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50 years with type 1 diabetes.

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That's amazing well done, what are your tips to staying so well, as you're diagnosis is well before the lchf phenomenon and what has been your staple diet, how have you managed to stay unaffected all through the years?

I see on your information you dislike 'pasta, ice cream and chocolate' this is probably your secret weapon me thinks, could you have been one of the first low carbers?
 
Spencer67 said:
That's amazing well done, what are your tips to staying so well, as you're diagnosis is well before the lchf phenomenon and what has been your staple diet, how have you managed to stay unaffected all through the years?

I see on your information you dislike 'pasta, ice cream and chocolate' this is probably your secret weapon me thinks, could you have been one of the first low carbers?
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When I was diagnosed in the long distant past pasta etc was not available so never grew up with it and on the odd occasion when I have tried it just haven't liked it.
Mum bless her always as a treat used to make a diabetic friendly sponge cake made with sorbitol :eek: so always thought cakes were dry. Hence very little interest in that dept. Mum was heart broken when I asked her not to make the cake as hated it.
Back in the 1960's carbs were always restricted, to X amount per meal. Until a few years ago I was always very active as worked and lived on a mixed farm and stud farm, school days were spent very active due to sports at county level which included cross country. So used to consume about 250 carbs a day. (no meters in those days)
I have ME now which means not active so carbs are reduced so no weight gain from inactivity.
I'm very grateful to my Mum for giving me the grounding in self care and teaching me to be responsible for my actions and condition from day one and also treating me no differently from my brothers. Thus a normal childhood ensured :)
So in summary
Good care from Mum
Exercise
Never missing insulin injections
Understanding what went in my mouth and accounting for it.
Keeping up with technology.
 
CarbsRok said:
When I was diagnosed in the long distant past pasta etc was not available so never grew up with it and on the odd occasion when I have tried it just haven't liked it.
Mum bless her always as a treat used to make a diabetic friendly sponge cake made with sorbitol :eek: so always thought cakes were dry. Hence very little interest in that dept. Mum was heart broken when I asked her not to make the cake as hated it.
Back in the 1960's carbs were always restricted, to X amount per meal. Until a few years ago I was always very active as worked and lived on a mixed farm and stud farm, school days were spent very active due to sports at county level which included cross country. So used to consume about 250 carbs a day. (no meters in those days)
I have ME now which means not active so carbs are reduced so no weight gain from inactivity.
I'm very grateful to my Mum for giving me the grounding in self care and teaching me to be responsible for my actions and condition from day one and also treating me no differently from my brothers. Thus a normal childhood ensured :)
So in summary
Good care from Mum
Exercise
Never missing insulin injections
Understanding what went in my mouth and accounting for it.
Keeping up with technology.
Click to expand...


Thank you, and you did it without all the tech and mass of available info we have today. A very encouraging story.
 
Congratulations!! I celebrate 43 years this April, as a type 1 Diabetic. And no complications, my consultant puts it down to good genes crossing fingers long may it last. Have to say I've not always been the best Diabetic but as I've got older I realise where I went wrong in the past . But also I do have a positive attitude towards it, of course sometimes I get majorly fed up with it too. Diabetes doesn't define me, it's just a part of my life. I'm now on MDI and reasonable control - Hbac1 hovers around 7.5 - 8.0 .
 
May I ask what the ICHF phenomenon is? I've googled but am none the wiser, apologies for my ignorance
 
Jeannie87 said:
May I ask what the ICHF phenomenon is? I've googled but am none the wiser, apologies for my ignorance
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Low carb high fat, is what LCHF stands for :)
Jeannie87 said:
Congratulations!! I celebrate 43 years this April, as a type 1 Diabetic. And no complications, my consultant puts it down to good genes crossing fingers long may it last. Have to say I've not always been the best Diabetic but as I've got older I realise where I went wrong in the past . But also I do have a positive attitude towards it, of course sometimes I get majorly fed up with it too. Diabetes doesn't define me, it's just a part of my life. I'm now on MDI and reasonable control - Hbac1 hovers around 7.5 - 8.0 .
Click to expand...
I must have good genes as well as my uncle is also type 1 and at the age of 80 is doing very well he will reach the 50 years next year so that must be some feat two in the same family with 50 years under our belts :)
Like you I went off track as well esp as a teenager, one thing though I never ever missed an injection. :)
As I was diagnosed at such a young age I can not remember life before diabetes so nothing to compare it with. I do remember the diagnoses as it was on Dad's birthday and just before Easter. I remember it well because my Dad picked up my Easter egg and gave it to my older brother saying I wasn't allowed any more sweeties or chocolate ever again. :(
AS you say diabetes doesn't define you and it certainly doesn't define me. :)
 
Ah thank you for the LCHF info, I will have to look into that as so far I haven't co e across it at all.

You must have very good genes in your family, well done to your Uncle!! My maternal grandmother had diabetes type 1 she was diagnosed in the late 50s as far as I remember, but her diabetes seemingly went undiagnosed it seems a long time, she was so ill that she lost her sight and had one leg amputated. Her physical condition used to put the fear of God in me I'm afraid. So when I became diabetic at the age of 18, I actually thought that was it! Her sister (my great Aunt, had diabetes type 2 - and controlled it with tablets). So on my diagnosis I did go a bit crazy those first few years, as I thought "live for today" .....although like you I have never missed an injection and thank goodness I have never had DKA.

When I was first diagnosed it was just one injection a day, and urine testing, which I hardly ever did, as I thought it most "disgusting" in my total ignorance. My mum, bless her, was very good, she learned so much about the condition and helped with diet etc, I used to have the first diet sheet from those days which strictly forbade Pasta!! But back then pasta was a rarity anyway. Cheese was very encouraged however, and I went from someone who never liked cheese to eating a lot of it.

When I look back so much has changed for the better, diabetic life back then seemed to a rebellious teenager like me, to be way too much restricted.

I have said this before on here, but my diabetic team at the hospital are just so wonderful, and since doing the New Deal course (I live in Scotland, it's Dafne in England I believe) I have learned so much more.

The diabetes teams in my past, well some were ok and some were just downright awful. When I was pregnant with my third baby, in 1988, I was told by a diabetic specialist nurse, I really shouldn't have got pregnant as a third baby was such a risk to my health. When we discussed this at the New Deal course the DSNs couldn't believe a nurse would say such a thing.

Like you it's hard to recall life without diabetes, apart from I was always able to eat what I liked, and never put on any weight. Whereas once I became diabetic that seemed to change. I'm only half a stone over correct weight for my height, but would really like to lose those 7 pounds.

I would also add the blood test kits today and the pens, and tiny needles, have all made such a difference to my life.

I recently turned down the offer of a pump, mainly because at present its all going ok, but I know the offer is still there for in the future. At present, I find my pens flexible, as after the New Deal education I do my fast acting Novorapid after I've eaten to allow me to count the carbs.

Sorry if I have gone on a bit, and maybe off topic, but I know few diabetics and it's nice to share with like minded people.
 
I just find it quite amusing to hear us saying we have good genes... When our genes are faulty!! It does make me chuckle :):):)
 
Yes, it's bizarre, but so is pricking your finger at least 5-6 times a day and injecting....or pumping, whatever it's just great to be alive (and have good genes despite the bad diabetes ones)
 
40yrs for me. i do often wonder though, how the science and technologhy involved in sending space craft to the outer reaches of the universe, yet, we are still sticking holes in ourselves to stay alive. it makes no sense. someone knows the answer to this?
 
Well done. I am due to reach mine next October 2016. So far no major complications - still working fulltime and driving etc. I hope that they don't remove the medal before I get it! Like you I have had to work hard to be complication free. My dad diagnosed 2 years before me (1964) died in 1998 from diabetes complications (he did 34 years). So continue on and hopefully I will always be riding your coat tails and remaining complication free!
 
50 years for me October 2016 too. Some complications but feeling ok right now.
 
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