Hi all. I've been a Type 1 for 52 years now so have a lot of experience through the years. I started with Insulin Injections which to me, at 12 years old, looked like farking daggers. For the first 30 years it was very hit or miss when taking those terrible needles. Every time I would try it but if it hurt, I went for another spot and if that hurt then fucked it off and didn't take it that day. I spent many years playing various sports like Rugby (Union, not the pretend rugby lol), squash, MotoX, swimming and even when I turned 15, I got very much into Scuba Diving. Admittedly the doctors weren't happy giving me the go ahead for Scuba Diving, but they did, and I've spent many years enjoying the sport. During my teens, even with my very bad regime of taking insulin injections my doctors kept reducing my insulin intake and even saying if it carries on, I might go off insulin altogether lol. But then girls and beer took control, and my insulin intake went up to what it is now.
I've noticed a few posts going back and forth about advice from the specialists which I would like to continue along with. We need to understand that everyone is different, and we all react to various treatments differently. What might work for one won’t necessarily work for another. Specialists and especially GP's work using statistics and although some know their patients well, they will tell you that you are the best person to know your own body. So, it's important to understand it is their advice they give you and it's mostly for you to learn and evolve with your own treatment. I’ve been very lucky with my Type 1 in so far as very little damage has occurred due to it. In my 60’s now and most of my body parts are working well lol but I have had some issues with Diabetic Retinopathy. It might be worth your while doing some research on this but in general, the statistics suggest that ~90% of Diabetics can go blind due to this issue up to 20 years of being a Diabetic. Which leaves ~10% not needing Laser Treatment. To cut a long story short, I refused Laser Treatment even though GPs insisted I should go and have it done. One Doctor even told my Ex-wife that he should not prescribe me insulin as I was refusing to go have the Laser Treatment. LOL a Scare Mongering tactic used by many doctors but obviously they can’t do that. So eventually, to keep the GPs from shouting to much, I went to the specialist eye clinic. They scanned and photographed the back of my eyes and the outcome was, they had never seen a Diabetics eyes of 30 plus years in such good condition. Went to the GP and told him the result and he was to stop harassing my Ex with silly statements. As it turned out the GP was a good friend with the Eye Specialist and about a week later, I got a letter from the Specialist asking me to come in urgently as they had missed something while looking at the scans. So went in and was told I must have Laser Treatment. I asked him to show me where he could see the new vessels growing to which he said he couldn’t as the scans were not good enough to determine them. But went on and on about statistics etc. Eventually, to shut him up, I agreed so straight in and they lasered both my eyes. About 3 weeks later I got bleeds in both eyes and when I phoned them, they told me they were expecting that to happen. After 3 months, scar tissue, as they described it, had completely covered the retina in one of my eyes. I paid privately to see a different specialist and the surgeon was able to remove it all but left that eye with severe sight impairment. They took me on as an NHS patient and over a year of checking my eyes, the determined my eyes did grow new vessels but they rectified themselves. Also, they determined my retinas react very badly to Laser treatment and it should never have been done. The point of my story is, yes you should listen to the Specialists, but you should also make sure you understand the advice they give you and you, not them, decide whether you are willing to go forward with that advice.
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I’m the age where I still have to convert the hba1c into the old percentages to understand the reading 
