Is life expectancy limited for diabetics?

Hi there,
I am a new DAFNE graduate from course 23 in Manchester. I have been diagnosed type 1 just under a year and must say that it has gone pretty well. I have had great help from the hospital team. I am learning all the time and want to make the most of the online help. Being new to this I am unsure of quite a lot of things. Though I have had good advice - from what I can make out - some of what I have been told by non-expert medics has occasionally been contradictory. Nothing serious though. Anyway, my question is perhaps a bit morbid - and I am not sure how to ask it really. Do diabetics have a reduced life expectancy? I hate asking it as it seems a negative thing to dwell on. But now I am diabetic 11 months I am starting to get used to it and to reflect on what is happening to me. I am a natural optimist so like to think bad things cannot happen to me. That's a laugh. I have had a very positive approach since diagnosis as I have been previously blessed with good health and so wanted to tackle my new condition with good humour and a positive approach. I love being active and have felt confident about keeping fit and active for the rest of my life. However the wind was taken out of sails a bit when half-listening to a recent Radio 4 programme on cancer. One person compared cancer to diabetes and seemed to be saying something on the lines of " diabetics usually die of complications linked to their condition". This is a likely misquote but it dipped my mood somewhat. I want to believe that my health is not overly compromised by diabetes as long as I am prepared to work hard at controlling my BGs and exercising and eating well etc. This radio quote just worried me into thinking that whatever I do that I am 'doomed' by this condition sooner or later. Of course we all have to die of something - but short of an accident or something is that the way it is likely to go for a diabetic. Apologies for the question but does any positive evidence exist out there? Promise not to be so low energy next time. Cheers MD

Mike,
Diabetes UK award a medal to all diabetics reaching the milestone of living with the condition for 50 years. The number of medals they award has increased significantly over the years showing the benefits of better insulin regimes, blood glucose control etc. and over the last 10 years, DAFNE. In my case I have just over 6 years until I'm due for the Diabetes UK medal, so I would suggest that you shouldn't be worrying yet and following DAFNE will definitely reduce the risk of complications occurring for you.

Thanks Peter,
It is reassuring to hear that. I am a worrier despite being an optimist - some combination! Sounds like you are doing well with your long experience. How long since you took up DAFNE? Did you notice a difference? I think I am too new to really spot the difference although I appreciate the scrutiny that DAFNE offers.

Hi Mike,

I'd add to Peter's comments too - you mention that a radio show stated that most diabetics die from the complications. I know when I was diagnosed a large proportion of diabetics (90%+ I think) were Type 2, and Type 1s were definitely in the minority. Type 2 diabetes is often diagnosed as a result of finding complications, which means they are already there and affecting the person, e.g. neuropathy, retinopathy, heart problems etc., whereas people with Type 1 are diagnosed with the symptoms of high blood sugar (chronic thirst, tiredness, etc.). The good news there is that Type 1 people can guard against and avoid the complications by keeping their blood sugars under control - something DAFNE definitely helps with.

I guess the bottom line here is don't worry too much - the media seems to lump all people with diabetes together which is simply not fair - we are all different, with different types, different regimes, complications and lifestyles. If you take care of yourself and look after your blood sugars you should live a long, happy and complication free life.

Simon

Hi Mike,

Firstly can I say that having watched both parents die from cancer and still living around cancer, I would not swap my diabetes for it at all. Personally, I think to lump the two together is little short of ridiculous. Yes diabetes is a major illness but not remotely as life threatening as cancer.

I have lived with diabetes for 30 years without understanding it until November 2009, when I was lucky enough to be invited onto a DAFNE course. My control for those 30 years has been at best up and down. I have lost count of the times, I was told to improve my control by some well meaning person but the truth is I didn't know how.

You are fortunate in that you have a choice. You have been given the tools during your course to allow you to control your illness. You can grasp those tools and live a healthy lifestyle or you can ignore them and live life to the full for how long? With diabetes you may eventually lose a limb or your eyesight, god forbid, with cancer you wont, very often, get away with your life.

Diabetes is tough but it doesn't have to be life threatening does it?

You are in control of your situation my friend.

Thanks Simon and Vic. Good points. Type 1 is different for sure and it is quite 'fun' being part of a smaller (more select?) group relative to Type 2. Sorry to hear about your parents Vic, I have a partner enduring cancer treatment presently and I have reflected on the two conditions (that and diabetes). I consider myself lucky in many ways and feel very much for her as it has been a tough journey for her.
It is good to know how highly rated DAFNE is and I feel reassured by this. My dietitian hinted to me that I should do this course from early on. Glad I did it. Yes, we have a choice - that is one of the really good things. We have the choice to be healthy and are equipped to manage that. I do realise that.
Best Wishes M

Mike,

To respond to your earlier questions. I did my DAFNE course just over 2 years ago, being lucky enough to get a place on the first course that UCLH had run. Yes I did notice a difference. It was effectively the first diabetes education I'd received in 40 years. I already had some knowledge of DAFNE as my sister had done the course several years earlier and it made a tremendous difference for her. So I was expecting alot, and wasn't disappointed. My control is much better, and although not perfect, I at least now know enough to make sensible decisions about what to change. I'm a big fan of the DAFDNE approach and hence stood for election last year to what is now called the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG) and am pleased to be having input into decisions anout how DAFNE should be taken forward.

When I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1970 I thought my world had come to an end. I was 11 and had no understanding of what it meant. A clergyman visiting the lady in the next bed to mine came to speak to me one day. He said" You are lucky. You've been given the ticket to a long and healthy life". I thought he was crazy until he explained what he meant. "You wll eat healthily, you will exercise regularly, you will live the life the rest of us should live and will have regular health check ups which the rest of us would love to have." Forty years later I now realise that he was right. I'm now 51 and I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Keep thinking postively. It works.

Hi Ruth,
Great story. We are being given every chance to have a good life. A very positive place to be. The way I have thought about it has been that as a diabetic I know I now HAVE to do the right things to look after myself as against non-diabetics who have the apparent choice to chance their luck. I am grateful for the advance warning which shakes off any complacency I had. It kills off spontaneity a bit tho' but. I am very glad to be otherwise-healthy and if I have to have any condition then I am happy to settle for this one.

My attitude as an optimist helps and I have taken a light-hearted approach to the diabetes most of the time. Not suffering pain with the condition is a great relief. I do have low days and sometimes can't believe what has happened to me. Sitting amongst the DAFNE students was one such moment on Day three. I felt slightly trapped. The feeling passes fortunately - one reason for that is how this condition demands an hour by hour awareness and keeps one tuned in to the here-and-now and therefore not overwhelmed by the long-term reality of it all.

Another feeling that is possibly peculiar to me as is one of feeling slightly like a student rather than a patient. Managing my BG is a strange kind of serious game where my BG readings are like 'scores' and that maintaining these is something I need to do to be a 'good patient/student'. It is more a vague feeling than a real belief of course but now and again I have a reality check wash over me when I realise the obvious point that I am ultimately on my own with looking after myself. Getting these 'scores' wrong can wreck my health. That is frightening. The consequences of getting it wrong are rather worse than a getting a 'bad report'. If you like the matter is very very live, very much now. It is happening every minute of every day. You don't take time off from it nor can you cruise along if you are bored or inattentive. So many things in life are just not that important. I realise that this is one of the few things in my experience that demands my attention to concentrate on it and get it right, no option. In terms of analogies I can't stop the merry-go-round to take a break, or back off from a difficult rock climb which intimidates me. All obvious stuff but it makes one grow up (at whatever age and I am 44) and learn discipline more than anything else before.

My experience of hospitals is fortunately very very small and I am so glad for decent health to date. Being sent to A&E with suspected diabetes was a weird experience and I was totally reassured by the specialist team which attended to me over the 4 days I was in. I do feel privileged that the NHS (Wythenshawe UHSM) staff were so caring and professional and interested in getting me on track. I am deeply grateful to them for that.

So I guess my initial question on this 'thread' was worth asking. You all sound determined and positive people. I will try to be the same. Thanks.

Mike,
One thing I would add, is that getting the scores wrong occasionally won't necessarily wreck your health. The complications caused by Diabetes develop over time, so the main issue with getting it wrong in the short term are things like Ketatosis but fortunately that is pretty rare. I'm not encouraging you to be complacent just warning you that over the years there will be times when your control 'slips' slightly, you shouldn't get too worked up over this I'm sure most people on this site who have been diabetic for 10 years+ will have had the occasional period where things have not gone quite right. The secret is, to get back on the wagon as soon as possible and get things back under control. Thats one of the reasons for this site existing, its recognised that the long term support for DAFNE graduates is lacking from the DAFNE Programme. The hope is this site will help remedy that by giving DAFNE graduates support and information ongoing over the years, helping them to stick to the DAFNE regime and thus greatly reduce the risk of complications and hospital treatment for their condition.

I look forward to seeing your posts on your 20th and 30th anniversaries of being a diabetic :-)