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I never thought about how being diabetic takes emergency preparedness to a new level. We saw people unexpectedly stuck for a couple of days in traffic because o

I never thought about how being diabetic takes emergency preparedness to a new level. We saw people unexpectedly stuck for a couple of days in traffic because of snow recently. What if there is an earthquake and you can't get to somewhere with snacks? There are so many situations that could unexpectedly arise that could cut you off from food. If I'm cut off from food, I'll be fine for a few days. Not so much a diabetic. That's scary.

ng12 5y ago
Yep, very much. Most insulin pumps only cary a few days worth of insulin at a time so it's not uncommon to be heading home after work with only half a day of insulin left. That can quickly become a life-or-death situation.
- carlmr 5y ago
  Kind of reminds me of the movie with Justin Timberlake where people trade lifetime, not money, because people live forever. I guess this is somewhat similar. Especially in places where your health insurance isn't a given.
paulcole 5y ago
> What if there is an earthquake and you can't get to somewhere with snacks? I’m a Type 1 diabetic (diagnosed in my 30s) and have been living with it for about a decade now. This really isn’t a “what if” situation. I know what will happen. I will die or hopefully just become incredibly ill. It’s not really scary at all. It’s just something I live with and prepare for as best I can. The one thing that I’ve learned from living with Type 1 is that all you can do is make the best decision you can in any given moment. My favorite doctor told me that diabetes is a disease that is all about making decisions. So is life, I guess.
- liamwire 5y ago
  Please forgive my ignorance, how is it possible that you lived until your thirties without knowing you have T1D?
  - wellyousee 5y ago
    Peak age of diagnosis is mid-teens with quite a sharp bell curve. But, it can develop at any age. It takes a genetic predisposition and a trigger - perhaps a virus? - for your immune system to start eating your pancreas' insulin-producing cells. The old labels of "juvenile diabetes" etc. are as unhelpful as the notion it's caused by obesity.
  - davidthewatson 5y ago
    The really interesting thing is not that T1D diagnosis has erased the label for "Juvenile onset diabetes" because it can happen at any age, it's that those previously-thought-destroyed pancreatic cells that produce insulin, are actually continuing decades after disease diagnosis and can be "reactivated" via BCG or Valter Longo's FMD: "Identifying most people with T1D continue to secrete varying amounts of insulin and C-peptides for decades after initial diagnosis: https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/dr-faustmans-controversial-diabetes-cure-research-continues https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/dr-faustmans-controv... See below for my deeper response on these and other issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30382364 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30382364
  - paulcole 5y ago
    T1D can be triggered at any time in a person’s life. It’s autoimmune. Thinking of it as a childhood disease is outdated and (fortunately) most doctors are becoming aware of that.
  - reddiky 5y ago
    diagnosed at 25, it happens :-/
  - rthille 5y ago
    My nephew was 22 when diagnosed: https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/charlie-kimball-diabetes-coronavirus https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/charlie-kimball-diab...
reddiky 5y ago
I always have 4 or 5 glucose gels in my car. My diabetes kit has a couple more. You learn pretty quick you need to be able to treat at least a couple of hypos by yourself

ng12 5y ago

Yep, very much. Most insulin pumps only cary a few days worth of insulin at a time so it's not uncommon to be heading home after work with only half a day of insulin left. That can quickly become a life-or-death situation.

carlmr 5y ago
Kind of reminds me of the movie with Justin Timberlake where people trade lifetime, not money, because people live forever. I guess this is somewhat similar. Especially in places where your health insurance isn't a given.

paulcole 5y ago

> What if there is an earthquake and you can't get to somewhere with snacks? I’m a Type 1 diabetic (diagnosed in my 30s) and have been living with it for about a decade now. This really isn’t a “what if” situation. I know what will happen. I will die or hopefully just become incredibly ill. It’s not really scary at all. It’s just something I live with and prepare for as best I can. The one thing that I’ve learned from living with Type 1 is that all you can do is make the best decision you can in any given moment. My favorite doctor told me that diabetes is a disease that is all about making decisions. So is life, I guess.

liamwire 5y ago
Please forgive my ignorance, how is it possible that you lived until your thirties without knowing you have T1D?
- wellyousee 5y ago
  Peak age of diagnosis is mid-teens with quite a sharp bell curve. But, it can develop at any age. It takes a genetic predisposition and a trigger - perhaps a virus? - for your immune system to start eating your pancreas' insulin-producing cells. The old labels of "juvenile diabetes" etc. are as unhelpful as the notion it's caused by obesity.
- davidthewatson 5y ago
  The really interesting thing is not that T1D diagnosis has erased the label for "Juvenile onset diabetes" because it can happen at any age, it's that those previously-thought-destroyed pancreatic cells that produce insulin, are actually continuing decades after disease diagnosis and can be "reactivated" via BCG or Valter Longo's FMD: "Identifying most people with T1D continue to secrete varying amounts of insulin and C-peptides for decades after initial diagnosis: https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/dr-faustmans-controversial-diabetes-cure-research-continues https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/dr-faustmans-controv... See below for my deeper response on these and other issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30382364 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30382364
- paulcole 5y ago
  T1D can be triggered at any time in a person’s life. It’s autoimmune. Thinking of it as a childhood disease is outdated and (fortunately) most doctors are becoming aware of that.
- reddiky 5y ago
  diagnosed at 25, it happens :-/
- rthille 5y ago
  My nephew was 22 when diagnosed: https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/charlie-kimball-diabetes-coronavirus https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/charlie-kimball-diab...

reddiky 5y ago

I always have 4 or 5 glucose gels in my car. My diabetes kit has a couple more. You learn pretty quick you need to be able to treat at least a couple of hypos by yourself