Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
“I never expected to live this long.”
That’s a refrain that’s become increasingly common among people with Type 1 diabetes, many of whom were told as children or teens that their lives would likely be shortened due to a complication of the disease, such like kidney failure, heart attack or a stroke.
But a growing number of diabetics have defied the odds, living with the disease for 50 years or more and often remaining otherwise healthy — and a Canadian study is underway to find out the secrets to their longevity.
“We are now seeing that people with Type 1 diabetes can live for a lot longer than we had initially thought,” says Dr. Bruce Perkins, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who is heading the national study.
“It is true, what I’ve learned from talking to people who’ve had diabetes for many, many decades, that is what they were told when they were children: ‘You’re not going to be the one that’s going to lead a full life and you are likely going to have these problems,’” Perkins says.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1210981-type-1-diabetics-living-longer
That’s a refrain that’s become increasingly common among people with Type 1 diabetes, many of whom were told as children or teens that their lives would likely be shortened due to a complication of the disease, such like kidney failure, heart attack or a stroke.
But a growing number of diabetics have defied the odds, living with the disease for 50 years or more and often remaining otherwise healthy — and a Canadian study is underway to find out the secrets to their longevity.
“We are now seeing that people with Type 1 diabetes can live for a lot longer than we had initially thought,” says Dr. Bruce Perkins, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who is heading the national study.
“It is true, what I’ve learned from talking to people who’ve had diabetes for many, many decades, that is what they were told when they were children: ‘You’re not going to be the one that’s going to lead a full life and you are likely going to have these problems,’” Perkins says.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1210981-type-1-diabetics-living-longer
