Reasons it's a good thing having diabetes....GO!

my input:
1.you pay more attention to the food you're actually putting in your mouth.
2. You have much better respect for the rest of the stuff your body just "does", even though your silly pancreas has given up..
3.The look on peoples faces when you whip out you injection pen? Or is this just me. I love it!

When I was first diagnosed, my endo explained that, in general, type 1 diabetics were pretty healthy. That's because we have to pay such close attention to our food and stay active.

I've fallen into some serious diabetes burnout and have gained weight, so I'm getting back into those habits. In general though, I think that's a 100% correct assessment. It's rare to see a morbidly obese type 1 diabetic.

I am type A about exercising and staying in shape.

I am in way better health than I would have been at 51.... aside from this whole T1 thang :)

These threads are beyond my comprehension. Really what can be possibly in any way shape or form be good about having a life threatening condition that's costly, denies you private insurance, makes you feel horrible a good percentage of the time, is a social stigma, can rob your sex drive among other things, makes it more difficult to find work or a life partner....etc. Not only do I not find it in anyway positive I personally find it much more negative then the media makes it appear. It's downright horrible and I am at the edge of my seat waiting for my life back.

I think that having a CGM is useful for running a marathon, it's easy to tell when it's time for more Gatorade with a data stream. I didn't have any GI problems, nor have I puked from any of my running antics but I've seen people passed out in hosta beds (Champaign 1/2 marathon 2010...), fall over in the street (Chicago Marathon 2011) and puking all over the place in numerous other races, even 5Ks. Not that my own experience was trouble free but food was not a problem for me at all and I'm certain knowledge gained through having had diabetes helped with that.

I'd rather have diabetes than be this guy:

Well, you're so negative that you responded to someone who responded to the original post rather than to the person who started the topic.

It's your life and I hope that attitude works out for you.

BTW, I work for myself and have private insurance. It's through a group, but it's private insurance. One of my former roommates, also a type 1, is married, has two kids and her husband seems to be very supportive of her and her condition. She also works. I lived abroad and traveled worldwide for almost 9 years. My diabetes didn't' stop me. In fact, diabetes care was so inexpensive there that I could pay out of pocket for most things even when I wasn't working. (I took a couple of years off to get another degree while I was there.)

Also, if these threads are so beyond your comprehension, then you can just skip them. On this or any other forum, if there is a thread that's not for me, I do something really novel: I don't participate in that thread.

People with all kinds of afflictions and diseases do all kinds of things but that doesn't make their conditions not horrible. A neighbor of mine has MS. He's a few years younger then me. He sleeps a lot but he has his own Limo business. I don't know MS that much but he told me it can get nasty. He mentioned to me he'd never settle down with anyone some time ago as he felt he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be around and they (women) are all nuts anyway. I haven't spoke to him in a while but last I heard he just got married. You know what if people can find something positive about having diabetes, good for them. I know I couldn't pay enough money to be rid of it. The longer I have it the more I hate it.

I can't believe you're ignoring my post!

I thought ^ was you! Kidding aside you can glue throw-up to me if it would get me off insulin.

alrighty let me see here...

I don't freak out about blood. my reaction to a bad cut is more "Gah!" than "AHHHH!"
I don't freak out over needles
no one thinks I'm a mean person for laughing at other people who are scared of needles :)
I know much more about the human body than most people
I can do mental math faster than math majors. (though they can kick my butt in calc)

I would still give all this up to be cured though...

Umm, yeah.

If all I had to do to get rid of my diabetes was wear a suit of vomit for a 10K, it be a done deal.

Because unfortunately this disease is a chronic condition, which for a lot of us we have had most of our lives. Now I could sit around all day telling myself I have a "life threatening" condition and that my life is terrible, or I could look at how much worse things could be, and the fact that I HAVE my life, and hopefully if i take care of myself will have it for a lot longer. Some people with worse illnesses don't have that luxury.
I appreciate your opinion but I do not appreciate your negativity in what is obviously trying to be a positive forum....

excellent!

Hey! thanks for your input, made me smile! I know everyone would like to be rid of this stupid illness, but until that day comes, its great seeing people find some positives! x

The thing is though, everybody hates it! But life is dictated by the random laws of the universe. This is your lot, be thankful it's not worse! The universe if a cruel place for some!

hey thanks for your reply! As I mentioned before, it's really great to see diabetics finding some positives. It would be easy to mope around saying life is terrible, why me etc etc. i'm just thankful I'm alive and have something at least manageable! x

Being able to play "the D-card".

So true! 'I'm so sorry that I haven't done my homework, but I have diabetes!'
A guarantee for succes ;)

You're welcome and thank you for speaking up too!

The point is we're in an era where we can manage this disease. The reality is without medical technology, we'd be dead. Last November marked the 90th anniversary of the discovery of insulin. We've come VERY far.

Anyway, putting the buzz kill aside, thanks for starting a positive thread.

I don't think that's vomit? It's more that knowledge of GI things and carbohydrates gained through diabetes can, in turn, help avoid those sort of situations, portapotty pullovers, puking and other "issues" people "run into" at races? I read a cycling magazine once that was sort of gushy about how useful it would be for Team Type One to have CGMs and kind of lamented that you needed an RX and diabetes to get your hands on one since, of course, cyclists who blow $1500 on wheels for a $7000 frame would think little of dropping couple grand on a CGM?