Question:
I hate to ask such a blunt question, but I am recently diagnosed
type II diabetic, and I have been unable to get a straight answer from
anyone (doctors, books, etc) on how diabetes affects the diabetic's
life-expectancy. I am aware that is BG levels are ignored for years,
than complications are far more likely to occur, resulting in premature
death. (I am talking, like before age 90, which is the average age of
"passing" for the female members of my family - none of whom were
diabetic). What I want to know, is can anyone point me to some studies,
ADA info, or anything that can help me research this? I need hard facts
to help me deal with my disease, I am in denial almost daily (I've only
been diagnosed for 2 motnhs, and I still have BG spikes because I simply
"forgot" I was diabetic for a while. I need to know,realistically and
honestly, what to expect, what the figures and averages are. If I am
very unlikely to live to be 90 like my predecessors, then I need to deal
with that. Help!
Answer:
Well it's not the same for type 2 as for type 1, as you acknowledge, but I
read a book ('Childhood Diabetes') in which it was suggested that life
expectancy *from diagnosis* is 75% what it would have been otherwise.
So, if one would have lived to 80, and one becmae diabetic (type 1) at 20,
one would expect to reach 20 + 75% (80 -20) = 65.
Once you exclude from the picture the *really* poorly controlled, only
taking sporadic injections, never testing etc, (who die very young indeed)
the outlook improves. There are people around today, who have been taking
insulin for 50 and 60 years. So of course luck and genes are involved, and
type 1 is not the same as type 2 (someone who is 45 and type 1 will
*usually* have been diabetic longer than someone of the same age with type
2 - but type 2s are ususally undiagnosed for longer). Maybe somebody can
supply the relative incidence of complications (for what its worth). Type
2s sometimes have problems with being overweight, and blood presssure too,
which are known risks for heart disease.
So it's not good news, of course, but there's a lot *you* can do to improve
the outlook.
