First, forgive me if this sounds morbid. Not trying to freak anyone out, just curious. I've been a type 1 for 39 years. When diagnosed, my life expectancy was 38 years and my parents were told that children and employment were out of the question. But I have 3 kids and run my own business. Soooo . . .
I am looking for statistics, such as successful births for type 1 females diagnosed late 60s early 70s, current medical stats for type 1s of that age range, etc. I am not having any damage, eyes and kidneys are good, but I feel awful most of the time. Just wondering what others like me are dealing with. And although individual stories are great, I really want to know as a whole what type 1s of my age are faced with.
I've "only" had T1 for 28 years. I sometimes feel not as well as I think I should, but I have nothing to compare it to b/c I don't remember life any other way. I liked some of the articles above from Diabetes Forecast about long lives w/ T1. (Sorry, I was too lazy to turn them into links!)
Don't you feel like doctors give fewer predictions compared to back 20+ years ago like "You'll only live to x years old". I think with all the advances in medecine, no one can predict what will happen next!
When I was diagnosed, my Mom was also told I'd never have healthy kids. But, it was almost more of a gift to me when I had a healthy baby in 2008. Like, look what I did! It WAS possible!
mjrhyne, I hope you will read the discussions I started in this forum yesterday, and today. They are listed as "Stories Of Long Living Type 1 Diabetics" and "Joslin Medalist Study / Update, 2010".
You absolutely cannot go by any life expectancy predictions. When I was diagnosed (1966) some (idiot) docs were telling parents their kids would barely live out of their teens. Then it was "you won't live past your 30s". Then "40s". I was lucky that I had a world renowned pediatric endo who never gave us gloom and doom predictions. You can't make any sort of diagnosis like that with diabetes simply because the technology changes so much and your level of care can vary tremendously over time, and also genetics plays an important role as well. You are going to live as long as you are going to live. Maybe less time if you are not very bright, don't look both ways before crossing the street, and then get hit by a bus.
Take the best care of yourself that you can, live your life well, and hope for the best.
As for me, I have had problems (kidney failure, transplant, and a bunch of other stuff) but my plan is to live for decades and decades more. I have always proved my nay-sayer doctors wrong. Average longevity of a kidney transplant is roughly 13 - 15 years and I plan to blow that stat out of the water. I certainly don't consider myself "average".
Sorry I can't give you specifics, but statistics are absolutely perfect at not describing any one individual.
i've never paid attention to the "diabetics have shorter life spans" crap that can be dished at you. lifes too short as it is, to worry about if any of it may come true for you.
I guess what got me thinking about it, other than the fact that I don't know any other type 1s, is a few months back I was waiting to get blood drawn and sat next to a lady my age who had nine heart procedures so far. Was hoping some national group had numbers.
I was diagnosed at age 9 in February of 2000. They told me that by the time I was in high school they would have a cure. Then when I reached high school they told me that by the time I reached college they would have a cure. I'm a junior in college and still nothing. They told me that I would live just as long as anyone else in my family though, as long as I took good care of myself. I don't know why doctors need to give out statistics like that. They could just give me the facts and let me make up my own decision.