Life Expectancy

[Lynz84]

Hi All

Not meaning to sound morbid but read an article the other day about how having diabetes cuts your life expectancy. It really annoyed me and has played on my mind since. Surely if you look after yourself you can lead a long life?

 

[qe5rt]

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/worlds-longest-living-person-with-type-1/

I would sign up for a life expectancy of 84

I know what you mean though, i think it was in supersize me that they said if you get diabetes before the age of 15 your life expectancy is cut by a quarter. It hit me like a bomb too since i was 12 when diagnosed. It's scare tactics and a bit too black or white thinking for me. With modern medicine and a good control you'll do fine and can lead a full and long life.

 

[amgrundy]

Now you see I was informed that if you are diabetic and on meds then your life can last longer

 

[Lynz84]

Aw that link was great!! Thank you

 

[Jaylee]

I was diagnosed on my 8th birthday.. After a couple of years of consultants & parents talking over my head, (which I somewhat resented.) I broke into a medical student's room (lodging with us.) while she was out clubbing. (Disco. Late 70s?)
I didn't like the answers I was looking for in her books.. "Diabetes, no matter how well controlled can take 10 years off the patients life." (Words to that efect?)

On the plus side there was also a cool Black Sabbath fan renting the other room that got me into heavy metal...
My mum consulted me one day, enquiring if that was the smell of weed coming from his room..? (Thinking back. He used to blow it out the window?) What would I know back then. I was only about 10. Lol

 

[SamJB]

That's because most diabetics' control is ****. Just over 75% of Type 1s don't have an acceptable HbA1c (<7.5%), so their mortality rate will be higher than normal people. Only way to have a mortality risk at unity with non-diabetics is to have good control.

 

[nessals946]

My control is ****.Either way too low or way too high,ive had diabetes for 40 years and still feel like a novice.Im 46 now,have no hypo awareness and registered blind.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

There is a man named Richard who uses the username Richard157 on diabetes daily (another diabetes forum). He was diagnosed with type 1 in 1945, more than 70 years ago.

He's written several amazing stories about his life and explained what it was like before artificial/animal insulin was discovered, before glucometers, and when diabetes management was still in one of its most primitive forms.

His words are extremely inspiring to me, and when you compare the technology available today versus even 25 years ago, there's absolutely no reason why diabetes should shorten anyone's life expectancy.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I found a Nursing book at my dad's house ( it would of belonged to my mum's) and it's 1910/14 era. I will post some extracts from it ( start a new thread) it's an eye opener

 

[Dark Horse]

Bear in mind that life expectancies quoted are an average for a particular population. They say nothing about an individual's life expectancy. Also, estimates of life expectancy are making a prediction about the future by looking at the past. There have been a lot of changes in the field of diabetes, some of these may affect life expectancy.

There are a whole host of factors which tend to decrease life expectancy (smoking, diabetes, poor nutrition, sky diving etc.) and a whole host of factors tending to increase its expectancy ( regular exercise, eating vegetables, getting enough sleep, being married etc.). By reducing the other factors that are associated with reduced life expectancy and increasing the factors that are associated with an increased life expectancy, people with diabetes may overall have a normal life expectancy.

 

[yingtong]

Hi Lynx84,I've been T1 for 54 years,I was 13 years old when diagnosed and only have a couple of very minor complications,providing you look after diabetes I can't see any reason why you can't achieve normal life expectancy,and at least I expect too..

 

[Lynz84]

Thank you yingtong! So glad its not the death sentence its made out to be!

 

[mattpiano]

I think the best thing is to believe that we can live into old age if we take care of ourselves. That is a great incentive to really work hard at controlling the Diabetes, and even if things don't work out that way in the end, at least we will have done our best.

I've come very strongly round to the thinking that for years a lot of rubbish was being over-stated about type 1s on insulin being able to eat pretty much what they want. My experience is that this leads to poor control. You end up eating all sorts of stuff, having to take big doses of insulin to cover it and then running into problems when the peak of the fast acting, high GI foods has been and gone and the blood sugar plummets.

My philosophy now is to eat a much lower carbohydrate diet, including as much wholegrain food as possible, as that seems to be far more predictable, leading (with decent activity levels) to more controllable sugars. None of us can get it right all the time, but just lately I've been having days where my sugars have stayed within the 5-9 range consistently, and my HbA1C a couple of weeks ago was 6.9 - the best I've ever achieved.

This is the best chance we've got and the rest is outside our control. There's no point spending the life we have got worrying about when it will end. I had a very close shave at the beginning of 2015 (subdural haematoma leading to emergency craniotomy which saved my life) and every day is now that bit more precious.

 

[nasim]

Four score and ten as it says in the good book, so that will be sixty years being diabetic when that date comes around (thirteen years time). That will be long enough for me and I'll of lived a full and rewarding life, enjoy it. N

 

[Shar67]

My great nana (born 1893) was lucky she was diagnosed with type 1 when the only treatment was low carb diet, fortunately she was also one of the first group of people treated with insulin, she lived into her 90s.

 

[Diamattic]

It is terrible to think of these things, but to be honest it was one of the first things that went through my mind when i was in the hospital after diagnosis - "How Long will I live!?"

Well, on AVERAGE diabetics lead shorter lives. Thats a fact. BUT the key there is AVERAGE. Some T1D do not take very good care of themselves, some do, and some are meticulous about it, so this averages it out. So if you look at the stats that say "T1D live 7 years less" (i think its something like 7 or 5 years now) well, thats the AVERAGE T1D. So to get a longer life you just have to be above average in your care and you will be totally fine!

Also you have to look at life expectancy in the first place is based on the AVERAGE human - this person probably smokes a bit, drinks a bit, is a little overweight, doesn't exercise much, and doesn't really watch what they eat. So if you can be an above average human, and an above average T1D you should live a long full life.

Also - I am not sure if this helps but it also matters how long you have been living with T1D, diagnosis at 3 will lead to a different expectancy they at 30, not that its always a huge difference, but again stats are typically easiest to present as an 'average'

The take away here - We need to be above average to break even. We need to watch what we eat, stop smoking, exercise more then the neighbours, manage stress better then our friends, and make the most out all of our days in hopes that we will see many many more.

We can do this! But if we can't - Those stats are all old lol There is no possible way they can accurately predict when someone currently living is going to die unless you are already showing some major signs. They are all guesses based on how old people with T1D are now when they die - but that means they were diagnosed waaaay back when. So they guess and every year they update these numbers the gap closes. So i think by the time we are getting close to it being a reality it will so close it won't even be worth thinking about lol

 

[tim2000s]

The take away from this entire thread should have nothing to do with life expectancy.

Given you know that you have a chronic condition, what you should take away from it is to live your life to the best of your abilities, enjoying every single minute of it. If there's one thing that diabetes tells you, it's that you ARE going to die, so best do that, eventually, with no regrets on your deathbed. Take it as the opportunity to live life to the utmost and make the most of it.

Never give up and never surrender!

 

[Notorious]

Maybe also think about quality of life. No-one wants to live a long life but with terrible complications for a large part of it. Take care of your blood sugars, exercise etc etc. My grandad had type 1 too before the days of glucometers and lived till 76 with the only complication being the onset of cataracts (not bad enough to be removed by time of death).

 

[RuthW]

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/worlds-longest-living-person-with-type-1/

I would sign up for a life expectancy of 84

I know what you mean though, i think it was in supersize me that they said if you get diabetes before the age of 15 your life expectancy is cut by a quarter. It hit me like a bomb too since i was 12 when diagnosed. It's scare tactics and a bit too black or white thinking for me. With modern medicine and a good control you'll do fine and can lead a full and long life.

In Supersize Me by definition they must have been talking about this new generation who are getting Type 2 before they are 15.