Heavy drinkers becoming T1’s.

[mountaintom]

Hi all,

I’m curious to see if there are any previously heavy drinkers that have been diagnosed with T1 as I’m sure that there is a link. My specialist said there is no evidence to show that my recent diagnosis is linked to my alcoholism and regular intake of alcohol but can it be a coincidence that one month after quitting drinking I started showing symptoms, rapid weight loss and had near DKA. I feel that somehow the drink was masking my symptoms up until that point, perhaps keeping my weight up and stopping the ketoacidosis. I might be wrong but looking back I had been showing signs of diabetes for months and months but had just ignored them. The Doctor ruled out pancreatitis.
I appreciate any opinions from anyone who might’ve experienced similar things.
.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Hi all,

I’m curious to see if there are any previously heavy drinkers that have been diagnosed with T1 as I’m sure that there is a link. My specialist said there is no evidence to show that my recent diagnosis is linked to my alcoholism and regular intake of alcohol but can it be a coincidence that one month after quitting drinking I started showing symptoms, rapid weight loss and had near DKA. I feel that somehow the drink was masking my symptoms up until that point, perhaps keeping my weight up and stopping the ketoacidosis. I might be wrong but looking back I had been showing signs of diabetes for months and months but had just ignored them. The Doctor ruled out pancreatitis.
I appreciate any opinions from anyone who might’ve experienced similar things.
.

I suppose it depends on what happened when you gave up alcohol? I have a friend who finally gave it up but swapped her addiction to sweets! I am not saying that eating sweets causes you to be type 1 but if you were drinking heavily rather than eating, the alcohol does suppress blood sugar rises thus on quitting your symptoms may have been more evident or accelerated. Or it could be a coincidence bearing in mind nobody knows what triggers the autoimmune response that causes type 1 but I was always told that stress was a culprit (as in giving up alcohol and dealing with whatever caused you to abuse it?). I hope you are getting support for both things in any case and best of luck with your health going forward!

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi all,

I’m curious to see if there are any previously heavy drinkers that have been diagnosed with T1 as I’m sure that there is a link. My specialist said there is no evidence to show that my recent diagnosis is linked to my alcoholism and regular intake of alcohol but can it be a coincidence that one month after quitting drinking I started showing symptoms, rapid weight loss and had near DKA. I feel that somehow the drink was masking my symptoms up until that point, perhaps keeping my weight up and stopping the ketoacidosis. I might be wrong but looking back I had been showing signs of diabetes for months and months but had just ignored them. The Doctor ruled out pancreatitis.
I appreciate any opinions from anyone who might’ve experienced similar things.
.

Hi Mountaintom - Firstly, well done on giving up alcohol, if you were unable to take things moderately. That's a great step forward for your health, in the bigger picture.

I think with any major diagnosis we are bound ask ourselves lots of "what ifs". That's human nature. Whether it's what I call the "auto-guilt" setting or something else we do like to know why things happen or happened.

The bottom line is with something like a diagnosis, there's nothing we can do to un-diagnose the condition and for something like diabetes (or any major diagnosis for that matter), we have quite enough to think about and take in without trying to unpick the past.

My advice would be for you to try to at least park those what if's for now and really get to grips with your condition in the best way you can. There's plenty of time for research into what might or might not have impacted on your past life.

The very best of luck with it all. You have a steep learning curve, but so many of our members here exhibit that a decent, fulfilling life is right out there, with or without diabetes.

 

[mountaintom]

Thanks everyone for your input.