My son has t1. My mother-in-law has Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (autoimmune). When first diagnosed, I read in a book that besides of all the possible causes (because they just don’t know), it said that the type of disease (autoimmune) is hereditary not necessarily t1 diabetes, so genes are probably a factor. We learned that thing about milk also (body being confused between a protein that is like insulin in the milk and the body thinking that the person’s insulin is the foreign one).
I asked his doctor the other day, if we do the test to know if we could get the disease, does it mean that we will necessarily develop that disease and she said no.
I’m not a doctor, just a diabetic of type 1 and it started in 1967 when I was 10 years old. No big stress, nothing but one year before I’ve got mumps. I think diabete is genetic but there’s something that made it start. One of my doc said that it was the mumps but it was in 70’s. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis too. We are 5 children: I’ve two sisters (one is with Hashimoto too) and two brothers. They are all well. My father is dead without diabetes and my mother is well. I knew the parents of my mother and the sister and 2 brothers of my grandmother ( they were born in 1891,1895,1897 and 1905) no one was diabetetic but I don’t know if all their others sisters and brothers were diabetics , they died when they were small ( 4 children, my grand grandmother had 8 children…).
Saundra…I have wondered if the mushroom mixture I was taking to increase my immunity caused the auto-immune atteack on my pancreas…that maybe a stronger immune system is dangerous if one is prone to auto-immune conditions.
It does certainly seem possible, maybe likely, that the many vaccines we have been exposed to since childhood have increased the incidence of many auto-immune conditions. It’s scary to think of going through life with an increased likelihood of catching the deseases they prevent, however. What a choice. What should we tell our kids to do? Wow.
I was diagnosed with t1 when I was 7, and a year earlier I’d had the chickenpox…that was the only “major” illness I’d ever had at that stage. However, there’s a vaccine we get here called the MMR (for mumps, measles and rubella) and my mum is still convinced that something in that triggered my diabetes. Suppose you never know…
I am the same way with not getting sick! If I do get sick its not nearly as bad as everyone else gets it, and my doctor believes mine was a result of a virus I got the winter before I was diagnosed ( I was diagnosed in May).
That would be interesting to look into.
The MMR has been shown to be protective to a small but statistically significant degree against type 1 diabetes, not the other way around.
When I took my kids to get tested for type 1 antibodies earlier this year, the doctors explained the development of type 1 can and often does take several years to manifest itself in the form of the visible and familiar symptoms.
There is almost certainly a genetic component and there is probably an environmental one, too. Although to be honest I don’t think about this much anymore. I just want it gone. I’m sure you feel me.
I’d like to know. I have many friends in their late 30s and early 40s who developed some autoimmune disorder in the last 10 or so years. So what is it about us? Enviroment? Genetics? I find it very interesting.
Interesting… I was thinking lately Vitamin D deficiency as well. I have also wondered about childhood depression. (I was Dx at 22.) I live in Seattle area, and studies are finding that we need more Vit D. Fam has a lot of alcoholics, and I was hypoglycemic when little.
I was dx’d in June of 1999 when I was 24. Funny thing is that my grandmother (dad’s mom) was also dx’d at that age. When I was dx’d I also had a hyperthyroid and 5 yrs before that I had the Epstein Barr Virus but was rid of it before being dx’d with diabetes. I think genetics definitely plays a role in my case too though. My grandmother’s sister also was type 1 and died in the 1950’s when she was in her early 20’s because of it. My mom’s dad was dx’d type 1 in his 40’s and his mother had type 2. My aunt (dad’s sister) and mom’s mom both had thyroid issues. My mom’s sister is hypoglycemic. Needless to say I always knew that the chance of diabetes was there.
When I took my kids to get blood drawn for the TrialNet study, the doctors told me that there is an extremely rare gene that protects against Type 1. They said that it only showed up in one out of a couple thousand people they had tested but that it is almost like some sort of immunity. Neither of my kids had this gene (naturally). But neither did they have any of the four known antibodies that show up in the years prior to a Type 1 diagnosis, so I guess I’ll take what I can get.
Personally I believe there are other genes that protect against Type 1 and that it is a lack of these genes that lead to the disease and not the presence of a gene that causes it.
I was probably 6 when I started presenting symptoms. But the teamsters HMO was not much into looking closely at what was going on and as long as I was not headed to the emergency room they were uninterested in doing much more than the bare minimum of health services. So, I spent 4 years wetting the bed and being very frustrated about it. When I was 10 I finally was in bad enough shape to have them check for type 1. Of course for a the first day they stuck to their idea that I had been playing with kerosene and it would go away… Back when I was 6 I remember pretty vividly suffering from strep throat a_lot I was pretty much sick non stop for the first part of that year.
I have a large family history of autoimmune disease so my apples are in that basket … I also was exposed to rubella 8 months before being diagnosed and heard that may be one of the viruses that can trigger it.
I wish I could even venture a guess… I’m the only one in my family, and the only one that has any other autoimmune issues.
I was pregnant when I was diagnosed and I often have this little “what if” nagging thought in the back of my head… like I was being punished for having a child so young. Logically I know that’s not true, but it’s still really hard not to think along those lines. Being D has changed my life far more than becoming a young mom did
I’ll state my case although I’m sure some people will fire back at me… I believe that I developed it after a series of Hep B vaccines… I was diagnosed when I was 23 & I am the first in the history of my family to have it also.
You are not the only person to suspect vaccines in the increased incidence of autoimmune diseases.
I had been taking a supplement of mixed mushroom extracts to raise my immunities. I wonder if raised immunities can kick in autoimmunity (if you are prone to something?) I wasn’t diagnosed until 50 years old, only one in the family, so it was something unsual that triggered it…
Hey Elaine! Thanks for telling me this. I’ve felt for so long that the vaccine was the cause my D. I mentioned it to drs and they just say… “well if that was the cause everyone who got the vaccine would have it”. I watched “The Doctors” the other day when Jenny McCarthy was on talking about Autism and she mentioned that they also believe that vaccines are the culprit for T1. Do you know that we now have 36 vaccines for babies! Before 1990 there were only 10!
