Living with type 1 diabetes Many people with type 1 diabetes can feel alone with their condition. In particular, children may be singled out by their peers because they are 'different' and often are the only person with diabetes in their school.
Sticking to a meal plan can also be a challenge if you don't enjoy preparing meals for one. And getting the support you need from others may take more effort if it has to come from outside the home. Nonetheless, people with diabetes can and do manage their diabetes successfully while living alone.
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.
Complications of Diabetes
If type 2 diabetes goes untreated, the high blood sugar can affect various cells and organs in the body. Complications include kidney damage, often leading to dialysis, eye damage, which could result in blindness, or an increased risk for heart disease or stroke.
The average life expectancy of a type 2 diabetic patient is between 77 to 81 years. However, it is not uncommon for diabetics to live past the age of 85, should they be able to maintain good blood sugar levels and lengthen their lifespan.
Indeed, myocardial infarction is the leading cause of death among individuals with diabetes mellitus.
If you have type 2 diabetes, your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, foot problems, eye and kidney disease is increased.
So, yes, you most certainly can have diabetes and not know it. Without treatment, diabetes can increase your risk of developing other health issues, such as kidney disease, peripheral neuropathy, or heart disease. Diabetes is a chronic health condition, but it can be managed.
Untreated Type 2 diabetes can lead to a range of life-threatening health conditions. Diabetes requires lifelong management.
Managing diabetes is possible with the right set of information and actions. Eating right, exercising, keeping a check on glucose levels, and supplementing it with correct medication is the mantra to ensure that you lead a free-spirited life with diabetes.
Managing diabetes can be hard. Sometimes you may feel overwhelmed. Having diabetes means that you need to check your blood sugar levels often, make healthy food choices, be physically active, remember to take your medicine, and make other good decisions about your health several times a day.
If you have a mother, father, sister, or brother with diabetes, you are more likely to get diabetes yourself. You are also more likely to have prediabetes. Talk to your doctor about your family health history of diabetes.
People With Diabetes Can Live Longer by Meeting Their Treatment Goals. Life expectancy can be increased by 3 years or in some cases as much as 10 years. At age 50, life expectancy- the number of years a person is expected to live- is 6 years shorter for people with type 2 diabetes than for people without it.
Patients with Type 1 DM and with Type 2 DM are expected to have an average life of 70.96 and 75.19 years at the end of observed period. The combined diabetic life expectancy is 74.64 years—comparable to the life expectancy in the general population.
Living with a chronic disease, like type 2 diabetes, can understandably come with a range of emotions and can interfere with just about any aspect of daily life. As a result, many people with diabetes experience anxiety, depression, hopelessness, frustration, and burnout.
Many people with diabetes will describe themselves as feeling tired, lethargic or fatigued at times. It could be a result of stress, hard work or a lack of a decent night's sleep but it could also be related to having too high or too low blood glucose levels.
Diabetes occurs in four stages: Insulin resistance, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes with vascular complications.
The main thing to remember is that both are as serious as each other. Having high blood glucose (or sugar) levels can lead to serious health complications, no matter whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
Some people have even lived with diabetes for seven and eight decades! It's important to know the risks of having a lifelong illness, but to not lose hope.
Many people have type 2 diabetes for years without realising because the early symptoms tend to be general, or there are no symptoms at all.
Some people fast for several days or even weeks at a time -- for example, for religious reasons. But not eating for more than 24 hours when you have diabetes can be dangerous.
Even if your diabetes has been well controlled for years, the condition can still worsen over time, meaning, you may have to adjust your treatment plan more than once.
These are some signs that your type 2 diabetes is getting worse. Other signs like a tingling sensation, numbness in your hand or feet, high blood pressure, increase in appetite, fatigue, blurred vision, trouble seeing at night, and more shouldn't be overlooked.
The risk of death with diabetes rises very significantly with age. In a 20 year old, it is about 1 in 200,000. In a 60 year old it is about 1 in 10,000. In an 80 year old it is 1 in 1000.