Hi everyone! I am new to this forum. My father is a type 1 diabetic, although that its not his fault, he feels ashamed of being diagonised with it. He tries his best managing his type 1 diabetics, he rarely gets high blood sugar, as i monitor him everyday giving him advices on how much insulin. Usually he only uses 5 units daily, and keeps his blood sugar under 8.0. His average for 3 months was 7.0. I was wondering if he's doing good enough, can he possibly do better? If so how can i help him manage his blood sugar? He has been diagonised with diabetics for like 27 years, in the last 5-6 years he have been eating healthy anc rarely have high blood sugar, but a lot of hypos, his blood sugar once reached 1.6. But he didnt go unconcious fourneatly. How long should i expect my father to live? I am pretty young i am just 15, is there any way i can help making his life longer?
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2026 Survey »
Life expectancy of type 1
- Thread starter Ghost16
- Start Date
Dark Horse
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,840
Well done for being such a great help to your Dad. The target for the HbA1c (the 3 month average) for someone with type 1 is 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) but a higher target is often set for someone who has a lot of hypos. It would be a good idea to try and reduce the number of hypos - I'm sure someone will be along soon with advice about insulin regimes and where you can find further information. Meanwhile, you might to read this page which talks about causes:- http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/prevention/hypos.htm
If your father wants, he could take you along to his diabetes appointments so you can ask questions there.
Regarding life expectancy, in the past people with diabetes have had shorter life expectancies than people without, but this an average and doesn't take into relatively recent targets for improvements in diabetic control. It doesn't tell you anything about how long an individual will live and people can live a long life with type 1 diabetes - http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/gladys-dull-at-90-living-well-with-type-1-diabetes-for-83-years/
To have the best chance of a long life, apart from good diabetic control, it's the usual advice given to non-diabetics:- don't smoke, exercise at least 150 mins of moderate exercise per week, eat plenty of vegetables etc. etc.
Good luck with it all and - one last piece of advice - remember not to focus so much on your father that you forget to look after yourself too.
If your father wants, he could take you along to his diabetes appointments so you can ask questions there.
Regarding life expectancy, in the past people with diabetes have had shorter life expectancies than people without, but this an average and doesn't take into relatively recent targets for improvements in diabetic control. It doesn't tell you anything about how long an individual will live and people can live a long life with type 1 diabetes - http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/gladys-dull-at-90-living-well-with-type-1-diabetes-for-83-years/
To have the best chance of a long life, apart from good diabetic control, it's the usual advice given to non-diabetics:- don't smoke, exercise at least 150 mins of moderate exercise per week, eat plenty of vegetables etc. etc.
Good luck with it all and - one last piece of advice - remember not to focus so much on your father that you forget to look after yourself too.
CarbsRok
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 4,688
- Location
- uk
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- pasta ice cream and chocolate
My Uncle has had type 1 for over 50 years just like me but he is 80 years old so obviously you don't die young with diabetes as long as you look after it properly.
S
Shar67
Guest
Great granny lived until she was 96 she had diabetes before insulin was discovered, only treatment then was low carb diet. With proper diet, exercise and meds there is no need to worry about life expectancy.
