adjusting to type 1 in your 60's

[diabetic gardener]

I find even light weeding can drop my blood sugar. I test before I go out into the garden and if needed have some carbs to keep me going. Once you find what works for you, you’ll be able to prepare for gardening as needed. It’s really weird at first to feel normal activity dropping your blood sugar, but you’ll gradually get a feel for it all and it will become routine. I like to keep snacks like biscuits, flapjacks, fruit, dried fruit, cereal bars, chocolate, etc etc on hand so I can always eat if necessary. They’re also handy to toss in a bag or pocket when you go out.

Thank you.
I had tested, done an hour of lighter jobs, and was delighted to still have the energy and motivation to tackle the compost heap. With hindsight I should have had some carbs with my cup of tea. Very satisfying work, despite the hypo!

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[TheClockworkDodo]

Hi @diabetic gardener and welcome to the forum from another late starter - I was 44 then, am 56 now.

I have the same issue with gardening - always need to eat a biscuit before I go out, and quite often come in hypo anyway. If ever my blood sugar is too high I just go out in the garden, I don't really need to do very much in the way of gardening, just being out there pulling out the odd weed or doing a little deadheading brings it straight down!

 

[diabetic gardener]

Welcome to the forum @diabetic gardener

I’ll tag in a few of our ‘late starters’ (mostly 50s diagnoses I think?)

@Northerner @SB2015 @Pattidevans @Robin

I think diagnosis at any stage probably carries its own challenges, and its own common ground.

But you are right - a diagnosis with T1 can feel pretty overwhelming, and it’s the steepest of learning curves.

With the merest whiff of irony I’ll recommend Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - don’t worry about the title, it’s appropriate for people of all ages, but perhaps skip the chapter on School?! It’s very often recommended by T1 members here 🙂

I'm glad you recommended both the books, it's the right time for me toread them. "Type 1 in Children..." is fascinating. As a retired health professional, I'm still learning so much that's new....and that's just the physiology in chapter 5!
Meanwhile a close friend in Western Canada is very unwell, and I'm desperately sad that I can't fly over to visit at present. I'm hoping that, in time, I'll be confident to deal with the long flights, 8 hour time difference etc. That's assuming I can ever get travel insurance as I also have another long term congenital condition that makes travel insurance expensive.

 

[PattiEvans]

Hi there from another late starter. I was diagnosed almost 20 years ago age 57. Yes, it was a shock and took some getting used to, but I got to terms with it relatively quickly after joining a "newsgroup" online. Newsgroups were the forerunners of forums, much less easy to use than forums though. I met some great people online and have since met not a few in real life... all great fun. I've travelled all over since, to California with an 8 hour time change, to Australia for nearly 6 weeks and all over Europe. Yes, you have to remember to pack all the "diabetic trankenalia" which takes up half a bag on it's own, but honestly I have managed not to come to grief anywhere.

FWIW the activity which drops me most is supermarket shopping!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about your friend @diabetic gardener

Long haul flights and far-flung destinations are certainly do-able with T1, and you should be able to find travel insurance (though there may be some exclusions you have to agree to?).

At some point I think you’ll just decide to go for it 🙂

 

[Spathiphyllum]

Thank you.
I had tested, done an hour of lighter jobs, and was delighted to still have the energy and motivation to tackle the compost heap. With hindsight I should have had some carbs with my cup of tea. Very satisfying work, despite the hypo!

Sent from Outlook for Android

Welcome, Gardener, albeit sorry either of us-- any of us-- has to be here!

I was diagnosed 5 months ago, in my 50s; routine 'health check' turned up HbA1c 101, and that my weight had dropped to BMI 16 ... I'd never even known anyone with Type 1. I now know that, in North American vernacular, it sucks. ; ) It is far more difficult and complicated to deal with than I had ever realised.

Three things, for the time being:

1) Juice boxes, the little ones with straws, are great; I keep 'em stashed wherever I might need them. For example, I sing in a church choir, with old-fashioned choir stalls; the little shelf underneath is perfect for my juice warehouse in case I go low during rehearsal or service. If I still had an allotment, I'd keep a juice stash in the shed! (I also keep glucose tablets permanently in the pockets of my running jacket and walking coats.)

2) Never think you should 'just get over it'; T1 does suck, and our mental health requires ranting from time to time!

3) But one does learn to live with it. In particular: Canada? Fine! Go for it! The US would be an entirely different matter. I was reading, in the New York Times, the reader comments on an article about US versus Canadian healthcare costs. An American man wrote that he had recently been hiking outside Vancouver when he had an excruciating pain, later discovered to be a burst appendix; he said his last thought before he passed out was 'Thank God I'm in Canada'.

Seriously-- if you have a close friend in Canada who is very unwell, get the information you need; I bet you'll find it wouldn't be nearly as daunting as you think. All best wishes, to you and your friend.

 

[SB2015]

Whether you go to Canada or USA T1 does not need to stop you. Yes the insurance will be higher, but if your friend would benefit from seeing you and you want to go, find a way of making it happen. There is plenty of advice about how to deal with time changes And people will have their own tips around this. Just ask.