https://diatribe.org/honoring-over-50-years-living-type-1-diabetes
Published: 11/20/23 3:36 pm
By Miriam E. Tucker
People who’ve lived with type 1 diabetes for more than 50 years share stories from the ‘dark ages’ of diabetes, including Miriam E. Tucker, who was diagnosed in 1973.
On October 22, 2023, a very special celebration took place in Baltimore, honoring people who have lived with type 1 diabetes for 50 years or longer – including me.
I’m one of the newest members of this extraordinary group, having just hit my 50th “diaversary” in early September. After my diagnosis on Labor Day of 1973 at age 9, a doctor told my parents that I would probably develop eye and kidney complications within a decade.
I still tear up when I think about how my mother kept that from me until I was in my early 20’s and it became clear that the prediction was wrong.
Today, people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes who have reliable access to modern insulin, technology, and treatment can expect to live long lives. That wasn’t the case 50-plus years ago when diabetes management consisted of taking just one or two shots a day of animal insulin and only being able to monitor using urine glucose tests.
There were no human or analog insulins, fingerstick blood sugar tests, A1C measurements, insulin pumps, or continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). All of those treatment options emerged after the 1970s.
Those who were diagnosed with the chronic condition during the 1950s and 60s had to inject less purified animal insulin using glass syringes with steel needles, both of which required sterilization after each use.
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