From a quality of life perspective, there are a thousand worse things that can happen to a child. It is true that insulin is no cure, but the lack of insulin is the problem. Carefully replacing the missing insulin is the key to avoiding or greatly delaying all the side affects listed. Actually, type 1 often tends to be less dangerous than type 2, since type 2 sufferers have usually done great damage to their bodies before they even know they have a problem. 10 years of blood sugar consistently over 400 is worse than a lifetime of peaks and valleys. There is no real reason that a child diagnosed with type 1 can't live a long healthy life. They just carry far more responsibility to make it happen than the rest of us. Many adults with problems haven't managed their blood sugar well for long periods before the problems surfaced.
I'm all for the work the JDRF is doing but their pitches for money are often a bit heartless, and sometimes outright BS.
There was a young woman in my (former) office in Denver who was Type 1 and didn’t take good care of her sugar levels. She would occasionally pass out, usually from too low blood sugar.
Thank you. Since I have a niece who was diagnosed in very early childhood, I have some limited knowledge. I know there have been quite a few hospital runs and problems over the years and ongoing things. I have read that there are no problems that are significant, but I think the responses range from no biggie to it can be very serious.
My question is more about the tremendous toll that everyone claims takes on the individuals in the job and if there is not perhaps more difficulties for someone with a disease that, or so i thought, can be unpredictable v someone without it.