Life after a Type 1 diagnosis as an adult

[helli]

I have seen a few threads recently from people who have recently been diagnosed with Type 1 as an adult.
There are comments like being able to live a "semi" normal life and grieving for things that I used to be able to do.

I am so grateful to my DSN. I first met her and my Type 1 diagnosis was diagnosed at the age of 36.
Before I had a chance to mourn passing of my pre-diabetes life, she told me very sternly that Type 1 diabetes should not stop me doing what I want.

I had a few wobbles at the start where D seemed to have other ideas but I always remembered what she said and 17 years later, I can confirm that Type 1 has not stopped me doing what I want and I continue to live a life which is normal for me.

Maybe some other people have some tales of their continuation of their "normal" life as a superhuman (my superhuman ability is not letting diabetes get in the way of my life) as encouragement to those who have been recently diagnosed and have experienced adult life without diabetes .

 

[Robin]

When I was diagnosed at the age of 51, I’d just taken up horse riding again after a gap of 35 years. The only concession I made to the diabetes was to hunt for jodhpurs and shirts with closeable pockets, so I could keep my JBs and test kit on my person. Oh, and remembering to hand my Libre reader to the instructor before attempting the jumps in and out of the lake, in case I fell off and drowned it!

 

[helli]

I just realised I did not include any examples!

When I was diagnosed, I had registered to do the Moonwalk - a 26 mile walk around London at night in aid of Breast Cancer Research. The walk was a couple of months after my Type 1 diagnosis.
I trained to check my levels would not drop too much and set off doing the walk with little problem. I had to stop along the way to do a finger prick test but apart from that it went well. I ended up walking more like 30 miles because the tube back was too far out of the way so I walked to Paddington to catch the train home.
And that was on fixed dose mixed insulin with no CGM.

 

[nonethewiser]

Thought world came crashing down, worried scared you name it, been pain in arse at times but hasn't stopped me doing most things in life that had longed for before diagnosis, 40 years on still active eat near normal diet & happily married with children, so all in all hasn't been bad life.