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Do you feel limited by diabetes?

Alicia R

Alicia R

Well-Known Member
Messages
72
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
One of my all time favorite movies, Steel Magnolias, has got me believing diabetics have limits, and it's all M'Lynn's fault! If she hadn't told Shelby she had limits (when she told her she and Jackson were thinking about having a baby), I wouldn't be here asking this question today! About the only thing I felt I couldn't do as a woman with diabetes is have children of my own. Type 1 diabetes runs in my family on my mother's side and I'm so scared I might pass it on to my children. But, other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. What about you? Do you ever feel limited by diabetes? Is there anything you want to do but feel you can't because of diabetes? Please share! Thank you so much!
 
If my daughters turn out diabetic, and there's a fair chance one of them will, it won't diminish my joy in them or their joy in life to any significant degree. I think it's a very small thing in the context of being alive, and no reason not to start a family. I understand you feel differently of course.
 
Spiker said:
If my daughters turn out diabetic, and there's a fair chance one of them will, it won't diminish my joy in them or their joy in life to any significant degree. I think it's a very small thing in the context of being alive, and no reason not to start a family. I understand you feel differently of course.
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I can understand where you're coming from. You already have children, so obviously you love them and want the best for them. Of course having diabetes doesn't ruin life or make it bad, just takes a little more doing, is all. In the end, it's all good! I know I'm a bad person for saying this, but sometimes I think it's a little selfish of sick people to have children because there's a chance they'll pass it on, but what scares me even more is thinking pretty soon, everyone will have it because it got passed on. I know I shouldn't think this way; if everyone thought the way I do, no one would ever have children and neither of us would be here today! And even though it's manageable, I would feel awful if I was the reason my kid got it, you know? How are your kids' diets? Do they watch what they eat? Do they eat lots of processed carbs? The better they eat now, the better their chances will be!
 
Not in the slightest.. Why should I..?! I mean I will never be Bill Gates.. ;) My wife & I are happy just doing our thing..
With regards to procreation..? The world is doing fine without our help.. Cheers!
 
Hi Alicia,

My father was Type 1 and I remember so well watching him first thing in the morning getting out a saucepan and boiling his metal and glass syringe, putting the metal needle on and then taking the insulin vials out the fridge before drawing up and injecting into his leg. He would then go through the same process every evening when he got home from work.

I was so used to him doing this and he was so open with it (never made a fuss) that when I was diagnosed at the age of 13 it never really created much of a problem. I was very fortunate that my father had diabetes, as I grew up not seeing it as an illness to be scared or ashamed of and as a result I just got on with it just as he did. He lived a full life and so do I now and I have been Type 1 for 33 years.

There will always be a chance that you might pass on your diabetes to your child but your child could develop diabetes even if you didn't have it!

It would be unfortunate if you were to pass your diabetes on but at least you will know the illness and you can can use this wealth of experience in supporting your child/children to live a normal life. They will be very fortunate that their mum will know what the score is. They will have a massive advantage over those newly diagnosed young diabetics whose family have no knowledge or understanding of the illness.

Live your life to the full Alicia and do not allow your illness to limit this.

Diabetes hasn't put any limitations on what I've done with my life. Only I can do that !

All the very best.

KevFitz
 
Alicia R said:
I can understand where you're coming from. You already have children, so obviously you love them and want the best for them. Of course having diabetes doesn't ruin life or make it bad, just takes a little more doing, is all. In the end, it's all good! I know I'm a bad person for saying this, but sometimes I think it's a little selfish of sick people to have children because there's a chance they'll pass it on, but what scares me even more is thinking pretty soon, everyone will have it because it got passed on. I know I shouldn't think this way; if everyone thought the way I do, no one would ever have children and neither of us would be here today! And even though it's manageable, I would feel awful if I was the reason my kid got it, you know? How are your kids' diets? Do they watch what they eat? Do they eat lots of processed carbs? The better they eat now, the better their chances will be!
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I don't consider myself as being sick just because I have type 1 diabetes, yes its a life-long condition but its one where you can live a full and active life provided you take care of yourself, so it was never a major obstacle when my wife and I decided to start a family - although I'd be lying if I said it hadn't cross my mind about the risks involved.

But back to your thread title, yes its has limited a few things that I would have wanted to do but not to the point that diabetes has effected my quality of life, there's far worse health problems we could live with and I thank my blessings that I don't have any of them.
 
I had my daughter 14 years ago at the age of 42 1/2 years, one of my greatest ever diabetic moments.:joyful: Don't let diabetes hold you back from anything :)
Best wishes RRB
 
Jaylee said:
Not in the slightest.. Why should I..?! I mean I will never be Bill Gates.. ;) My wife & I are happy just doing our thing..
With regards to procreation..? The world is doing fine without our help.. Cheers!
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Here, here! :-)
 
I feel far less limited by my diabetes than I did by my chronic migraines, until these were finally got under control. They were my ultimate nightmare, and I know there have been, and are, worse migraine sufferers than I ever was - my mother was for one.

Robbity
 
Alicia R said:
Do you ever feel limited by diabetes? Is there anything you want to do but feel you can't because of diabetes? Please share! Thank you so much!
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No! It hasn't stopped me doing anything at all. It has made me look at diet, exercise, nutrition, body chemistry a lot more carefully than a lot of my peers.
 
Same as most of you others. I haven't been Dx for long, only nine months. But No, I can't see diabetes as ruling out anything. I'm very fortunate to have a D that seems so far to be quite gentle, and I'm very grateful for that. But apart from making me think twice about hiking round the Huascaran mountains in northern Peru, a trip I've always wanted to make that would take five, six weeks so insulin supplies might be a problem, I don't think anything else is out. My ambition is to keep the D grind to a set of habits, not to devote too much energy to it because that's a waste - and VERY boring.

Obviously the true catastrophe would be awful complications. I'll just do my best to make that unlikely, and hope it doesn't happen.
 
LucySW said:
Same as most of you others. I haven't been Dx for long, only nine months. But No, I can't see diabetes as ruling out anything. I'm very fortunate to have a D that seems so far to be quite gentle, and I'm very grateful for that. But apart from making me think twice about hiking round the Huascaran mountains in northern Peru, a trip I've always wanted to make that would take five, six weeks so insulin supplies might be a problem, I don't think anything else is out. My ambition is to keep the D grind to a set of habits, not to devote too much energy to it because that's a waste - and VERY boring.

Obviously the true catastrophe would be awful complications. I'll just do my best to make that unlikely, and hope it doesn't happen.
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You bring up a very good point about travel. What if you get detained for whatever reason and run out of insulin and testing supplies or they get spoiled or whathaveyou...how would that work? I don't travel, so I'm kind of curious. What if you choose to travel to a country that's not so...advanced as either the US or the UK as far as medicine, could you still get your prescriptions filled overseas? Or, do you just bring a little more than what's needed and hope for the best? LOL
 
The simple answer is yes to your above question. It's very straightforward to get prescriptions for insulin in most countries. Just make sure you can say "I am diabetic and I need insulin" in the local tongue.
 
I suspect it was very different for me as I developed T1 in my 50s to someone who develops it at an earlier age. I had no wish to become an airline pilot or join the army. Children weren't a consideration, they were grown up and starting to have children of their own . If I had read some of the gloomy accounts though, I might have thought my life was over.
Fortunately, in hospital when I was diagnosed I read about this man climbing Everest.
.http://www.mounteverest.net/story/Everest2005DiabeticclimbersEverestrematchFeb162005.shtml
Then not long after, I met a 50 year old Australian woman with T1. When she was in her early 20s, she did the whole Aussie backpacking round the world thing. That was long before insulin pens, frio bags and easy telephone communication.
These people made me think that I could do anything that I was likely to want to do myself . I read a lot, learned a lot and was determined not to let diabetes stop me
So no. I don't normally feel limited by diabetes. I think it made me do far more than I would have done if I hadn't developed it .

a little caveat .I find it's easier if I can be independent not reliant on others or having others rely on me. For example; I do quite a lot of walking but I wouldn't want to go on a long distance trek with lots of other people ,it's fine by myself or with my OH ( I find it quite hard to deal with lows when I don't want to cause any delay to the group. Because of this I don't join in any of the trips away with the walking group I belong to)
I can see that this need to be independent ,to be able to deal with things as they arise, might have been far more limiting when I was younger and was responsible for others. (I probably would have run my glucose levels higher than I do)
 
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