While everyone with diabetes can benefit from general diabetes information, I realize that I haven't focused much on information for people with type 1 diabetes.
The reason is that so many more people have type 2 diabetes and those people make up the majority of my clients as well. But I want to share with you a success story about one of my clients with type 1 diabetes, and the reason behind his success.
Even though I just started seeing him as a client, Joe (not his real name) has had type 1 diabetes for over 40 years. From looking at him you would never know it. He looks like any other middle-aged man would. He has a postgraduate degree and is married with children.
He was one of the first people in his home state to use an insulin pump. Despite managing his diabetes very well over the years, Joe had two kidney transplants and then a pancreas transplant about 15 year ago. He continued to control his diabetes even though he no longer needed to take insulin or diabetes medications for a while now.
Recently, though, Joe noticed some changes as he's grown older. He had gained about 30 pounds since the transplant and it appears he may be developing type 2 diabetes. So our discussions have focused mainly on diet and weight loss, about which he already was very knowledgeable. But he was very motivated; by the time of our first session, he had already lost about 10 pounds. Joe's life has been hard, yet it is also an amazing story of success.
Before I had a chance to ask Joe how he has achieved such great control of his diabetes all these years, he told me: "I am the manager of my health, and I will do whatever it takes to be healthy." He has more doctors than the average person and always goes to the follow-up appointments.
And then he does what his health care providers tell him he needs to do. He knows so much about diet and nutrition and puts that into practice. He exercises every day and tests his blood glucose levels several times a day.
After meeting with Joe, I knew the key to success for people with type 1 diabetes was continued follow-up with health care providers and taking your health seriously. This means doing whatever is recommended, no matter what the cost to you. You only get one body, so why would you not want to take care of it? Joe embodies this belief and so much more of what's important for people with type 1 diabetes.
What do you think are the secrets to successfully managing type 1 diabetes?
