There is a study taking place in Canada at the Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto. The study parallels the Joslin Medalist study being done in Boston. All participants in both studies have been T1 for 50 or more years. The picture below shows an endo who is heading the study. He is with a patient who has been T1 for 76 years.
Insulin Allergies do exist, but are rare. They were much more common when the insulin we used came from the bodies of pigs and cows. I have two online friends who have insulin allergies. One of them posted her problem on a diabetes website and some members there did not believe her. They called her a liar, because they had never heard of insulin allergies. She left the group and has never posted her problem again. I want to spread the word that these allergies do exist, and there are ways of dealing with the problem. See the article below presented by the Joslin Diabetes Center.
I was employed as a teacher at the college level for 34 years (1964-1997). I had complications with my diabetes, and had to retire several years earlier than I had planned. Two years after retirement my health problem was resolved, but my former position was filled, and I was no longer needed at the college as a full-time teacher. After retirement I taught part-time for several years, and did a lot of carpentry work and painting on my home. My strength was gradually declining, and I had too little energy for strenuous activities. I felt like a fish out of water, and was very bored much of the time. Retirement did not seem to be as great as I thought it would be.
As a teacher I did not earn a lot of money, but the fringe benefits were very good. My wife and I financed our two sons while they were in college, until they had MS degrees. We were heavily in debt by the time they graduated. Gradually we paid off our debts, and our financial situation was stable. There was too little money for traveling like I had always wanted to do. My wife did not want to travel, she was perfectly happy staying at home, and taking one trip each year to see our sons and our two grand children. I wanted to do so much more, but we could not afford it.
In 2006 I discovered a diabetes support group online at Dlife.com. The support group there was a new found hobby for me. I soon joined other diabetes websites, and made many friends. Sharing my diabetes experiences with others was very rewarding. I helped my new friends, and they helped me. I was the only long term type 1 diabetic in most of the support groups, with more than 60 years of diabetes. My friends encouraged me to write a book about my life with type 1. That book was published in March, 2010. I was pleased with the hours I spent each day with my friends. I joined Facebook in late 2010, and found many more diabetes support groups. The parents of diabetic children were encouraged to find a long term type 1 diabetic who had good diabetes health. In July, 2013, I attended the Friends For Life Conference in Orlando, FL. It was a wonderful experience. So many great discussions, pictures taken with friends, and great food! My wife wants to go with me to the FFL in 2015.
More recently, health problems began to emerge. My wife needed a knee replacement in 2009, and now (2013) I need both of my knees replaced. My wife and I have arthritis, which slows us down, and makes many activities difficult. We don’t know how much longer we can make those flights to Atlanta to visit our children. Our sons are very busy with their jobs, and they find it difficult to visit us each year. We live in New York, so we are are not physically able to pack up all our belongings and move south to Atlanta.
Without the online activity and communicating with my friends, life would have become incredibly boring. With my good health, working out at the gym, taking long walks, and my online activities, I am very content. My wife is very happy tending her flower gardens, spending time with her hobbies, and communicating with the neighbors. We have been married 49 years, and we will celebrate our golden anniversary on May 31, 2014. Retirement is good, for both of us!!
The Friends For Life Conference for people with type 1 diabetes was held in early July this year. The conference meetings began in the year 2000, so this was the fourteenth year. It was created by Jeff Hitchcock, the owner of the website at http:/www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/. Jeff has a daughter with type 1, and the FFL has done so very much for type 1 diabetics. People from other countries attended, it is an international conference.
The conference is held in Orlando, FL in the month of July because that seems to be the only month that all children are out of school and can attend. Having the meetings so close to Disney World is very convenient. Many parents took their children to see the Disney attractions before or after the conference.
This was my first year at the FFL, and it was one of the most valuable experiences of my lifetime. The type 1 people attending were divided into four groups: children, tweens, teens and adults. Discussions were held for each group. I visited several wonderful discussions on three of my days there. The speakers were well chosen and I learned much from them. There were more than one hundred discussions, and several were held simultaneously. Choosing which ones I wanted to attend was difficult. Food was provided in several buffets, and I ate too much. The carb counts for all items were provided so I was able to keep my blood sugar stable. I attended several special evening socials with wonderful meals: First Timers Reception, Grand Opening Ceremony, Family and Friends Banquet, Adults with Type 1 Casino Night, and Dessert with the Faculty. There were also special socials for the other groups.The closing keynote address was given by Will Cross. Will is type 1, and he has climbed the highest mountain on each continent. He has also hiked his way to both the north and south poles. His wife and children attended his session. There were some type 1 celebrities present, mostly professional athletes. Kids had their pictures taken with them. I met Crystal Bowersox. She is type 1, and she won second place on the American Idol TV show several years ago. She sang some songs, and posed for pictures with the kids.
This conference was so wonderful that I want to attend as often as I can. I met so many online friends, and my picture was taken with many of them. My wife and I are planning to attend the FFL conference in 2015. I am really looking forward to that.
All type 1 diabetics, irregardless of age or location, should attend at least one FFL event. It will be a very worthwhile experience.
My diabetes diagnosis was in 1945, a few days after my sixth birthday. There was very little known about diabetes back then. The only rule my parents had to follow was to not let me have sugar. I could eat anything else I wanted. There was very little change in my life except for avoiding sugar, and taking one shot of insulin each day. There was no device for testing my blood sugar, and no information about carbs with their effect on blood sugar. It seems almost a miracle that I have now lived for 67 years, and have no diabetes related complications except for some mild nerve damage. There are many other type 1 diabetics like me in the US who have lived with their diabetes for 50 years, or more. Many of them have received the 50 year medal from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. A study is being done on the medalists to see if the factors can be found that have enabled them to live so long without any serious complications. I participated in the study in 2009.
Despite my having good diabetes health, there was so much I did not know about diabetes. My doctors in the early years knew very little about diabetes. In July, 2006, I watched an episode of the Dlife TV program. They mentioned that there was a Dlife website that offered support to diabetics. I joined Dlife.com that day. There were many diabetics of all types taking part in interesting discussions. There was so much information that was new to me, and it was easy to see this was the right place for me. How could I have gone 61 years without all the things I learned on the Dlife website? There were many other websites that were also very helpful, and I joined several of them. I shared my knowledge with my new online friends, and they shared their knowledge with me. Some of the members on Diabetes Daily convinced me to use an insulin pump. I started pumping in June, 2007. My blood sugar is much more stable now, and I have fewer highs and lows. I have not needed assistance with a hypoglycemic episode since July, 2007. I felt that the education I received from the diabetes online community (DOC) was so good for me. I helped many fellow diabetics on several diabetes websites, and that made me feel good.
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