As an adult with Type 1, are you feeling displaced?

Hi Karen,
My son is 20. What challenges are you having? OSUMom (also in parents of Type 1 kids group) I tried to make you “a friend” so you could find my home page, but it was asking for an email address. I’m all confused. LOL I think you can click on my screen name and find me.

Challenges I am having are he will not always check his blood. He doesn’t like the disease, still morning. He still likes to go clubing with his friends. He was diagnosed in October.
I sent you a friend request.
Thank you for chating with me.

Hmmm well I’d say he could still go out with friends really - just he does still need to test his BG and administer insulin as needed - also depends on what he’s doing out clubbing. I’m going to try to send you a private message through my home page here.

I have a friend who was diagnosed with t-1 in her early 20’s. She was not about to give up her social life, so she asked her friends to stand by her as she experimented to see how different types of drinks affected her blood sugar. For example, a beer was fine, red wine made her go low, etc.

Thank you Christine for that information.
My son is doing the same thing. I am just concerned.

Great topic folks. The thing that gets me, like some of you already said, I was once one of those T1 kids on the JDRF posters, raising $ for the bike-a-thon and walk…24 years later I’m still diabetic, just older. I would love to join in on the crusade and make our voices heard. To be brutally honest, I believe treating and even curing type 2 is the easy challenge. Selfishly, I want the money to be raised to go directly towards curing type 1. With a clear and definitive focus, I am convinced a cure will happen in my lifetime. All of you that have posted on this topic, and the millions of others out there, could join forces and make a huge impact on the powers that be.

I am with you. I hear they are close to finding a cure. Not sure which type. I believe with type 2 diet and exercise will reduce the diabetes to next thing to nothing. With the islets not functioning in the pancreas will be a challenge to get them going again. I will be doing fundraisers for sure.

Hello Reily,
Thank you for your social life comment. I really appreciate others and how you deal with all the changes.
He is a bit in denial, but has a good diabetes educator. He feels he will not and does not want to live more than 5 years. That is a concern. He knows if he goes too low he can go into a comma. He seems to be doing ok. I think it is my fear. My wishes for him. I know there is a doctor in Toronto that has clients down in isulin doses doing a certain method. I will persue this when my son is ready for this. I am not a fan of pharmacutical drugs. I will suggest vodka and soda water as a drink for him to try.

As a 17-year diabetic, I’ve seen a lot of changes in how diabetes appears to others. When I was first diagnosed, it seemed like no one really had it, no one really talked about diabetes and you end up thinking that you’re the only one out there, especially when you 're diagnosed in your senior year. So I reached out to a local ADA chapter that had a support group meeting once every two week (oddly, in the café where I worked). My first experience was horrible, one woman was twitching, another was complaining about her recent amputation and another was talking about her other medical needs. In short, I skipped the next few meetings. Maybe that’s why I tell so few people about my illness.

The face of diabetes has always been diverse, but the perception around what the disease is has changed. Nowadays, I still hear about amputations and other horrible things that happen to diabetics but I hear more about how people are living with the disease more and more. They play professional sports, they act, they sing, they run governments and more. No more people asking me dumb questions like, “Did you get diabetes because you ate too much sugar?” or “Can you eat that?” It’s a welcome change.

Yet, newly diabetic children pull at the heart strings and fill the coffers for diabetes research faster than I ever would. A friend at the JDRF confirmed that they’re always on the knife’s edge when trying to balance children vs. adult diabetics. At times, over dinner with my JDRF friend, we’ve talked about ideas to make more money for research and how to better target “diabetes survivors.” Of course, there are no easy answers.

For now, I support the JDRF. Not because they cater to my needs, I’m hedging my bets since they’re more type 1 focused. The ADA has clearly become the AARP of Type 2 diabetics, which my Type 1 wife (honestly, the only good thing I can blame diabetes for) and I consider an entirely different disease. For the past 17 years, I still read everything that says “possible cure,” only to see it fail. I do hope for a cure but with each passing year, I look to the future and think that I’ll be buried with an needle in one hand, a meter in the other and facedown so all the forces who fight against a cure will remember me from the side they worked the most.

Oh my he feels he will not and does not want to live more than 5 years! Is this because of his diabetes? He sounds like he needs to be treated for depression as well as his diabetes (not uncommon). I’m so sorry. {{{hugs}}}

A good book I’m reading right now is Cheating Destiny - you can find it on Amazon.com.

On insulin there is incredible hope!!! My son lives a normal life working part-time, going to college like all his friends. Is this what your son is hearing from his doctor and endo team? If not, it should be!!!

There are people who have had Type 1 diabetes from the “dark ages” of not even the newest technology that are living to be in their eighties!! What makes him think he will die within 5 years? This is just shocking to me.

Again, I’m sorry mom I’m sure you are very worried for him.

Yes, he is depressed. No he will not see theraphy. He wants to live the way he had been living which is on the edge. He got in trouble with the law and having a hard time getting a part time job. That is part of the whole package. He doesn’t check his blood regularly.