Stuff
Part of that is the luck of the gene pool. There ain’t no guarantees.
On
another list I’m on an identical twin did
everything right and has all the
complications. His twin did nothing right and
has none. Go figure. But,
whatever we can do is what is best - and hope
for the best.
> Oh, shoot. I’ve been diabetic 41 years,
with absolutely NO complications
> (yet), and until starting on Humalog/carb
counting a few months ago, did
> only two tests a day…three if I was
feeling really dedicated. I’m
> thinking there’ll be some kind of great
irony, if I start developing
> complications now!
Jan, I said nothing about guarantees; we are talking about
probabilities here. Genetic factors are important
especially for diabetic nephropathy, but have been found to be less
significant for retinopathy, where blood
glucose levels have been shown again and again to be the overwhelming
factor. The link between blood glucose
and retinopathy is in fact one of the strongest in medicine, much
stronger for example than that between
smoking and lung cancer. People who achieve tight control especially
with a pump/frequent bg testing are doing
their eyes an enormous favor. BTW, regarding these identical twins of
yours, I have yet to meet/hear of anyone,
let alone someone with DM who has done "everything right". I have
heard other diabetics claim the same thing,
but have learned to take such assertions with a large grain of salt.
Laurie, If you’ve been diabetic for 41 years, with absolutely NO
complications, then YOU certainly must have done
a lot of things right and likely had a bit of residual insulin
production for many years as well. It is an
unfortunate paradox/irony, however, that a few people do first
develop complications after going on a pump/
getting a pancreas transplant, the reason being that the sudden
improvement in bg levels induces changes in the
blood flow patterns of the eyes, kidneys, nerves, etc that may not be
for the good in the short term. IMO,
however, the good associated with being on a pump still greatly
outweighs the bad, even in as successful an old-
timer as yourself. Regards, John Gelblum