can being a diabetic really take 5 - 10 years off your life ?

Question

I overherd two women talking on a bus the other day about diabetes and how awful it is ect and they said it takes 5 - 10 years off you life if you have diabetes. i have had type 1 diabetes for almost 3 years and i have never been told this but now im worried about it does anyone know if it is true ?

Answer 1

it most certainly CAN BE true. Diabetes, especially type one, can lead to a multitude of other things later in your life, such as kidney disease, liver failure, blindness, etc. List is endless. IF you follow your diet regimen very closely and take your meds as prescribed and check your bs regularly your chances of having any of these things happen at an earlier age are diminished. must be diligent all your life with the care of yourself.

Answer 2

I am also type 1 since I was two years old, I am 49 now and look at it like this: eating sensibly, (dont avoid the niceities now and again theyll make your life dull) lots and lots of exercise (I dont mean a 250 pounds membership at the gym, just everyday long walk or something energetic) regular visits to the diabetic centre or docs (even if its only to tell you your ok )

Of coarse you must check your bloodsugar relentlessly and your eyes regularly (I have had laser, but find I can see well and still able to drive etc.) and MORE than anything DONT WORRY (stress and worry cause more death than any illness) If I'd listened to all the doubting thomas's I'd be dead by now.

Answer 3

Statistically they say it does.
Because Diabetes causes so many other health problems.
My son is also a Type 1 diabetic, and has had eye surgery
because of the diabetes and takes meds for neuropathy in
his feet.
He has had it for 6 years now, but didn't eat a proper diet all the time.
Now he has learned (the hard way) that diet and 'proper' excercise is the 'MOST' important thing you have to keep up with.
Diabetics can/do die younger than a lot of people, but as I said,
It's mostly due to 'poor' nutrition and 'BAD" food choices.
Watch what you eat, excercise, get plenty of sleep, and try to
control any stress in your life, as stress can aggrevate things
for a diabetic.
Have a Nutritionalist prepare a good diet 'menu' for your daily
food needs.
Take care of yourself dear.
play a major role

Answer 4

It really depends on what physical shape you are in, how well you control your diabetes, and what other health problems you concurrently have. Genetics can play a role. I have always been told even a type I can live a normal lifespan with tight control and have even met some in their sixties. I am in my early forties and in pretty good shape after 23 years as a type I. However, I have seen initial signs of some complications after this many years. Considering I have about 30 years left of a "normal" lifespan, it's really hard to judge. I have great heart function, blood pressure, and chlorestoral at this time. I am relatively active as well. I plan to keep working at it and not worry what some armchair physicians may speculate. :)

Answer 5

Not 100% true if you take good care of yourself. But if you dont keep your sugar under control, then for sure it will shorten your life. My Dad had diabetes for about 40 years, he was 80 when he passed away. He had heart failure, and kidney failure, and his eyes were going bad, all the results of diabetes. I am 50 now have have had diabetes for 3 years now. I am trying to take good care of myself, I hope to avoid the things above. But 80 years is a good long life, I think I want 90.

Answer 6

It's possible ... my dad was diagnosed as an adult diabetic at 49. He was in decent, but not great physical condition, however, he did have a weak heart. He didn't follow his dietary routine very closely and manipulated the amount of insulin he gave himself, by injection, when he was off his diet, with regard to eating junk and high carb-based foods.

After a weekend of being 'bad' with his diet, he went to work on a Monday ... he was an engineering consultant working in Athens, Georgia at the time. Apparently, he felt so bad in the morning that he drive himself to a hospital instead of going to work, where he died of an accidental overdose of insulin. He had kicked it up a little because of cheating on his diet over the weekend and accidentally caused a heart attack ... which killed him just before his 62nd birthday ... that's young in the realm of things ... so diabetes can take time off of a persons life ... believe it!

Answer 7

thats a crock of *hit. lol. sorry but ive had type 1 diabetes for 22 years, have never heard this and can definately say, from experience, that it is a load of rubbish!! Don't let diabetes rule your life, it shouldn't stop you doing anything that you would have done before your diagnosis, apart from the obvious, stuffing yourself full of cakes and sweets on a daily basis, drinking to excess lol dont worry so much live your life and have fun

Answer 8

I was pretty shocked when I heard this kinda stuff for the first time too - if you're diagnosed as a kid then they obioulsly don't want to tell you stuff like that and no one fills you in as you grow up! Sometimes hearing this kinda stuff really gets to me - I don't want to die because of diabetes, but there's some important stuff to remember about stats like this.

Firstly, you should never believe a statistic like this without asking where the figure came from. JDRF publisise a figure of 5 - 10 years off life expectancy, but they are a charity who fundraise for research (which is very important and they are great at it don't get me wrong), but they like to use shocking stats like that to persuade people without diabetes to donate to their charity - ie. they might be exagerating! It's quite likely that this is where the women on the bus got their figure from, it doesn't make it accurate.

Secondly, no-one actually knows what the long term effects of diabetes will be on young people like us - stats like this are based on older people who had very different treatments to what we have now. Our control should be heaps better than theirs was at our age - don't forget that insulin was only discovered about 100 years ago and technology has increased heaps since then - our health should hopefully be a lot better than theirs (or all this research would have been for nothing!).

And finally, I was really down for a while when I heard some of the stats that JDRF (sorry to be so down on them - they are a great charity really!) come out with - I thought there was no point in looking after myself or my diabetes, I started eating heaps of chocolate to try to make myself feel better - I even considered spliting up with my boyfriend so that he wouldn't have to go through my horrible unhealthy future with me! But then one day I just kinda clicked that diabetes is not a death sentence but a challenge - it just means that it's extra important for us to look after ourselves to try to make ourselves extra healthy and get our life expectancy up!

Really, I know diabetes is scary, and I have a fair few bad days where I wonder what the point is; but we just have to try not to worry - it's true what they say that we don't know what the future holds - what's important is that we try to enjoy life and stay healthy by keeping our diabetes as well controlled as we can.

I hope that helps xxx

Answer 9

In your case, not necessarily. The saying usually only applies to people with type 2 diabetes, since you get that disease when you are overweight and unhealthy. So naturally, being overweight and unhealthy can take years off your life. Those people usually have a hard time losing weight and controlling their diabetes. For you, as long as you take care of yourself, the saying should not apply. :-)

Answer 10

Hi I'm a paramedic come across diabetic problems every day.It can cause all sorts of other problems as people have said but if you keep a good check on your lifestyle[which isn't always easy i know] you shouldn't suffer any of the complications.