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Be honest, how -are- you doing?

chips said:
usually a drop like that means your Hypo'ing a lot which is why they try to lower your levels gradually. Least thats what iv been told
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Yes, and I've been told that keeping it constantly very low (4-5) affects your hypo awareness. 5-6 is great.
 
chips said:
been type 1 for almost 10 years now, from what a doctor told me a few years ago i wont make it too the age of 30 (im 27 this year) and judging from my current health situation the doc is probably right about it. so physically and mentally im not doing great. due to some recent developments at home i no longer have a safe, secure environment or anyone to rely on when i need it. has been a fun start to this year at least
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Do you mind me asking why the doctor told you that you wouldn't make it to 30? Was this a case of if you don't get your control better then things are not going to get better etc?
 
Dodo said:
Yes, and I've been told that keeping it constantly very low (4-5) affects your hypo awareness. 5-6 is great.
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As I understand it (recent statement in a conversation with my diabetes Doc) another reason for thinking about sticking to 5-7/8 as a target range not 4-6/7 is that the latter can pose more of a risk to your permission to drive, in that a single hypo requiring 3rd party assistance may affect your license. Aiming for 5+ gives an extra buffer.

"You may not make it to 30" sounds like the sort of thing that is sometimes said as a shock tactic to drive home the importance of good bg control.

Matt
 
SueJB said:
This made me giggle. What does a type1 look like? Do we all look the same? If you made a line up of type1 people and then put a non-diabetic in amongst them, would we be able to pick them out?
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Sure. The diabetics will have bulging pockets or funny round or square objects outlined under their clothes :P
 
mattw said:
As I understand it (recent statement in a conversation with my diabetes Doc) another reason for thinking about sticking to 5-7/8 as a target range not 4-6/7 is that the latter can pose more of a risk to your permission to drive, in that a single hypo requiring 3rd party assistance may affect your license. Aiming for 5+ gives an extra buffer.

"You may not make it to 30" sounds like the sort of thing that is sometimes said as a shock tactic to drive home the importance of good bg control.

Matt
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Not sure who that last paragraph was directed at. I was also warned about hypos in regard to losing my licence though.
 
chips said:
usually a drop like that means your Hypo'ing a lot which is why they try to lower your levels gradually. Least thats what iv been told
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I've (touch wood) managed to avoid hypos so far (bar one very mild one which I caught and treated quickly).
I don't know - I think I've just been lucky.
 
They didn't give me any information about life expectancy, I had to look it up online. I think they should, especially if asked. If someone asks, that person is being eaten alive by the question and really needs the information. No it is not nice, yes it is morbid, but there's nothing worse than not knowing. Well actually there is, it's thinking you know then finding out you were lied to. Either way they should be required to answer people's questions honestly or they should get fired. They always just seem to want to be totally positive and upbeat all the time even when it isn't true or even very believable or when it contradicts something someone else said (just like this forum but there are no doctors here).
 
Hello Susie i see you have not changed, then reason they do not tell you about life expectancy at first is that they have just told you about diabetes and how you need to manage it. I agree that after about a year they should tell you about life expectancy and the other problems a long the way. Sometimes looking at the internet scares you but they are talking a very wide range of people, when i go to the doctors for one of my problems i will only see the same doctor. I do this because the more doctors you see they will give you different advice and if you see the same one that doctor knows what has been happening. I recently had to go for a injection in my hip but my normal doctor said the other GP was in charge of that so i went to see him and one of the first questions was how is your diabetes. I told him fine since i had a double transplant nearly 3 years ago!!! Every diabetic should be made aware of any danger signs to look out for. none of us know how long we have left. I want to see my children grow up but i only have that chance because a donar saved my life, a person who went out that day and never knew it was his last. I feel guilty that a 23 year old male who was someones son, nephew and could have been a dad, also without the team at the Freeman hospital who did the surgery, Somethings have not gone the way i hoped but i still see the same doctors all the time, if you find a doctor who you can put your faith in then do it. We all deserve a life but we have to live with diabetes which is a pain but i am pleased my children and parents have not got it. you learn to enjoy the good days and manage the rest and at times do off the rails for a time.
 
NoKindOfSusie said:
They didn't give me any information about life expectancy, I had to look it up online. I think they should, especially if asked. If someone asks, that person is being eaten alive by the question and really needs the information. No it is not nice, yes it is morbid, but there's nothing worse than not knowing. Well actually there is, it's thinking you know then finding out you were lied to. Either way they should be required to answer people's questions honestly or they should get fired. They always just seem to want to be totally positive and upbeat all the time even when it isn't true or even very believable or when it contradicts something someone else said (just like this forum but there are no doctors here).
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I guess there's no short answer. Any affect on life expectancy is largely down to how well diabetes is managed.
 
I wonder if anyone yet knows what life expectancy is for people diagnosed in 2017? There are many possible treatment developments that’ll occur in the next 60 - 70 years which could affect how long people with T1 can expect to live.
I did look up life expectancy for people diagnosed in the era when I was, in 1969, and it was 69 years. That’ll be a statistic, and won’t apply to the individual, so it doesn’t let me know how many years I’m going to live for. I’ll get to that milestone next year and I intend to walk on by.
Nevertheless, it’s a good length of time for people diagnosed before the development of portable individual blood sugar meters, libre, tweaked ecoli insulins, insulin pens, light-weight pumps, and greater knowledge of the ways nutrition affects an individual’s diabetic health. So you see there are reasons to feel hopeful, even if managing T1 can sometimes be a time consuming pain in the butt.
 
I died 3 years ago according to what the clinic told me back in 1984 :p (shortened life expectancy (70) by 23 years) and I remember wishing I hadn't asked....
 
General current 'life expectancy' for the UK is men at 79 and women at 83, not that long ago it was 3 score and 10, 70. And we all know others that have gone before their time and also many that have gone on a lot longer than expected - the same can be said about diabetics, generally we might loose quiet a few years (11 apparently) - so what? we've tried to make the most of it! haven't we??
 
JoeT1 said:
Do you mind me asking why the doctor told you that you wouldn't make it to 30? Was this a case of if you don't get your control better then things are not going to get better etc?
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i developed autonomic neuropathy affecting my heart, lungs and digestive system
 
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