

Bill
Congratulations. 50 years next year. Hoping to get my medal then.
 

philchap1

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3,730
Type of diabetes
Type 1
48 years this Christmas aged 7, remember the stainless steel and glass syringe with a needle as thick as your finger, remember practising injections on an orange while in hospital boiling needles and syringe for 20 minutes, 5 drops of urine to 10 of water drop in the tablet and watch it bubble and change colour, still working as a plasterer which keeps me active played rugby union until I was 40, have had some issues with eyes but all ok at the moment. I think diabetes has made me go through life pushing myself to be as good as a non diabetic x
 

RuthW

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1,158
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Philchap, we must have been diagnosed within months of each other (I was five). And I remember those old metal and glass syringes and those terrible, terrible needles. My Dad used to boil my syringe and needles every night in a stainless steel butter dish on the cooker ring to sterilize them. And those needles were tap-tap-tapping on that dish as they boiled. Every time I look at a modern pen needle, it cheers me up now. So tiny, so short, so fine!
 

diggerfrank

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Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
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hot currys.indian food.
My diabetes hero, Dr Richard K Bernstein is turning 80 this year and has been living with diabetes since childhood - not only has he reversed most of his own complications since coming up with his plan, he's helped countless patients as well. The man is a living legend!
 

diggerfrank

Member
Messages
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Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Dislikes
hot currys.indian food.
My diabetes hero, Dr Richard K Bernstein is turning 80 this year and has been living with diabetes since childhood - not only has he reversed most of his own complications since coming up with his plan, he's helped countless patients as well. The man is a living legend!
WOW!!!!! you look fantastic indy51.. i presume that the photo was taken about a week ago?
 
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Ladybirdy75

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Ugh the dreaded glass and metal syringes . Needles the thickness of rope lol. I still can't stomach the smell of surgical spirit even now. My mum was always forgeting my syringes were boiling away in a saucepan and they'd end up black!!! I remember my mum sitting me at the table with a pack of coloured pencils the night before my childhood appointments and I'd literally have to colour in/make up my test tube log book results. Thinking about it, it's no wonder I've been a **** diabetic with my history . How am i not dead??? lol
 

rochari

Well-Known Member
Messages
154
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Many thanks folks regarding my medal. Much appreciated. Ladybird, I remember all that so well. I grew up in a household with a type 1 mother and grandmother. Each had different glass syringes. My grandmother's was a 'record' fitting and I remember the base of the needles to be much narrower to fit on the end of her syringe. Both myself and mother had luer fitting syringes which seemed to be a bit wider at their top. Every night we had three pots boiling each of our syringes. How daft thinking about it, when we could have placed them all in the one bl**dy pot. Do you remember the little trays of needles? Each one having to also be boiled and expected to last around 10 days! Huge they were too. I remember my mother telling me that gran originally used benedicts solution to test her urine and that the test tube was held over one of the cooker's gas rings to heat it.

The one thing I also remember is the diet sheet I was given when I left hospital and which was used for years. Things like, '2 potatoes no larger than a hens egg', 2 oz of butter maximum, 2 digestives, which I could swop for 3 tea biscuits or nine (!) cream crackers. My sunday treat was always the 6d bars of Walls ice cream (without the wafers - perish the thought). I loved sundays! Oh, and the diabetic fruit cakes sealed up in a tin - access only with a can-opener.

Sadly my great grandmother died from the illness as there was no insulin. I think are all now very fortunate in what's available to help us with the condition.

Bill
 

RuthW

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Messages
1,158
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Ugh the dreaded glass and metal syringes . Needles the thickness of rope lol. I still can't stomach the smell of surgical spirit even now. My mum was always forgeting my syringes were boiling away in a saucepan and they'd end up black!!! I remember my mum sitting me at the table with a pack of coloured pencils the night before my childhood appointments and I'd literally have to colour in/make up my test tube log book results. Thinking about it, it's no wonder I've been a **** diabetic with my history . How am i not dead??? lol
LOL. I am your long-lost twin!

It all seems so crazy in retrospect, doesn't it? Looking back, I think I was scared out of my wits till I was about 30!

Did any of you long-timers ever go to Diabetes Camp. I used to see the pictures in Balance Magazine sometimes and long to go. But you know, I never asked. Strange.
 

Ladybirdy75

Well-Known Member
Messages
281
Many thanks folks regarding my medal. Much appreciated. Ladybird, I remember all that so well. I grew up in a household with a type 1 mother and grandmother. Each had different glass syringes. My grandmother's was a 'record' fitting and I remember the base of the needles to be much narrower to fit on the end of her syringe. Both myself and mother had luer fitting syringes which seemed to be a bit wider at their top. Every night we had three pots boiling each of our syringes. How daft thinking about it, when we could have placed them all in the one bl**dy pot. Do you remember the little trays of needles? Each one having to also be boiled and expected to last around 10 days! Huge they were too. I remember my mother telling me that gran originally used benedicts solution to test her urine and that the test tube was held over one of the cooker's gas rings to heat it.

The one thing I also remember is the diet sheet I was given when I left hospital and which was used for years. Things like, '2 potatoes no larger than a hens egg', 2 oz of butter maximum, 2 digestives, which I could swop for 3 tea biscuits or nine (!) cream crackers. My sunday treat was always the 6d bars of Walls ice cream (without the wafers - perish the thought). I loved sundays! Oh, and the diabetic fruit cakes sealed up in a tin - access only with a can-opener.

Sadly my great grandmother died from the illness as there was no insulin. I think are all now very fortunate in what's available to help us with the condition.

Bill

Rochari!!!! I've found you!!!! I knew a couple of years ago I'd spoken to someone here and they'd told me there were 3 generations of diabetics in one house. What you told me about your grandmother really touched me and stayed with me. What a brave lady (and all those who did it without insulin - so tough for them).........it's you, i thought it was but couldn't be sure.

You know i never heard of this camp before yesterday. I feel like a deprived child lol. I remember well the diet sheet, ha ha there were some bizzare things on it. Oh and the ice cream.

I was terrible, any money i got I'd save in my pencil case and after school (juniors) my friends and i would buy all these sweets........it's much easier to convince 8year olds that you're allowed to eat giant candy lollies ha ha. My bg's must have been horrifically high. I remember getting up so many times in the night and drinking from the tap for minutes at a time
 
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Ladybirdy75

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LOL. I am your long-lost twin!

It all seems so crazy in retrospect, doesn't it? Looking back, I think I was scared out of my wits till I was about 30!

Did any of you long-timers ever go to Diabetes Camp. I used to see the pictures in Balance Magazine sometimes and long to go. But you know, I never asked. Strange.

RuthW, lol, it does seem crazy really. Like i said before i don't know how i managed 40 years with the condition when i remember how sneaky i was with sweets. Mind you our dog once ate a packet of biscuits and i got the blame lol.
 

RuthW

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Messages
1,158
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Yes, @Ladybirdy, I used to walk to school and home afterwards with my sisters, and we were "partners in crime". The whole family was "on rations" when it came to sweets because of my diabetes (way to make the siblings love you), but whenever we had a few pennies we used to go to the sweet shop together, and stock up on all kinds of horrendously sugary treats. When we went "officially" to the sweet shop with my mum, twice a week, we were each allowed a 2 ounce "ration" of whatever we chose. Except me, of course. I got peanuts. Every time. I never complained or whined (because it was all just a role play for me, I knew I'd be hitting the sweet shop again sooner or later with the band of sisters!). The funny thing, looking back, is wondering how the sweet shop owner kept a straight face in front of my mum. And of course, I lost count of how many times I was carried off to hospital in an ambulance when I was a kid. And my parents never, but never admitted that my diabetes was not well-controlled. Or that I was Queen of Liars.