hey im a diabetic type one, and also got diagnosed at nine years of age. (now sixteen).
it started from having chicken pox, so im led to believe. i got chicken pox in september, during this time i lost a lot of weight, and became thirsty, tired and hot constantly, mum pestered to go to the doctors, but i was frightened. soon after i'd recovered from the pox, my little brother got it. mum didn't think of seperating us because id already had it like any parent would... but two weeks later... i became ill again! with the pox, after a visit to the doctors i was admited to the loca hospital, where they told mum they couldnt tell us what triggered it... now at 16, i wanted to research why i had it, with no genetics in my family of diabetes, i couldnt make sense. after a little research, i discovered virus's such as chicken pox can cause diabetes to show itself in a person. New studys are showing that stress might to, i was also very stressed with my family situation. who knows!
I understand your frustrations!
I was diagnosed at 15 (almost 16), but there was no history in my family either. My brother was also diagnosed when he was 15.
The only connection that I can make is that through our sugar habits (soft drinks and sweet treats ALL the time) we had increased our insulin resistance. Then when we had our booster vaccines at 15 before going in to high school, that kind of set off a chain reaction in our bodies and our pancrei freaked out. I have heard unconfirmed reports that the Rubella vaccine can trigger the pancreas to attack it's own Islet cells and cause T1.
I think it's different for everyone--some people have a family history and the genetics to be predisposed. But definitely viruses can cause it.
I would encourage you to get a test to see if your pancreas can make it's own insulin at all anymore. I'm not sure what it is called. And definitely, DEFINITELY take care of yourself. You've got a lot more stress coming up in your life (finishing school, college if you go, getting a job, finding housing, relationships...) and if you get in a good routine now, you will be better equipped to handle things that life will throw at you later.
Good luck!
well, i've finished school now but i didn't cope well with my diabetes at school because i didnt want to be different to my friends, sounds silly, but i was on novo-mix, just so i didnt jab at school. now im at college, and working i dont get days off, so its constant stress. but i started the slim fast diet recently and my blood levels are very very very goood! they told me to start with i was half diabetic, but im pretty sure now im 100% diabetic, my poor little body :L xx
I know if you take pretty good care of yourself, that extends your "honeymoon phase" to maybe 8 or ten years.
For me, I feel like I could have reversed my T1 if I had taken better care of myself in the beginning and known then what I know now.
Keep taking good care of yourself, watch your carbs, and get at least moderate exercise a couple times a week. Try and eat as healthy as you can, with as few processed foods as possible.
Again, for me, I've noticed that the fake sugars and chemicals that are in food will throw my hormones off and make my sugars rise. It didn't use to be that way! Getting old sucks sometimes!
i love pasta, and cheese and all them foods -.- which is annoying because my sugar levels are bad with pasta! but slim fast has improved them so much. i also suffer from a lack of a certain vitamin, which causes light headedness, dizzy, and sick and often very tired, but its okay since i take multivitamins. what medication are you on?
I take Lantus and Apidra. But I've been supplementing recently with cinnamon, ALA, cod liver oil, and whey protein isolate. They have really made a difference for me. I take ones that have the least amount of fillers in them and the most amount of the mineral I need (anything that says "extract" in vitamins/supplements is worthless, come to find out).
I have cut out as much refined sugar as possible. It's EXTREMELY hard, but I have not had any cravings. I eat as much good fats as possible (nuts, seeds, avocados, eggs) and I drink a lot of water. I've also stopped drinking all soft drinks--diet too. The fake sugars really mess up hormones. I haven't had a soft drink in two months now and I really don't miss them.
okay, well im in united kingdom. i take 3 injections of novorapid a day, with each meal, and 40 units of levimere at 9pm. its so annoying lol. i dont eat no sweets anymore. x
They suspect that certain viruses may act as triggers for T1...
The most common ones that have been implicated are Coxsackie B Virus (enteric/gastrointestinal virus) and Cytomegaloviruses (like Epstein-Barr or Mono). Also, rotaviruses (also affects the gastrointestinal system) have been suggested.
Funny you should post this. I got my first chicken pox vaccine when I was 21. That is when it first came out. I never got the disease naturally and my doc. told me that getting it as an adult is far worse than as a child so I better get the vaccine. Just 3 weeks later I began having the same symptoms that you had, severe thirst and weight loss, blurry vision.
There are several viruses that can spark diabetes, Coxsackie is the most common. Varicella ( chicken pox) is also a known trigger. When your body is finished fighting off the virus, it is so amped up, it attakcks itself. Such is the case in type 1 diabetes, Still, millions of people get those viruses and never get diabetes. It is believed that we have a faulty gene that can be triggered by some viral infection. For you it happened at 9. For me, not until 21. Still it is difficult to prove if the virus is the cause or simply infected you at the same time. Often people have recovered from the infection before diabetes is diagnosed and there is no way to tell. Not that it matters in the end. There is no way to reverse it or to stop the auto immune response. Well except recently there was some talk about how other vaccines can slow the bodies auto immune respoonse and some have even regrown some pancreatic function,
When viruses act as a "trigger" for something like type 1 diabetes, it means that you have the genes for the disease (i.e., a genetic predisposition). When you get a virus, your immune system goes into overdrive trying to fight the virus, as that's what your immune system is supposed to do! But if you have this genetic predisposition for T1D, your immune system also sees those beta cells as foreign objects and kills them too! It's possible that other people in your family have shared this genetic predisposition, but were never exposed to or affected by factors that would trigger it.
There is some belief that lots of vaccines can trigger auto-immune conditions, especially in people that already have a genetic predisposition towards getting auto-immune conditions. This is NOT to say that we should stop vaccinating people; the diseases that vaccines protect us against are pretty darn bad (most of us forget this because we've always lived in a world where we just take for granted that children don't regularly die from diseases like smallpox, measles, or whooping cough). But, I do think there needs to be a way to identify if vaccines are a triggering factor for some people and, if so, how to vaccinate them without triggering autoimmune diseases.
While I don't agree with all this, I do like your last sentence. Unfortunately, I think doctors like to shoot first and ask questions later since so few people (comparatively) will have that autoimmune response triggered.
8-10 yrs? you would be very lucky...T1 is not reversable either
i got the flu from my son at 31 years old, and got type 1 also. That was the final nail, but i had very minor symptoms prior. Excessive cramping during my exercise and a few other minor things which dont make you think 'diabetes' but are symptoms. Getting the flu led to the weight loss, poor vision etc, the common symptoms.
I'm wondering if you had a flu vaccine prior to that....?
nope never had one. Hadnt had any vaccine since i was a bubba
Catching the disease naturally has an even greater impact on your immune system than does getting a vaccine. I only assume the varicella vaccine is what started the immune response in me. It could have be coincidence. It could have been something else undiagnosed.
no flu vaccines were not widely avail back then. I finished vaccines in grade school. I got the varicella vaccine all alone at 21.Of course it could have been cause by anything. It was just interesting that someone on here has developed diabetes close to a varicella infection.