Living Longer With Diabetes: Type 1
When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, you may wonder, “Is this going to kill me? How long can I live with this?” These are scary questions. Fortunately, the answers have gotten better. This article is about living longer with Type 1. Next week will be about Type 2. History of life with Type 1 In Type 1, the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed. Before insulin was discovered and made injectable, Type 1 diabetes usually killed children within months, or even days. The only treatment known to medicine was going on a low-carb, high-fat and -protein diet. People might live a few years that way. According to the website Defeat Diabetes, “In 1897, the average life expectancy for a 10-year-old child with diabetes was about one year. Diagnosis at age 30 carried a life expectancy of about four years. A newly diagnosed 50-year-old might live eight more years.” (Probably, those 50-year-olds really had Type 2.) In the 1920s, insulin was discovered and became available for use. Life expectancy with Type 1 went up dramatically. But when I started nursing in the 1970s, it was still common for people with Type 1 to die before age 50. With better insulins, home testing, and lower-carbohydrate diets, people live longer. A study from the University of Pittsburgh, published in 2012, found that people with Type 1 diabetes born after 1965 had a life expectancy of 69 years. This compares to a life expectancy at birth of roughly 76 years for men and 81 years for women in the general population in the U.S. A new study of about 25,000 people with Type 1 in Scotland found that men with Type 1 diabetes lose about 11 years of life expectancy, and women about 13 years compared to those without the disease. According to WebMD, “Heart disease accounted for the most lost Continue reading >>
10 Tips To Stay Healthy With Type 1
A Type 1 psychologist shares 7 guidelines from certified diabetes educators, as well as 3 mental tips of her own. Michael J. Fox once said this about living with Parkinson’s disease: “I often say now I don’t have any choice whether or not I have Parkinson’s, but surrounding that non-choice is a million other choices that I can make.” As someone who lives with Type 1, I argue that you can say the same about living with Type 1. You don’t have a choice whether or not you have Type 1 diabetes, but you can make “a million other choices” of how you will live with it. My job is to help others with diabetes make the best choices for themselves. As a cognitive behavior therapist and certified diabetes educator, I specialize in treating the emotional issues of coping with diabetes. I help my patients examine their thoughts and actions toward living with diabetes. The American Association of Diabetes Educators have developed seven key guidelines to help manage diabetes. Called the AADE7 Self-Care Behaviors, they include: -Healthy Eating – Having diabetes means learning how to count carbohydrates and how the foods you eat affect your blood sugar. A healthy meal plan also includes complex carbohydrates, protein, fiber (beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables), lots of green, leafy vegetables, and limited amounts of heart-healthy fats. -Being Active – Physical activity can help you keep blood sugar levels normal and manage your diabetes. Being active can also improve your mood and reduce your feelings of stress and anxiety. -Monitoring – Checking your blood sugar levels regularly gives you information about your diabetes management. Monitoring helps you know when your blood sugar levels are within your target range and helps you to make choices in what you ea Continue reading >>
"golden Rules" For Living With Type 1 Diabetes
One of the best resources for learning about diabetes and connecting with other PWDs (people with diabetes) locally can be summed up in five letters: TCOYD. That would be Taking Control of Your Diabetes, the national educational conference series founded by endocrinologist and longtime type 1 Dr. Steven Edelman in San Diego. He's not only a super-knowledgeable clinician and researcher, but a really funny, passionate guy who infuses these day-long seminars with energy and inspiration. Seriously, everything I need to know about diabetes I learned at TCOYD. For the past dozen years, I've had the privilege of speaking at my local Santa Clara event, that brings in about 1,000 patients for a full day of talks, panels, activities, a product expo and a banquet lunch -- all at the affordable price tag of just $20 per person! This year, I was honored to be on a very cool opening panel for the Type 1 Track led by another awesome accomplished endo + type 1, Dr. Jeremy Pettus (who shared his smarts on alcohol and diabetes with us here). Our panel was titled, "Golden Rules for Type 1s: Tips for Living Well with Diabetes," and included Dr. Bruce Buckingham of Stanford, Dr. Christine Ferrara of UCSF, Adam Brown of diaTribe, and Yours Truly from the 'Mine. I think the audience really appreciated that we weren't trying to act as if we had all the answers, but rather just talking turkey about the realities of the hour-by-hour challenges of T1D. I thought you all might enjoy hearing the answers I prepared for this session, which aren't exactly "golden rules" but my own personal best practices, such as they are... TCOYD) Do you have an overarching philosophy with your approach to managing your diabetes? Amy) Do just enough to stay in decent control while STAYING SANE. Has this philosophy ch Continue reading >>
Why Do Some Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Live So Long?
Go to: Abstract While the lifespan of people with type 1 diabetes has increased progressively since the advent of insulin therapy, these patients still experience premature mortality, primarily from cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, a subgroup of those with type 1 diabetes survives well into old age without significant morbidity. It is the purpose of this review to explore the factors which may help in identifying these patients. It might be expected that hyperglycaemia plays a major role in explaining the increased incidence of CVD and mortality of these individuals. However, while a number of publications have associated poor long term glycaemic control with an increase in both all-cause mortality and CVD in those with type 1 diabetes, it is apparent that good glycaemic control alone cannot explain why some patients with type 1 diabetes avoid fatal CVD events. Lipid disorders may occur in those with type 1 diabetes, but the occurrence of elevated high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol is positively associated with longevity in this population. Non-renal hypertension, by itself is a significant risk factor for CVD but if adequately treated does not appear to mitigate against longevity. However, the presence of nephropathy is a major risk factor and its absence after 15-20 years of diabetes appears to be a marker of long-term survival. One of the major factors linked with long-term survival is the absence of features of the metabolic syndrome and more specifically the presence of insulin sensitivity. Genetic factors also play a role, with a family history of longevity and an absence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in the family being important considerations. There is thus a complex interaction between multiple risk factors in determining which patients with type Continue reading >>
Life Expectancy For Type 1 Diabetes May Be Improving
(Reuters Health) - On average, people with type 1 diabetes die 11 to 13 years earlier than people without the condition, according to a new study from Scotland. While the news may be disheartening for people with type 1 diabetes, the study’s senior researcher said the new results are more encouraging than previous estimates that found larger gaps in life expectancies. An important message is that the difference in life expectancy is narrowing, said Dr. Helen Colhoun of the University of Dundee School of Medicine in Scotland. “It’s not zero,” she said. “The goal is to get it to zero.” Among people with type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, the body’s immune system destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Insulin removes sugar from the bloodstream so it can be used for energy. Instead, those people need to inject insulin and pay special attention to their blood sugar – or glucose – levels. Untreated, type 1 diabetes can lead to heart, blood vessel, kidney, eye, and nerve damage. About 29.1 million Americans have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 5 percent of those have type 1 diabetes. The researchers write in JAMA that according to earlier data from the U.K., people there with type 1 diabetes died an average of 15 to 20 years earlier than nondiabetics. A 1970s report put the decrease in life expectancy at 27 years for type 1 diabetics in the U.S., and a 1980s report from New Zealand put it at 16.5 years. “They’re mostly very old,” Colhoun said of the estimates. She said the correct information is important, because it shows how far care for type 1 diabetes has come. For the new study, the researchers used national data from Scotland on 24,691 people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes Continue reading >>
Living A Healthy Life With Type 1 Diabetes
Living a Healthy Life with Type 1 Diabetes With proper care, a type 1 diabetic can live a long and healthy life, with almost no risk of heart attack, stroke, or complications. Type 1 diabetics need not feel doomed to a life of medical disasters and a possible early death. With a truly health-supporting Nutritarian lifestyle, the type 1 diabetic can have a disease-free life and a better than average life expectancy. With conventional care of type 1 diabetes, the long-term prognosis is dismal. Type 1 diabetes usually begins to do its damage during childhood, and carries the same risks of type 2 with complications such as damage to the kidney, eyes, and nervous system. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes accelerate the aging of our bodies. Having type 1 or 2 diabetes greatly speeds up the development of atherosclerosis, or cardiovascular disease; in fact, diabetes doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke. About 10 percent of diabetes cases are type 1. In type 1 diabetes, which generally occurs earlier in life, the immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas, which produce insulin, resulting in insulin deficiency. For that reason, in almost all cases, type 1 diabetics will always require insulin to prevent too much glucose in the blood and life-threatening ketoacidosis (a serious condition that can lead to a coma and even death). Unlike type 2, type 1 diabetes is not caused by excess body fat. However, excess body fat is still dangerous for a type 1 diabetic, since type 1 diabetes also carries the risks associated with type 2 diabetes : heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and other complications. Consequently, a nutritionally superior diet is essential to the health and longevity of type 1 diabetics. A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is not a guarantee of poor healt Continue reading >>
What It’s Like To Live With Type 1 Diabetes
What It’s Like To Live With Type 1 Diabetes By: Valeria Guerrero What’s it like? It’s pricking your finger endlessly throughout the day. It’s not being afraid of blood because you get used to seeing so much of it. It’s no longer feeling tremor to a needle because you’ve had no choice than to be poked by them every day. It’s being woken up countless times throughout the night to fix blood sugars that just won’t become stable. It’s waking up feeling hung over because your sugars were high all night no matter the amount of corrections you gave yourself. It’s not being able to eat whatever you want before carb counting and analyzing how it will affect your sugars later. It’s having to put on a fake smile every time you have to explain to someone that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are NOT the same thing. It’s not being able to go a single work out without stressing if you’re going to go too low, drop too fast or go high. It’s seeing all the scars all over our tummy, arms and legs from all the site changes and pokes and just cry. It’s people staring at you while you poke yourself and watching you like something is wrong with you. It’s people telling you “you can’ t have that” or “should you be eating that?” It’s people assuming you have type 2 when you say you have diabetes. It’s watching people look at you like you’re breaking the law by having a candy. It’s asking yourself what you did wrong because you got this disease even when they say it isn’t your fault. It’s remembering what it was like before being diagnosed and feeling nostalgic. It’s struggling with money and possibly going into debt because supplies are just so expensive. It’s wanting to cry whenever you hear a representative say “your insurance doesn’t co Continue reading >>
Diabetes Life Expectancy
Tweet After diabetes diagnosis, many type 1 and type 2 diabetics worry about their life expectancy. Death is never a pleasant subject but it's human nature to want to know 'how long can I expect to live'. There is no hard and fast answer to the question of ‘how long can I expect to live’ as a number of factors influence one’s life expectancy. How soon diabetes was diagnosed, the progress of diabetic complications and whether one has other existing conditions will all contribute to one’s life expectancy - regardless of whether the person in question has type 1 or type 2 diabetes. How long can people with diabetes expect to live? Diabetes UK estimates in its report, Diabetes in the UK 2010: Key Statistics on Diabetes[5], that the life expectancy of someone with type 2 diabetes is likely to be reduced, as a result of the condition, by up to 10 years. People with type 1 diabetes have traditionally lived shorter lives, with life expectancy having been quoted as being reduced by over 20 years. However, improvement in diabetes care in recent decades indicates that people with type 1 diabetes are now living significantly longer. Results of a 30 year study by the University of Pittsburgh, published in 2012, noted that people with type 1 diabetes born after 1965 had a life expectancy of 69 years.[76] How does diabetic life expectancy compare with people in general? The Office for National Statistics estimates life expectancy amongst new births to be: 77 years for males 81 years for females. Amongst those who are currently 65 years old, the average man can expect to live until 83 years old and the average woman to live until 85 years old. What causes a shorter life expectancy in diabetics? Higher blood sugars over a period of time allow diabetic complications to set in, su Continue reading >>
How To Live A Long And Healthy Life With Type 1 Diabetes | Diabetes Daily Post
Learning How to Live a Long and Healthy Life with Type 1 Diabetes What is the secret to living a long and healthy life with type 1 diabetes? Lets look at some success stories from the Joslin Diabetes Center, a teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The Joslin Diabetes Center first began awarding medals to people with diabetes in 1948 with a 25-year Victory Medal. Believing that proper self-management was the key to minimizing long-term complications, the program was the vision of Elliott P. Joslin, MD,founder of the Joslin Diabetes Center. The program served as an incentive for those committed to good, though challenging, diabetes care. In the early 1950s, the name was changed to the Blue Ribbon, and as more and more people lived long healthy lives with diabetes it finally became the 25-year Certificate that is awarded today. In 1970, Joslin expanded the program and began awarding a 50-year bronze medal. Since 1970, the Joslin Diabetes Center has presented more than 2,905 50-year medals. And Joslin presented the first 75-year medal in 1996. Joslin has awarded 28 distinctive 75-year medals from 1996 to the present. The recipients serve as inspiration for anyone living with type 1 diabetes. They attribute their longevity to being active, being vigilant about their diet and having a positive outlook. They credit their good health to a combination of getting plenty of exercise, being cautious about their diet, keeping a check on their blood glucose, and having a loving/supportive spouse. A can do attitude, coupled with steadfast attention to blood glucose monitoring, diet and exercise, are the factors that allow a person with diabetes to live well into their 70s, 80s and even beyond. Patricia La France-Wolf, who successfully lived with diabetes for 68 y Continue reading >>
People With Type 1 Diabetes Are Living Longer
Better blood sugar control may be the key to longer survival Ninety years ago, type 1 diabetes was a death sentence: half of people who developed it died within two years; more than 90% were dead within five years. Thanks to the introduction of insulin therapy in 1922, and numerous advances since then, many people with type 1 diabetes now live into their 50s and beyond. But survival in this group still falls short of that among people without diabetes. A Scottish study published this week in JAMA shows that at the age of 20, individuals with type 1 diabetes on average lived 12 fewer years than 20-year-olds without it. A second study in the same issue of JAMA showed that people with type 1 diabetes with better blood sugar control lived longer than those with poorer blood sugar control. Types of diabetes There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys cells in the pancreas that make insulin. This usually happens before age 20. Insulin is needed to get blood sugar (glucose) into cells for energy. Without insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream. This damages cells and tissues throughout the body. People who develop type 1 diabetes need to take insulin via shots or a pump for life. Type 2 diabetes tends to occur later in life, usually among individuals who are overweight or inactive. It accounts for about 90% of all diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes often make enough insulin, at least at first, but their cells don’t respond to it. As with type 1 diabetes, glucose builds up in the bloodstream, damaging cells and tissues throughout the body. Type 2 diabetes is initially treated with lifestyle changes such as weight loss, more exercise, and a healthier diet. Medications that make the Continue reading >>
One Day In The Life Of Type 1 Diabetes
DAY 4161 Living with Diabetes As I sit up in bed, my head spins. It’s 7 a.m. I’m shaking, sweating and scared. It’s only then I realize that I missed dinner last night. I know that my blood sugar is dangerously low. I also know that apart from my 13-year-old sister, I’m home alone. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a muesli bar sticking out of my handbag. I try to get out of bed and reach for it, in an attempt to bring my blood-sugar up. That’s the last thing I can remember. My name is Shelby. I’m your average 21-year-old, aside from the fact that I have had Type 1 diabetes since I was 9. One morning in January of 2014, my blood sugar dropped so low that I had a seizure and knocked myself unconscious after hitting the back of my head on my bed frame. It was the first time that an ambulance had ever been called for me. Apart from this instance, I have had several serious hypoglycemic episodes — I’ve had a seizure whilst on camp visiting a crocodile farm, I’ve smashed drinking glasses in my hands in an attempt to fix my blood sugar and I’ve buttered my hands whilst trying to make myself a sandwich. If you haven’t already guessed it, I’m extremely stubborn and independent. I don’t like asking for help; however, it’s because of my diabetes that I have had to learn how to ask for such. Diabetes is debilitating. Diabetes is devastating. Diabetes is draining. We’re allowed to have good days and bad days; just like everyone else. We just need to be prepared. Even on our bad days, we are still diabetics. We still have to stop and test our blood sugars and give insulin. We have highs (fun fact: we don’t understand how odd it sounds to others when we’re in public and say, “I think I’m high”) and then we also have lows (literally). Our blood Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes Linked To Lower Life Expectancy
HealthDay Reporter today lose more than a decade of life to the chronic disease, despite improved treatment of both diabetes and its complications, a new Scottish study reports. Men with type 1 diabetes lose about 11 years of life expectancy compared to men without the disease. And, women with type 1 diabetes have their lives cut short by about 13 years, according to a report published in the Jan. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings "provide a more up-to-date quantification of how much type 1 diabetes cuts your life span now, in our contemporary era," said senior author Dr. Helen Colhoun, a clinical professor in the diabetes epidemiology unit of the University of Dundee School of Medicine in Scotland. Diabetes' impact on heart health appeared to be the largest single cause of lost years, according to the study. But, the researchers also found that type 1 diabetics younger than 50 are dying in large numbers from conditions caused by issues in management of the disease -- diabetic coma caused by critically low blood sugar, and ketoacidosis caused by a lack of insulin in the body. "These conditions really reflect the day-to-day challenge that people with type 1 diabetes continue to face, how to get the right amount of insulin delivered at the right time to deal with your blood sugar levels," Colhoun said. A second study, also in JAMA, suggested that some of these early deaths might be avoided with intensive blood sugar management. In that paper, researchers reduced patients' overall risk of premature death by about a third, compared with diabetics receiving standard care, by conducting multiple blood glucose tests throughout the day and constantly adjusting insulin levels to hit very specific blood sugar levels. "Across the board, indiv Continue reading >>
Scientific Sessions Update: Live Long With Type 1
As was evidenced by Robert Krause earlier this week, people with type 1 diabetes can live a long life. In fact, people with type 1 are living longer and longer. Research presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 71st Scientific Sessions this afternoon demonstrates that there have been improvements in the life expectancy for people with type 1 diabetes. The study, a part of the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications Study, looked at two groups of people: a group of people who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 1950 and 1964 and a group of people who had been diagnosed between 1965 and 1980. The researchers found that the life expectancy for those who were diagnosed between 1965 and 1980 was 15 years longer than those who were diagnosed between 1950 and 1964. During the same time frame, the life expectancy for people without diabetes only increased by one year. Currently, the life expectancy for people living with type 1 diabetes is about four years less than those who do not have diabetes, but the survival gap is clearly shrinking. There’s nothing like a little good news to help kick off the world’s largest diabetes meeting! Continue reading >>
What Is The Life Expectancy For Diabetics?
Diabetes is recognized as one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. There was a time when Type 2 diabetes was common in people in their late forties and fifties. However, thanks to the easy availability of processed foods, sedentary lifestyles, poor sleep and a host of other unfavorable factors, type 2 diabetes affects millions of young adults throughout the globe today. A report was commissioned in 2010 by the National Academy on an Aging Society. It showed that diabetes cut off an average of 8.5 years from the lifespan of a regular, diabetic 50-year-old as compared to a 50-year-old without the disease. This data was provided by the Health and Retirement Study, a survey of more than 20,000 Americans over the age of 50, done every two years by the University of Michigan. Characterized by high blood glucose levels, T2D can be the result of a combination of genes, obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle. If left untreated, diabetes can be life-threatening. Complications of this disease can take a serious toll on a patient’s health and well-being. So, how long do diabetics live, you ask? Does having diabetes shorten one’s life? Let’s address these questions, one by one. MORE: Decoding The Dawn Phenomenon (High Morning Blood Sugar) How Long Do Diabetics Live? Diabetes is a system-wide disorder which is categorized by elevated blood glucose levels. This blood travels throughout the human body and when it is laden with sugar, it damages multiple systems. When the condition is left unchecked or is managed poorly, the lifespan of diabetic patients is reduced due to constant damage. Early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes for preventing its long-term complications is the best coping strategy. So, don’t ignore your doctor’s advice if you’re pre-diabeti Continue reading >>
10 Tips For Teenagers To Live Well With Type 1 Diabetes
Twitter Summary: @asbrown1 shares his top 10 tips for living w/ #T1D, straight from presentation to 100+ teens at #CWDFFL15 At the Children with Diabetes Friends For Life Conference this month, I had the incredible opportunity to speak to ~100 teenagers with diabetes. My talk, “10 Tips for Living Well with Type 1,” was a lot of fun to put together, and our team thought diaTribe readers might be interested in seeing it. I agonized over how to present this so that it wouldn’t come across as a lecture – even my teenage self would not react well to some of the advice (“Sleep seven hours a night? Hah! I have sports plus exams plus the next level to beat in Halo 3!”). I concluded that the best thing I could do was make this session a conversation, but ground it in lessons I’ve learned over time. Thankfully, I also had the amazing FFL staff by my side to help guide the discussion. The session reminded me of something that I intuitively know but often forget: each person’s diabetes is completely different, and what works for me won’t work for everyone. And equally important, what works for me may change over time – it certainly has since I was a teenager. I’m sharing the slides below in case they’re useful, but my biggest hope is that it gets you thinking about your own diabetes. What motivates you? What drags you down? What can you do better today? Who can you reach out to for support? Let us what you think by email or on Twitter. As the oldest of six kids, I had a lot of responsibility from a young age, and my Mom was also a very hands-off parent; both helped me take the reins of my diabetes from an early age. I hope everyone can find the right balance between taking care of their own diabetes, but also relying on their parents for support when needed. Continue reading >>
