Living With Someone With Type 1 Diabetes

Anyone Can Get Type 1 Diabetes

It isnt completely clear what causes type 1 diabetes, but we know that diet and lifestyle habits dont. Type 1 is thought to be the result of an autoimmune response, where your body attacks the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Insulin is a hormone that acts like a key to let blood sugar into your bodys cells for use as energy. Sometimes infection with a virus seems to trigger the autoimmune response. Many people with type 1 diabetes have family members with type 1, but most dont.

The peak age for being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is around 13 or 14 years, but people can be diagnosed when theyre much younger and older .

Research Design And Methods

We held four focus groups. The inclusion criteria were as follows: 21 years of age, diagnosis of type 1 diabetes 2 years duration, married/partnered , and could speak/read English. We identified potential subjects through chart review. We invited prospective participants by letter, to help us learn about how having type 1diabetes affects adult relationships, especially the relationship with a spouse or partner, as well as about other personal challenges type 1 diabetic patients experience related to their diabetes. Eligible respondents provided informed consent prior to the group. Participants completed demographic questionnaires.

Be Patient With Your Partner

For some people, type 1 diabetes causes symptoms that affect sexual relationships, including limited energy, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, vaginal dryness, and mood swings. While type 1 diabetes affects everyone differently and your partner may not experience any of these symptoms, its important to be supportive if they do. Be patient with your partner during the times they dont feel like having sex. Consider discussing strategies like lubricants or medication if they feel up to it.

The sexual effects of diabetes can be difficult to talk about. Be compassionate, and give your partner space to discuss any problems they have due to diabetes when theyre ready. Forcing your partner to give more details than theyre comfortable with at the time can cause them to isolate themselves to avoid further conversation. At the same time, dont lose sight of your own needs. Be honest with yourself and your partner about what you want.

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Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms

Signs are often subtle, but they can become severe. They include:

• Heavy, labored breathing
• Frequent infections of your skin, urinary tract, or
• Crankiness or mood changes
• Bedwetting in a child whoâs been dry at night

Signs of an emergency with type 1 diabetes include:

• Shaking and confusion
• Loss of consciousness

Summary Of The Best & Worst Foods For People With Type 1 Diabetes

If you have type one diabetes its important to choose your foods carefully. While you can technically eat anything, focusing on eating minimally processed whole foods will serve you AND your blood sugars well. Foods that should be limited are refined & conventionally processed grains, sugary drinks, diet drinks, and desserts.

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Be Able To Identify And Treat Low Blood Sugar

Hypoglycemia is the term for low blood sugar, which occurs when blood sugar falls below 70 mg/dL. Hypoglycemia is more common in people taking insulin, such as those with type 1 diabetes. Symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

• having a headache
• lack of concentration.

Hypoglycemia is most effectively treated with glucose tablets, drinking fruit juice, or injecting glucagon in more severe cases. Glucagon is a hormone that increases the amount of sugar released from the liver. A glucagon injection can be prescribed for someone with type 1 diabetes to have on hand in the case of severe hypoglycemia when they may not be able to consume food or drink containing sugar.

Family members and friends should also be trained on hypoglycemia warning signs to support the individual with type 1.

Mental Health: Living With Type 1

People with type 1 diabetes are at a heightened risk for mental health issues, including diabetes distress, depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. However, these are all treatable disorders. It is important to pay attention to your feelings about having diabetes or taking care of someone who has diabetes. Talk to your physician, or yourdiabetes educator, or anyone you feel comfortable with on your diabetes care team. They can help you connect to mental health care, whether it is with a counselor, a therapist, a psychiatrist, or a social worker. Having support to live with diabetes is essential. Sometimes talking to a friend with diabetes can also be helpful.

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Living Alone With Type 1 Diabetes

It is not uncommon for people with type 1 diabetes to have reservations about living alone.

Usually the main concerns for people with type 1 diabetes living on their own are over what happens if short term complications, such as severe hypos or ketoacidosis, occur.

The following guide has been put together to help ease these concerns.

Can Someone With Type 1 Diabetes Live A Long Life

Life expectancy for people with diabetes has been improving over time. One study followed patients for 30 years and showed an improvement in life expectancy of 15 years in those diagnosed with diabetes between 1965 and 1980 compared with those diagnosed between 1950 and 1964.

Other research even shows that the mortality rate in people with type 1 diabetes is improving faster than it is in the general public. This may be due to advances in , such as increased insulin options, improved technology for monitoring blood sugar and administering insulin, and tighter glycemic control.

One study, in which patients were followed for an average of 27 years, found that even 6.5 years of initial intensive diabetes control compared to standard therapy lowered the rate of death from any cause.

Dr. Stuart Weinzimer, a pediatric endocrinologist at Yale Medicine, who was involved in the early research into combining continuous insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring devices, finds these advances incredibly exciting: “It’s not a cure for diabetes, but it’s allowed people to reduce the burden of the illness on themselves and their loved ones, while providing much better medical outcomes.”

The best news is that you can positively impact your life expectancy. You can do this by following your health care providers lifestyle and medication recommendations and choosing behaviors that improve the modifiable risks in your life. Modifiable risk factors include smoking and inactivity.

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Living With Type 1 Diabetes Helped Shape Who I Am

Even though most people with type 1 diabetes wouldnt chose to have the disease, managing it may lead to insights and a heightened awareness of the struggles everyone faces.

Diabetes has brought a lot of wonderful things into my life, says McKean. I am more empathetic toward anyone with a chronic condition, and I try hard to remember that you don’t usually know all that’s going on in a person’s mind, so be kind to them.

Support and relationships can grow out of a type 1 diagnosis as well. As a kid, I attended the Florida Camp for Children and Youth with Diabetes and I went back as a counselor and volunteer for six years. I met some incredible people there and really relished the chance to be surrounded by people ‘like me, says McKean. And as an adult I interned at a diabetes charity in the UK and met my husband there. So, I certainly can’t be too hard on the disease!

How Were The Estimates Made

The researchers made the estimates on type 1 diabetes prevalence, associated mortality, and life expectancy in all countries using a model known as Markov model. It is a model which forecasts the value of a variable, whose predicted value is dependent only on the current state, and is independent of anything that happened in the past.

Disease incidence measures the rate of occurrence of new cases of a particular disease or condition in a specified time, while disease prevalence is measure of the number of individuals with a particular disease or condition at a single point of time. Prevalence includes both new and pre-existing cases, while incidence includes only new cases.

Using this model, the researchers predicted the number of people who will be living with type 1 diabetes by 2040.

Data on type 1 diabetes incidence and mortality were available from 97 and 37 countries, respectively.

In order to predict type 1 diabetes incidence, prevalence, and mortality in 2021 for 201 countries, and the future prevalence through 2040, the researchers modelled data on childhood, adolescent and adult type 1 diabetes prevalence in 97 countries, the data on incidence of type 1 diabetes over time from 65 countries, and mortality data from 37 countries.

In order to see if their estimates were accurate, the researchers compared their data with real-world prevalence data from 15 countries.

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Finding Test Strips Everywhere

This pretty much sums up living with a diabetic. There are blood glucose test strips on the floor, on the couch and on your bed. Sometimes they even end up on the dogs bed because they get attached to his fur. Test strips are completely safe and dont hurt anything. However, they are a nuisance to clean up.

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How Does Having Diabetes Affect Your Adult Life

In every way. There are no breaks from diabetes and whether I like it or not, it is a huge part of who I am and who I continue to grow to be.

My blood sugar and insulin levels are affected by everything from food and exercise to emotions and sleep levels. So, it ultimately effects nearly every little decision I make each and every day.

Luckily though, with advances in technology and choosing to make routine healthy eating and exercise choices, the condition can be very manageable and the burden can be made a little lighter.

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Consider Using An Insulin Pump And/or A Continuous Glucose Monitor

An insulin pump delivers insulin automatically and continuously via a device worn under the skin. The insulin pump acts to mimic a pancreas, minimizing the need to inject multiple doses of insulin each day.

A continuous glucose monitor is another device worn under the skin that measures blood sugar levels every 5-15 minutes. This is useful for identifying trends in blood sugar levels and can also help predict and identify hypoglycemia sooner. Using a CGM can reduce the amount of finger prick glucose tests someone with type 1 needs to perform each day.

CGMs and insulin pumps can require certain criteria to be met before they are provided through healthcare insurance.

How Do You Correct A Hypo

If I have a hypo I will either have a few Dextrose tablets or drink most of a bottle of Lucozade to get them back up. Ive found the sugar tax is annoying for me as a diabetic due to the heavily reduced amount of sugar now in Lucozade. Back when I was thirteen, Id only need a small amount to get my sugars back up but now I drink the whole bottle.

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Stories On Love Sex And Type 1 Diabetes

Weve assembled our favorite romance-themed stories over the years. People with Type 1 diabetes can have unique love lives. Blood sugar management provides an early opportunity to test how supportive potential partners can be. And if a relationship survives that stress test, its up to the person with diabetes and his/her partner to learn how to communicate through all the daily highs and lows. For everyone affected by Type 1 diabetes who has a romantic streak, weve assembled our favorite stories on love, sex, dating, and blood sugar management: A Love Letter During a Blood Sugar Swing A man describes the difficulties of communicating with his love during highs and lows. 7 Tips to a Better Type 1 Sex Life Ideas for how to keep your blood sugar numbers level when horizontal. 3 Diabetes Dating Sites A Review Weve braved these sites so you dont necessarily have to. Lets Talk About Sexual Dysfunction and Type 1 Sexual dysfunction from diabetes often can be reversed if caught in time. 3 Tips for Navigating T1D in Marriage A diabetes psychologist shares his secrets. What its Like to Date Someone Else with Type 1 Weighing the pros and cons of having a partner who also lacks a working pancreas. Discovering Love and T1D at a Ballgame When the first bloom of love and the first bloom of diabetes coincide. Thanks for reading this Insulin Nation article. Want more Type 1 news? Subscribe here. Have Type 2 diabetes or know someone who does? Try Type2Nation.Continue reading > >

How Many Global Deaths From Type 1 Diabetes Are Predicted To Have Occurred In 2021

In 2021, the number of global deaths occurring due to type 1 diabetes was 1,75,000, the model predicts. Of these, 35,000 deaths occurred due to non-diagnosis.

Of these, 14,500 people were in sub-Saharan Africa, and 8,700 were in South Asia.

An additional 3.1 million people would have been alive in 2021 if they had not died prematurely due to suboptimal care of type 1 diabetes, the researchers estimate.

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Your Diabetes Care Team

It takes a health care team to help you manage diabetes. And youre the most important member of the team because youre the one managing diabetes every day. And it really is a teama group of dedicated, focused health care experts to assist you in feeling good and living a long, healthy life.

Your team will include your primary care doctor, endocrinologist , foot doctor, eye doctor, dentist, pharmacist, nurse, dietitian, and diabetes educator. They specialize in helping you manage every aspect of diabetes, and youll schedule regular visits with them to ensure your treatment plan is on track. Ask your primary care doctor for referrals to these specialists to begin building your team.

If you have a young child or teen who is newly diagnosed, they will need help with everyday diabetes care especially at first, such as checking blood sugar, taking insulin, and adjusting levels if they use an insulin pump. Your childs health care team will give you detailed information about managing your childs diabetes, but here are some highlights:

Blakes Story: Managing Type 1 Diabetes In A Remote Region

Blake Bagnall is an electrical supervisor on iron ore ports in the remote Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. Based out of Port Hedland, he travels extensively within this land of fierce desert sunsets and crackling thunderstorms, constantly learning as he goes about how to manage his type 1 diabetes in the harsh and changing climate.

The late teen years were a turning point for Blake. Leaving school after the 11th grade to pursue an electrical apprenticeship, he was also diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 16. He describes the rapid shift in his weight as a tell-tale sign, as well as the unquenchable thirst of hyperglycaemia .

Growing up, I was a naturally chubby kid. Then, a couple months after turning 16 I lost around 13 kilograms in a two to three-week period. I was looking as skinny as a stick and my mum had a suspicion that something wasnt right.

After completing his apprenticeship, Blake spent his time on various commercial projects based around Perth, as well as in New Zealand. Now focusing on the iron ore industry, Blakes days in the Pilbara region are varied.

As an electrician, I could be doing anything from installing new electrical equipment for mining fixed plant machines, to replacing or fault-finding electrical problems when mining fixed plant machinery breaks down.

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Support To Help You Thrive

If youve been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it can come as a shockleaving you feeling frustrated, confused, and needing help navigating your diabetes journey. But the American Diabetes Association® has your back!

Thats why we created the Living With Type 2 Diabetes program. This program is designed to help you learn about type 2 diabetes, discover diabetes management techniques, and so much more.

Join us for this free 12-month programavailable in English and Spanishthat will help you get your diabetes under control so you can live a long and healthy life.

Our Living With Type 2 Diabetes program provides:

• Six e-booklets, each with a topic aimed to meet you where you are after diagnosis. E-booklet topics include:
• Staying on track

Plus, if you submit your phone number when you sign up, youll receive an invitation to participate in the monthly Ask the Experts Q& A series , where you can:

• Ask diabetes-related questions to American Diabetes Association experts
• Receive giveaways to help thrive with diabetes
• Learn the link between diabetes and heart health

Ready to join?

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