Globally, the prevalence of type 1 diabetes at least tripled in every age group from 65 to 94 years, especially among men, while death rates decreased across all age groups, particularly among women and those younger than 79. The most significant decrease in DALYs [disability adjusted life years] was also seen among those aged under 79.
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I remember being told Iād only make it into my 20ās and now Iām over 50. Thereās been huge advances since I was diagnosed. Iām actually having a hard time keeping up with all the new stuff now a days.
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I donāt cry much, except for things that I find moving or profound, and I remember a medical program in the 90s - Lifetime used to do doctor-oriented medical programs on Sunday - and I remember balling like a baby when a doctor said that diabetics used to have a life expectancy of forty-eight (48). It didnāt matter that the then current value was much higher, I was horrified.
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I was diagnosed in September 1969, 55 years ago. It was the dinosaur age of diabetes treatment - not much more sophisticated than just after Banting and Best discovered insulin in 1923 (and before Big Pharma got hold of it :))
My dad and mum were both docs from Scotland, Dad a surgeon and Mum a GP. My mum didnāt think Iād live to see 30 which, thankfully, she only told me when I reached my āforties. Neither of them had ever seen a diabetic patient before. Because of their experience with my T1D onset, my mum subsequently diagnosed it in a baby.
My broā gave me a kidney 37 years ago, my creatine runs in the 'fifties and my A1C is 5.7. My eyesight is compromised but I have no neuropathy, strange given my renal history.
All this to say that Iām still here and enjoying life. I flyfish, I go to the gym and barre class and am an āAmbassadorā for something called āTransplant Ambassador Programā www.transplantambassadorprogram.ca.
Just waiting for that stem cell research to come to fruition!
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As a āme tooā I was told at diagnosis (1982) that I might live another 20 years if I was really good. But hey the cure was just a few years away, they said.
Home bg testing (which my home town doctors had never heard of in 1982 but which I got started on in the next year) is a big difference. It was like stone knives and bearskins to have your best tool be a urine test.
Joslin stopped giving out 25-year medals a long time ago, thatās so common now. Iām 8 years away from the 50-year medal!
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I was diagnosed in July 1967, 57 years ago. I thought Iād be gone by my 20s based on what some people would say. I never had kids because of the thoughts on t1 women and pregnancy back then. I have to say thatās my biggest regret in life.
Iām still here, and Iām healthy and active.
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Iām so glad that making it 25 years with T1D stopped being notable a long time ago. I would have been eligible for that medal 9 years ago. I am lucky in that no one ever told me that I would only live x number of years longer. I really think that this would have messed with my head as a child. Maybe someone told my parents that when I was diagnosed - I donāt know. They never told me and Iām thankful for that.
Yes, same here. Even in 1990, when I was diagnosed, I think that there were āthoughtsā on women and pregnancy. But Iām okay with it. I have an active life, and, for the most part, T1D has not stopped me from doing anything that I wanted to do.
If there was ever a āgoodā time to have T1D, I guess itās now because of all of the rapidly improving technology. The Tandem pump and Dexcom CGM I have now are lightyears of advancement from the few minute(?) home meter and R/NPH injections I took as a child!
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