Well, well, well! Dean, I see you have finally tapped into the site where there are people who do their research and make so many well informed and intelligent replies! TuD is the best place on the web for this kind of conversation. That other site, where we have known each other for a long time, may have more than twice as many members, but this one is vastly superior in many respects!
The Joslin Medalist study has been going for several years. It is being funded by the JDRF and the NIH. They have now received the necessary funds for extending the Study for a few more years. I asked about that on Facebook, in the Joslin Diabetes section. A Joslin rep responded. You can ask questions there too. I get much good information from Facebook. There is much more there than you might think, but you have to look for it.
The person in charge of my participation in the Joslin Study, in 2009, told me that there had been more than 500 participants at that time. Some of them admitted that they had not taken good care of themselves, but they did not have any serious complications. Some DID have complications, but nothing especially bad. The group mentioned here was very small though. A few exceptions to the rule does not imply that we should just eat whatever we want and let luck carry us through with good health.
I had no complications during my first 55 years (1945-2000). I had stopped using the animal insulins with the C-Peptide in the late 1990s and I was diagnosed with mild retinopathy and neuropathy. The little spots of retinopathy would appear and, two months later, they were gone. It was a “now you see it, and now you don’t” problem. It never progressed very much, but it was there. My neuropathy was worse. It appeared in one toe on my left foot and and on the side of the same foot. I did not have any neuropathy elsewhere. The pain was so bad some nights that I lost a lot of sleep. It felt like surges of electrical shock running through that toe. I actually thought about having the toe amputated. Then I started pumping in June, 2007. A few months later my range was in the interval 70-130, 90% of the time. that is my comfort range and it is still that way. The neuropathy and retinopathy symptoms disappeared. Tests still show I have neuropathy, but I do not feel it anymore. That is why I still called myself complication-free at that time.
In my book I gave a lot of credit to the C-Peptide in my early years. Pumping gave me tighter control and essentially compensated for the lack of C-Peptide in the synthetic insulin (Humalog) that I have used since that time. The C-Peptide must have protected me. Look at my A1c’s 1980-2010:
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/my-a1c-history
My A1c’s in my early years were not good, but there were no complications. Then my A1c’s were great at the turn of the century, but I had complications. How else would you explain that? I will always think it was the C-Peptide that protected me from 1945-2000. Many people still use pork insulin. It is sold in Canada and in some European countries, however, I have heard that the C-Peptide has been removed. Too bad!!
There are many doctors who tell their diabetes patients that if they can avoid complications for their first 20 years, and they continue taking good care of themselves, then they are unlikely to ever have complications. I think that is only partially true. I had no complications for 55 years and then had the retinopathy and neuropathy, even though my A1c’s were below 6.0. Was I was an exception to the 20-year rule? I don’t have much confidence in that rule. I had to work very hard with my pumping to get rid of those complications, and the neuropathy is still present, but no more pain.
The Joslin Medalist Study hopes to find the reason why the participants have no serious complications after 50+ years of type 1. If the factor(s) resulting in their good health can be found, then they might find a treatment that will help prevent complications and extend the lives of younger type 1 diabetics. I have talked to Dr. King, the doctor in charge of the Study. He is optimistic that very important results will be found. 750 participants were supposed to have been examined by April of this year, but the Study is ongoing. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the conclusion of the Study will reveal some very significant results.