I know apprpximately 6 people in my hometown who have type 1 diabetes all diagnosed at different times i.e 20s 30s and 50s. All of them had steroids for other illnesses prior to diagnosis
What percentage of people here had steroids for other medical conditions prior to being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?
I know apprpximately 6 people in my hometown who have type 1 diabetes all diagnosed at different times i.e 20s 30s and 50s. All of them had steroids for other illnesses prior to diagnosis
What percentage of people here had steroids for other medical conditions prior to being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?
Me. After a major surgery, I was given massive steroids via IV (from the point of resection to leaving the hospital); my BG levels were so high during the week of my hospital recovery (128-200) that the nurses assumed I was an "unreported diabetic" and wanted to give me insulin. I denied the condition and refused the insulin. I thought that was the end of it. Two weeks later, at a surgical follow-up, I was told that I was a diabetic. I laughed. How could that be? No diabetes in my family history, I was thin, I was athletic, I exhibited no symptoms of diabetes (other than the high BG reads during my hospital stay). I was given a blood glucose meter and test strips and told to keep a log- - which I did. My BG's were, more often than not, out of normal range. In the meantime, as the doctors were trying to type my diabetes: I was tested for GADA and found positive for the antibodies (49) but tested negative for all other diabetes-definitive autoantibody tests. At that point (and every moment since), I was considered LADA by, well, THE ENTIRE WORLD. I am no longer "Kit," but "Lotta." Haha.
As an aside, I was given oral steroids for three months after surgery. Now, I don't take them- - even despite recommendation to do so when I have a cold, etc.
Since my diagnosis and subsequent BG monitoring, I have accepted the possibility that I am Diabetes 1/LADA and have changed my lifestyle. I am KETO and have, since adopting the KETO diet, kept my BG reads in range (frustrating fluctuations within the normal range aside) and I have a low A1c. I suspected from the beginning that the massive steroids triggered an autoimmune response. I still am.