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Type 1 Diabetes
Does type 1 diabetes affect your social life? If so, how?
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<blockquote data-quote="kxq" data-source="post: 1637306" data-attributes="member: 382743"><p>Hi all. I have lived with T1 for 42 years now. Experienced a lot of fear and ignorance when I went back to school at age 5. Students refused to sit near me in fear of catching something?? Teachers were not much better in Primary or Secondary schools. If you needed to eat or inject then you would have to wait til the set break times. Even extended family had a confused understanding of what T1 was, back in the 70's. A comment at my uncle's funeral who had T1 and died from an infection after a farm accident, my Aunts and Uncles stated that I would be the same and not have a long life so don't be stupid saving for College etc. for him, I overheard all this and the argument with my parents that followed - I was age 6. This made me want to prove them wrong so taking shots myself and urine testing became (no immediate blood testers available then where I live) my way of taking control. Insulin has given me a life where if I was born in a different time - I would not have had. For this I am thankful, it had made me who I am now. I have tried to experience as much as I can - food and travel - as long as I have the money to do so, eat something new every month - travel somewhere new even if its only up the road 1 mile or 1000 miles, we cannot let it rule who you are or what you do. I have found ignorance is still there every day - I have tried 6 times over 20 years to get Life insurance but the minute you put Diabetic on the form and say that you are Insulin dependant, well they cannot run fast enough to get away from you. I have no problem injecting discreetly in public but have had instances where I have been confronted for being an Addict of some kind. Airport Security are the pitts - Insulin pens and tester are critical to us to be close to hand but I have been made to put them in stowed luggage or disposing of them before take off. See how the metal detector goes off with a pump - my friend had to refuse to remove it and ask for a supervisor before he could pass. I can understand how terrorism has changed peoples thoughts of what constitutes a weapon but it is embarassing when you always appear to be the one singled out. Planning for long haul flights can be hard - I find the air pressure in the aircraft does slow down the Insulin activity for me so you have to balance up predosing before take off with carb intake on the flight, taking shots on the flight and not stacking up the insulin in your system. You definitely do not want to have a hypo at the end of the flight or during the queuing for customs/border security. As a user of insulin - I find that having plans in place works for me - always travel with more insulin that what you need in different luggage - if one gets lost or taken - you always have a backup. Plan for heat - insulin does not like the sun, people often look at you strangely if you pull out a cold pack or flask on the beach. Employers - there are understanding ones and ones that go the other way too - all you can hope is that they or those who they love do not have to deal with T1 in the future. It is the same with driving - have a break plan worked out for long journeys is something everyone should do -not only diabetics. Sorry for my meandering thoughts but to finish - Yes Insulin is great for keeping us alive and no using Insulin does cause situations where you wish to God that you were someone or somewhere else.</p><p>Regards K</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kxq, post: 1637306, member: 382743"] Hi all. I have lived with T1 for 42 years now. Experienced a lot of fear and ignorance when I went back to school at age 5. Students refused to sit near me in fear of catching something?? Teachers were not much better in Primary or Secondary schools. If you needed to eat or inject then you would have to wait til the set break times. Even extended family had a confused understanding of what T1 was, back in the 70's. A comment at my uncle's funeral who had T1 and died from an infection after a farm accident, my Aunts and Uncles stated that I would be the same and not have a long life so don't be stupid saving for College etc. for him, I overheard all this and the argument with my parents that followed - I was age 6. This made me want to prove them wrong so taking shots myself and urine testing became (no immediate blood testers available then where I live) my way of taking control. Insulin has given me a life where if I was born in a different time - I would not have had. For this I am thankful, it had made me who I am now. I have tried to experience as much as I can - food and travel - as long as I have the money to do so, eat something new every month - travel somewhere new even if its only up the road 1 mile or 1000 miles, we cannot let it rule who you are or what you do. I have found ignorance is still there every day - I have tried 6 times over 20 years to get Life insurance but the minute you put Diabetic on the form and say that you are Insulin dependant, well they cannot run fast enough to get away from you. I have no problem injecting discreetly in public but have had instances where I have been confronted for being an Addict of some kind. Airport Security are the pitts - Insulin pens and tester are critical to us to be close to hand but I have been made to put them in stowed luggage or disposing of them before take off. See how the metal detector goes off with a pump - my friend had to refuse to remove it and ask for a supervisor before he could pass. I can understand how terrorism has changed peoples thoughts of what constitutes a weapon but it is embarassing when you always appear to be the one singled out. Planning for long haul flights can be hard - I find the air pressure in the aircraft does slow down the Insulin activity for me so you have to balance up predosing before take off with carb intake on the flight, taking shots on the flight and not stacking up the insulin in your system. You definitely do not want to have a hypo at the end of the flight or during the queuing for customs/border security. As a user of insulin - I find that having plans in place works for me - always travel with more insulin that what you need in different luggage - if one gets lost or taken - you always have a backup. Plan for heat - insulin does not like the sun, people often look at you strangely if you pull out a cold pack or flask on the beach. Employers - there are understanding ones and ones that go the other way too - all you can hope is that they or those who they love do not have to deal with T1 in the future. It is the same with driving - have a break plan worked out for long journeys is something everyone should do -not only diabetics. Sorry for my meandering thoughts but to finish - Yes Insulin is great for keeping us alive and no using Insulin does cause situations where you wish to God that you were someone or somewhere else. Regards K [/QUOTE]
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