hello all, im 44 years old . ive been livivg with diabetes for 21 years (type 1) . diabetes runs in my family, grandmother lost her sight to the disease ,grandfather lost his leg. my sister has been a brittle type 1 diabetic for 41 years and just this year her son was diagnosed with a bs of 521. so after 21 years i've decided to take a more active roll with this disease(hope its not to late). let me explain... my life style is not the greatest. i've been in the bar business all my life, which means... you guessed it , a bit of a drinking problem well more than a bit. this also goes hand in hand with a bad diet although im not overweight. im embarassed to say but i havn't seen a doctor for an eye, heart, kidney or any exam in 19 years . i've lived a fairly sedentary life style the last 7-8 years although i was very athletic the years prior to this stint(running, cycling, tennis, rollerblading). i do test my bs often,atleast 6 times a day, which is tough when you're uninsured . i adjust my insulin accordingly. i know if my bs is high i need insulin,so i take it . im not on any strict regimine. i've taken 2 shots in a day and i've taken 8 in a day. i have had bs' as low as 14 and as high as 600(not good). I know that i wont live to 76.5 or whatever the average life expectancy is. (im ok with this). I know that the complications from diabetes will be the cause of my death someday, but im wondering if there are people out there that have somewhat of a resistance to the to the complications that come with diabetes. like i said earlier my sis. has had it for 41 years. she has minimal complications. If you have any comments,advice, criticisims i'd love to hear em.

thanks