I am not a liar or an idiot.

Hi becca59,I agree totally and I've been T1 for 57 years,and my has given me 4 wonderful children,I've lived my life to the full and I only have couple minor complications.So continue living your life to the full and enjoy it.Good luck

I’m a relative Newby to T1. Not four years yet. Of course I’d rather not have the condition but I definitely consider myself lucky. It could be a hell of a lot worse. 10 years from now (God willing) I shall be looking back at this being the good times! LMAO!

I am a proper noob.. few months in.
Thanks to some great advice and encouragement on this site, I have had a week away skiing in Italy (was seriously thinking of pulling out after diagnosis), I am now back to running, just 5k at the mo.. but I will build up distance as I get a feel for what my body does now.
I’m back to climbing and off for a 2 week work trip across 4 countries in the Far East next week- again I thought I might have to pull out of this one.

This diagnosis is hard and I’ve had a few dark moments.. but living life to the fullest is key (for me). I won’t let it stop me doing things...

It’s stopped me flying planes and driving lorries. But I’ve still got a motorbike! It’s a pain and has almost killed me twice, but after twenty years with it I’m still here. I’ve got a happy, healthy teenager, I run my own business and travel a fair amount. I have to think harder about food choices, of course. I wish I didn’t have it, but then I wish I didn’t have a genetic fault with all my tendons that mean my joints aren’t held together properly. We can’t help the cards we are dealt, just how we play them.

Edited by Mod.

Mel dCP said:

But I’ve still got a motorbike! It’s a pain.

Click to expand...

Have you thought of getting a new seat???????
Sorry I had to.
Seriously though , like so many others on here , it's refreshing and inspiring to hear such positivity.

therower said:

Have you thought of getting a new seat???????
Sorry I had to.
Seriously though , like so many others on here , it's refreshing and inspiring to hear such positivity.

Click to expand...

I didn’t phrase that terribly well, did I? Just to clarify, the bike is comfy enough, it’s the diabetes that’s the pain that almost killed me twice

Edited by Mod

@Mel dCP . Beautifully phrased. I had a motorbike and my inability to ride it nearly led to my early demise. Not cut out for two wheels sadly.

I had a motorbike and my inability to ride it nearly led to my early demise. Not cut out for two wheels sadly.

Click to expand...

Heh.. me too, broke a leg first time then my face a second.. decided third time lucky wasn’t for me!

If it wasn’t for type 1 I would of never done a parachute jump or taken up cycling or running - having type 1 has given me the kick up the backside to live each day as fully as possible and I get things done now rather than thinking about it. Yes it might be harder now but I defy this condition each day I live, simply by taking insulin and having the chance to live.

I might be an idiot but i’m not a liar...

Life is what we make it.....

Diabetes or not, there's a helluva lot worse and if we have capabality of smiling then we should do so each day.

Although i usually have more than 200g of carbs a day on average, i occasionally splash out on a bag of haribo, whole packet of biscuits or chocolate bar alongside a soft drink full of sugar or a milkshake. You could say this is not controlling my diabetes but I can eat whatever i want, and the damage i deal to my body is my business.

I think T1’s given me more determination to live to the full and enjoy the life that scientific research and the NHS have given me: 48 years of it since diagnosis.
T1’s not always been easy and at the moment it’s most certainly not at all easy as my insulin needs have taken a hike and I’m testing, adjusting, testing, adjusting, to determine what the new doses should be. However, even in this tough patch there are bright moments and I want more of them so hoping the hard work to get it right again will pay off and bring an end to feeling rough. It’s worth it!

I feel truly lucky that I’ve had sooooo many good times, that I can still enjoy striding through lovely countryside, swimming in the sea (when it’s warmer!), good times with friends, the joy of children and grandchildren, travelling, experiencing: being!
Without insulin I’d have missed all of it and I’d have missed riding my horse through the West African bush, scuba diving in tropical waters where the fish are beautiful, seeing the excitement of a Durbar, climbing a volcano, laughing with friends til we cried, so many many good things. Ok, there’ve also been non-T1 related bad times, but who doesn’t have them?

Yes, it would be wonderful not to have lost those alpha and beta cells but it happened. So? We’re none of us invulnerable and amongst the multitude of things that can assault, afflict or invade the human body T1 just happened to be the one that got me.
No, Becca, you’re not a liar.

YAE! This thread is so positive, with not a single dissenting voice trying to drag it down. Really uplifting!

Love these threads.
Inspiring, for sure!

Type2's only celebrate weight loss on the whole. Shame really.

A recent thread got me thinking. Why don't we celebrate our diabetes more?
Ridicule for some type2s seems to be the main factor.

We should celebrate life with diabetes more. Definitely.
We are life's survivors.
Many of us are brilliant at it too.

Definitely WINNERS !!!!!!

I missed the thread that sparked this, but I think I know what it was about because I saw a previous post a good while ago where someone was writing something very similar- that diabetes controls your life and anyone who says otherwise is deluded. Not being T1, I didn't want to comment at the time, but it struck me as a rather foolish way to look at things. The T1 posters here show why. More power to you: negativity, ignorance and cowardice are the *real* limiters in life.

It depends though doesn't it? My diabetes has become brittle and unpredictable. It stops me doing a lot of things. I will never take my children on holiday for example. I won't ever take them to a water park or theme park. It stopped me drinking at university and made me the odd one out. It has meant I haven't been able to go to nightclubs because they wouldn't let me in with my insulin. I struggled through my NQT teaching year as the stress made my sugars consistently high 20s before plummeting as soon as I left work and giving me terrible lows. It meant my second child was 7 weeks prem and had to be ventilated when born.
Minor things I suppose. It stopped my dad being an airline pilot. He now has a private pilot licence but my god the hoops he has to jump through and I believe they are no longer allowing t1s to have PPLs, only keep them if you already have one.

Actually, I can understand people being negative. Compared to a lot of folks on the forum I’ve had it relatively easy so far. Of course there have been tears both of grief and frustration. At this point for me though it’s laugh or cry and I can’t bear the thought of crying for the rest of my life. So I shall do my best to make the most of what I have, try and be positive and hope that the research people continue to make strides in the management of T1 and other autoimmune conditions. By the way, I too wanted to be a pilot - in the RAF - but got a letter back saying they didn’t train females as pilots as it was very expensive and women would just jack it in to have a family! LMAO! Wouldn’t get away with that these days! Here I am 44 years later and I still don’t have children. There’s always something in life that forces you to change direction isn’t there?

I just think in the same way as you are not 'liars or idiots' neither are people who have had a rougher ride.