Has anyone in the group tested positive for COVID and dealt with Diabetes and COVID at the same time? Would be curious what experiences have been, particularly Type 1.
If you use the site search, @meee has written about her experiences at some length.
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I had it in January I think. I mean I was sick in January. I had a fever of 101 for a week. But not much else. I’ve had worse
I was tested for the antibodies in may and I tested positive for Igg and iga antibodies. So either I had a mild case in January or I had a totally asymptomatic experience later on. I live in losangeles so January is early for it to be here but I just can’t say for sure.
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Meee prob had it (at a minimum double pnemo), but tested negative. I don’t think we have anyone who officially tested positive, but you prob wanna talk to meee before anyone else.
This may be of interest to you: Diabetes Technology Society
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Its possible my dad has it. He hasn’t eaten anything since Tuesday - extreme nausea, difficulty walking, but no shortness of breath. Fever = 101. He says he feels absolutely horrible. I think he will get tested if his wife can drive him there.
He and I have been in contact in the last two weeks, so I ought to be very, very careful.
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After three weeks of being sick, and two weeks of waiting for covid-19 test results, I finally got the verdict:
“Inconclusive.”
Ugh!
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There’s such a thing?!?!? Oh no!
I don’t think my dad has covid…yet. Seems like a blood clot, but they admitted him into the covid wing because of nausea. Gosh darn it!
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It may also be because of the blood clot, since clots are one of the major symptoms of COVID. Hope he recovers quickly!
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Thanks, Cardamom.
Your right. No shortness of breath, though, so I’m kinda thinking its not covid, but you just can’t tell for sure…apparently, even with a test.
I am optimistic. Its, frankly, a miracle whenever a member of my family seeks medical care. He must feel terrible.
I had it, double viral pneumonia. I have no doubt. I have never had any pneumonia in my entire life in spite of having chronic bronchitis as a child. There is no way I suddenly got double viral pneumonia in the middle of all of this after being exposed by my students, several were ill, one in hospital for a day with pneumonia also and same symptoms of terrible back pain as me. He had a positive test when he was in the hospital I don’t know if he’s done an antibody test at the end of the semester he had not done it yet.
I was very ill but managed it mostly at home. Bg was constantly crashing most of the time, The doctor at the field hospital where I had my first chest x-ray told me to keep my blood sugar as low as possible so that is what I did. Most of the time though it was more trying to stop it from crashing I was drinking several juice packs a day. I think finally now almost 3 to 4 months later my blood sugar has gotten more back into its regular pattern with spikes and things. I am still having lung symptoms coughing congestion using my inhaler is a bit last now. I have been in physical therapy for three weeks for my back and it’s finally starting to improve which is really a miracle because I was in terrible pain every day practically for about three months. I still get the bad pain sometimes and then I get scared it’s gonna start all over again but it usually resolves more quickly in the exercises and massage are really helping.
I still have pretty bad exhaustion and other symptoms too. As far as my tests go my first test at the field hospital I was negative that one I believe was not done properly. Also it was already in my lungs then so that could’ve affected the test or just could’ve been false negative. Four weeks later when I did not seem to be recovering and had more pain and breathing trouble, I was worried about pe as well, still coughing, pain and still had a low-grade fever at night I went to the ER and was seen at the regular ER that time. They tested me for everything known to man practically which was all negative again. By that point I think I had already cleared the virus most likely. I had sinus tachycardia then and high blood pressure they treated me for that.
It is only now that I am finally starting to feel a little bit better. Among my symptoms during the pneumonia were I felt like I had a tight band around my entire chest could not breathe and severe pain in my back as well as numerous other things. I only had a low-grade fever through most of it the highest it went was 100.2 I think. My doctor said she had several patients who also had the same symptoms with only a low-grade fever. I still have a low-grade fever at night though which nobody can figure out from 99 to 100 which seems to last for like two or three hours.
I had one antibody test done by my Endo which was negative however he did not do the test that I asked him to do so my doctor gave me a prescription should do another one which tests IGg and Igm.
I have not managed to do it yet because my father has been in the hospital with various issues at the emergency room and I also sprained my ankle badly last week and was back at the ER myself not being able to walk for a week. I’m finally walking now but still having pain in my ankle and my leg which is swollen too. so now I have to go to a doctor for that too.
I was reading about the antibody test and what I read so far says a lot of them are not reliable And I also read that not everybody develops antibodies when they have Covid and some people develop them but they don’t keep them for long. I did not test for antibodies probably until like three months in I think so it could be that I had them and they’re gone or could be that I just did not develop them. For whatever reason.
I also read that some people do not develop antibodies but they do develop T cell immunity. That would maybe explain why my blood sugar was crashing so badly when I was fighting off the virus. My T cells were too busy attacking Covid and stopped attacking my beta cells as much. We know that the attack on data cells and type one diabetes is an ongoing process so your body is still trying to produce beta cells which are continually attacked. Another thing that showed up in my blood work was low neutrophils and low white blood count. I still have a low white blood count and now a low red blood count too.
I had my Endo test me for Epstein Barr virus as well because when I was diagnosed with type one in DKA I had had a reactivation of that. I found that out when I was in Dr. Faustman’s research study and donated blood. I did not want to go back the following year I told them I was too tired and they asked me to get tested for EBV which I did and it showed a reactivation.
My test now showed a reactivation of EBV again during the Covid virus. I read an article of a study done in China I think were a lot of Covid patients also had an EBV reactivation.
At this point my doctor asked me if I want to go to an infectious disease specialist. I said I’m going to hold off on that until I get another antibody test. And then obviously all of this other stuff happened so I’m just trying to deal with getting my back better and my ankle and everything going on with my family.
I do believe I had Covid and I am happy that I survived it obviously. But nobody seems to know if you’re going to be protected from getting it again so I’m still being very cautious obviously. I found out we are going to be teaching online in the fall again and I’m very relieved although it will mean a lot more work. Everybody should be wearing a mask, goggles and gloves that is what I do when I go to my physical therapy appointments. I am not gonna take any chances that I could get this again.
During the entire period when they said I was still in danger to become severe I will tell you what I did:
I started taking Zithromax as soon as I had the back pain because I suspected I had pneumonia. I always have that at home because that is the antibiotic I tolerate best for my stomach I believe that helped stop the severe inflammatory reaction.
I did some breathing exercises which I read about and found a video of a doctor in England I posted here. Those however just hurt my back too much and I stopped doing them at some point but I did feel they were helping clear my lungs out. It was a horrible feeling just don’t know how to describe it it just feels like you can’t breathe properly you have a pressure on your lungs in your that whole area of your body.
I went for two walks once when I had one of the blood sugar spikes because someone told me her mother survived it in March in California and that her doctor had told her to go for walks every day. Her mother was in her 80s. towards the end her mother did have to go into the hospital, she was given Zithromax and hydroxy and she survived. She believes the walks helped her. I feel the walks made me worse so because I started to feel worse after the walk I took when I had high blood sugar. Although it did help lower my blood sugar.
Last October I had a second DVT and I had been put on Eliquis for the rest of my life now or a blood thinner anyway I may be switching back to warfarin at some point. I believe being on Eliquis also helped save me because we know now that Covid seems to attack the vascular system and cause blood clots also attacking red blood cells.
I also took high doses of vitamin C during the pneumonia probably about 1000 to 2000 mg. I believe that helped clear my lungs out as well in addition to everything else.
It has been a long recovery I was pretty ill and it was very very stressful. I was monitoring my pulse ox constantly the whole time having video conferences with my doctor and just not knowing if I was going to end up in the hospital and dying because nobody knows who’s going to get the really severe reactions to it.
I still do not feel well after all of this and I don’t know if that’s still from Covid or partly from having the reactivation of EBV as well or the combination.
With my blood sugar it was really just an afterthought I except that I did take risks trying to keep it low- hi basals when it looked like it was going to spike, because the doctor had warned me to not let your blood sugar go high and I always prefer to be lower even though I hate bad lows obviously as we all do. I only had one or two spikes during the pneumonia, one was caused by forgetting to put my pump back on after I showered the other one was unexplained but mostly it was crashing unbelievably, and I just kind of rode with it drinking the juice and eating- whatever I needed to do. I did it but it was really an afterthought to worrying about am I going to be dying from this and not being able to breathe etc. I was really starting to think this was going to cure me from type one but no such luck.
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Thanks for this detailed answer and incredibly sorry to hear about your experience and continued recovery. Sounds like such a difficult experience. Do you use Tandem ControlIQ? I just started a couple months ago and have found it pretty life-changing when it comes to controlling my Diabetes, especially during times when I’m fasting (i.e. nights and during the day before I eat). It perhaps could be helpful when dealing with sickness when appetite goes away. It’s not invincible at all and still has problems (changes in insulin sensitivity, dealing with food, insertion sets gone wrong etc) but broadly I’m thankful that I found it and got on it.
COVID sounds terrible, independent of diabetes, but dealing with the two at once really sounds like a scary experience.
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Thanks😊 And you’re welcome! I have been through a lot these past few years but this may be the worst even though I was prolly sicker at dka. I thought my back pain was never going to get better. Everything going on with covid made getting treatment for covid and anything else extremely difficult at first, things are a bit better now. Most docs are still doing mostly video calls here.
I have ts slim x2 but I am still using G5 so I have not tried it yet. I will try it but I have very off numbers frequently with dexcom so I am not sure if it will be safe or good for me and I just prefer to control my insulin myself. I will have to see how it goes. That is great it works well for you!
It was weird because I knew diabetes put me at higher risk as well as asthma but although of course I was doing everything I could to manage the crazy bg, and it was exhausting, it was secondary to my lungs, pulse ox and breathing, bp etc. And the terrible pain. I was so scared I would end up back at the er and had no clue what treatment I would receive since I was given no treatment at all except inhalers at home. TG I had z pack and also had prednisone. My doc told me not to take the pred pills because they thought it was bad for covid then, but now they are using dexamethasone in the worse and severe cases so it may have helped.
I think if I had been wearing a mask, gloves, and goggles whenever out and only going out for necessary things and had cancelled the last week of classes before we went online I might have not gotten covid. I wear a mask, gloves and goggles to pt / doc now, basically the only places I go so far since and I take a shower and wash my clothes when I come home etc.
Everything that comes in the house gets steamed and sanitized/ washed. I do go for walks, pre ankle, and I don’t wear a mask for that now, but I go at times when few people are around and I just cross the street if someone comes along. I will keep dong this until I get a vaccine and it is really controlled. My family as well although I have to watch them to make sure they follow our protocol.
It is hard to wear a mask when you have asthma etc. piece of cake if you don’t and it is necessary to prevent transmissions, protect yourself and to shut covid down. In addition to social distancing and avoiding gatherings etc. Eye protection is needed as well. I recommend disposable gloves removed properly and wash hands as well after.
I forgot to mention that my first symptoms seem to have been severe diarrhea for a day with severe headache which I thought was a migraine. The gastro symptoms, aches and headaches continued when the respiratory symptoms started which was when the fever started consistently although I think I had a low fever that first day too.
I hope he is ok, how is he? Yes stay away and just do video conferences etc. my father was tested neg for it at the er 2 weeks ago, no antibody tests for him yet. He has def had a lot of neurological and gastro symptoms so who knows. Fortunately he did not get pneumonia etc.
Covid causes only blood clots in some people. This is well known now.
Its an infection in his leg, not covid. But, I’m hoping he can get out of the hospital quickly.
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My wife (T2) had a mild case 2 weeks ago. She had a fever, labored breathing and high clotting indicators. She’s normally on Basaglar only. While sick she had to up the Basaglar dosage and use Humalog to cover meals.
She tested negative for the virus twice and the antibodies once. Her doctor said that happens occasionally so if the symptoms fit and they’re abnormal for the patient, she assigns based on symptoms alone.
I contacted my endo for guidance when she became sick and he said the same thing - I should assume it’s COVID and act accordingly.
Interestingly, we have a friend who is a Covid triage nurse at one of the local hospitals. She was infected and stayed home for recovery. The hospital’s criteria for returning to work are two consecutive negative tests spaced a week apart. Her tests kept changing from positive to negative for several weeks before she got two negatives in a row.
I think the nasal swab test isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
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Glad to hear it is not covid. I hope he gets better soon🙏🏻
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Holy crap, Paytone. Glad she is OK, but I’m worried about you. Keep us posted. You mind me asking your region, Sailor? Maybe just an East, West, or Central location? Or, perhaps a North or Southerly location?
Did you two isolate from one another?
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Thanks for your concern. So far the rest of the family is OK. We isolated until her symptoms disappeared and I was tested twice - both negative, but I don’t have much confidence in the test anymore. I had another test a week ago but alas, I’m still waiting for the results. I’m in the Midwest.
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When just 1 person on here had it, it might have been a fluke. But, now that 2 or 3 have had it or family members had it, it is among us. It is lurking. This is like the slowest, most suspenseful horror movie ever.