Rural areas and type one (plan, require, insulin, work)
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Location: MA/ME (the way life should not be / the way it should be)
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Before i start my rambling questions i will say it may seem that i am looking to either have someone confirm or dispell my fears about moving to a rural area with type one diabeties.
Ok, so ever since i was little i wanted to live in a rural area, but being from a more urban area with type one, its diffrent, and scary in a diffrent way. I am conserned about being a distance from a hospital, as areas that appeal to me, rural maine, rural montana, rural idaho, tend to be 40 minutes to a hour away from a hospital. While i tend to have goodish numbers, and i dont worry about diabetic induced coma, i do worry about when i get sick. As most fellow type ones know, vomiting can induce ketosis, and despite the fact it only happens 1-2x a year, i do end up needing to see a er to get an iv for fluids to stableize my ketones.
On another note, lack of jobs in rural areas scare me, i need insulin to live, if i dont have a job, i wont be able to afford insulin, which is needed to live, moreso than food (you can go 21 days without food, only a few days without insulin). This is asspecially seeing many work seasonal jobs, areunemployed, retired, or make little money (20-30k a year seems about average from searching around).
How do my fellow diabetics living out in the bush handle this?
Last edited by TheKezarWoodsman; 08-14-2015 at 09:34 PM..
I'm not sure I'm as rural as what you're thinking of going, but this is my 2 cents. I have a type 1 daughter, age 13, who was diagnosed at 2 1/2. We live in rural Northern Virginia, so we are 25-30 minutes from the nearest emergency room and another 20 minutes from a full-fledge hospital. With Northern Virginia traffic, it could be much more. If I were you, I'd ask myself how stable my diabetes is? If you've had difficulty staying regular, it may not be wise. My daughters A1C is usually between 6.7-7.5, so we're confident in her health. Also, we chose a home that is less than 1 mile from our rescue squad...this is reassuring to us. Do you live alone? Do you every go low without being aware? Right now, we test her every night before we go to bed (usually around midnight) and often she is having a high or low and is unaware. We aren't sure what circumstances will be like when she goes to live on her own...but those are some of the things we'll consider in order to find the best situation for her.
Also, we've had to deal with Ketoacidosis during a sickness, which required a hospital stay, but I drove her to the er and they transported her by ambulance for her 5 day stay in the "real" hospital. But, if she were living on her own, being close to the rescue squad is probably the best plan.
I'm not sure about jobs in rural areas, but you could look for an area like ours, where we are 45 minutes from DC, but enjoy country living with my husbands long commute and job in the city.
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