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Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabetes?

Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

Hello :wave: I didn't have a virus when I was diagnosed over 20 yeras ago, but I did have a big shock 7 months previous to Diabetes and I had suspected Colitis which when looked into ( I wont go into that :oops: ) I didn't have Colitis, so what ever this was it could of contributed to me getting Type 1. Like a lot of people, with Type 1, we may never know for sure, but I am pretty sure that I know that new year problem was the cause. It's also in my family, I had an uncle and a grandma with it( both deceased now) and recently a very young family member :cry:

Best wishes RRB
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

phoenix said:
cally said:
I didn't have a virus but had the BCG vaccination about 2 weeks before I developed Diabetes at the age of 16. I seem to remember reading that the BCG had been linked with the development of type 1 diabetes but don't know if this was the cause or not.
Click to expand...
I've seen it linked as a remedy rather than a cause.
Denise Faustman is researching a 'cure' for T1 using the BCG vaccine.
Many people on US forums have great faith in the idea and have donated lots of money for the research.
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2 ... -diabetes/
Personally, I have great doubts. BCG was given routinely in the UK (not the US) , no less incidence of T1.
Click to expand...

Thank you that is interesting. I did find only one article which suggests that the incidence of type 1 has fallen in Japan since they stopped giving the BCG, but you are right about it being linked as a remedy. Will watch this with interest!

I would love to know why I developed Diabetes. I do come from a family with lots of other auto immune diseases:Underactive and overactive thyroids, coeliac disease and pernicious anaemia. But no family history of diabetes.
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I was diagnosed Type 1 about 30 years ago now and distinctly remember having some sort of flu virus shortly before being diagnosed. I was told that it was more than likely the virus that triggered my diabetes. I've also been told that now that I have an auto-immune disease I'm prone to getting more given that my immune system works in overdrive all the time.

On the plus side, I hardly ever get colds these days!
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I don't get colds either! I think it's because since I was 16 I've eaten so healthily. I did have a cold about a week after my diagnosis which was really annoying for my levels and not giving me accurate results. :roll: I'm guessing because my immune system was weakened.

This is so creepy that so many of us recall having a flu like virus that sounds like coxsackie. I think you have to have a distinct rash that goes with it, though.
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

About 2 years ago I had a flu like virus for what seemed like nearly a month and for a couple of weeks after I couldn't shake off the dry throat, thirst and tiredness so went to the doctors and my glucose level was 25. I was initially diagnosed as a type 2 and managed for 18 months but then the levels started to rise. On referral to a consultant this August an anti GAD test revealed I was really a type 1. I am convinced that virus triggered it all.

Interesting discussion.
Angie
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I was ill for a week before i was diagnosied with type 1 at the age of 32. I have an under active thyroid which was diagnosed at 26 bith went un detected for sometime. The gp thinks a possible auto immune virus
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

Hi, only just seen this thread, but I was 3 when diagnosed. My sister and brother both caught mumps, then I (eventually) was diagnosed with diabetes. My parents have long before this research thought it was the mumps virus that triggered it. Saying that, I knew a boy who was diagnosed after falling through ice on a lake. Doctors thought it was the shock that caused that!
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

Carol11 said:
Yes, I had pneumonia
Click to expand...

How interesting this is - I too had pneumonia and septiceamia 'plus'
have an hypothyroid [underactive thyroid]
Then just a few months later - the diabetes was revealed !


Will attempt to discuss this further when I next see my DSN and my consultant.
As I feel it is too much of a coincidence and very relevant in my own case.

Anna.
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

Yes, I had a really nasty flu virus before getting type 1. My mum had the same virus (shortly after me) and ended up with rheumatoid arthritis (also an auto-immune condition) and we think the two are related. This is 30 years ago now. Mum's been in a wheelchair for the last 20 years - so I kind of think I got lucky.
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I was hospitalised with Pericarditis (Inflammation of the outer layer of the heart, usually caused by a virus) in 2006. I had my blood glucose readings taken several times per day & I was told that Pericarditis "often triggers diabetes". Lo & behold, further tests proved that I was indeed diabetic, but TYPE 2!. :lolno:

So it seems that one or more viruses probably can trigger diabetes. The hospital never did discover exactly what virus was the culprit in my case.

Three years later I was diagnosed with Addison's Disease too.
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I was 19 when I was doagnosed and no one had T1 diabetes in my family.I was very stressed and run down before diagnosis.The stress was self inflicted.T1 diabetes I once read is a combination of genetic and environmental factors that both have to come together.I believe this becoz Ive heard of identical twins where only one of them developed T1 diabetes
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I had measles just before I was diagnosed aged 2. I've been type 1 for 41 years!
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I have been a type 2 for about 8 years now, I maybe not what you are looking for.. but what happened with me I would also like an answer to.

For about 8 years or so before I was diagnosed type 2 I started suffering with sore ankles, I went to doctors and he told me he thought I had gout, he took a load of blood off me in little glass tubes and sent them off for testing.. results came back all negative, he then tried thyroid tests also normal.. he then repeated them all just in case.. still negative.
so he just gave me an anti inflammatory for the times when it happened, he said you have the symptoms but since you only get it a few times a year I cant give you medication.

Over the years the attacks each time they happened got worse and worse with painful swollen joints that stretched the skin so tight it looked like cling film, I could go to sleep normal and wake in the morning in pain and hardly able to walk, these attacks happened at random 2-3 times a year and lasted for about 2-3 weeks.
on the last attack I had I also came down with something and went off my food, I felt really weak but I managed at last to be able to walk to doctors, he told me I had a chest infection and gave me antibiotics and slowly I pulled out of it, over the month long attack I had lost over a stone and a half and felt really weak.

After this I thought everything was ok, but over the months noticed that I used to get tired often and since I do not smoke or drink and have always been fit and active I wondered what was going on.

during this time my partner got a blood pressure tester and when I tried it showed high reading.

I went to the doctors and he checked it 182/135 high.. so he decided to do a urine test.. and said "I think you are diabetic" and took blood samples.. test showed me as 5.8, they told me to watch what I was eating but BG level it has slowly been climbing so I am on meds now :(.

I would just like to add since that chest infection I have not had one of these gout type attacks since.
I have had no explanation as to why I got them or why they stopped, there are 8 doctors at the clinic I go to and each one I see (they change doctors often there) I mention this in the hope that one of them may have come across this scenario... no one as yet can explain it.
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

Hi I have been a type one diabetic for 31 years and when I was diagonosed the whole area where I lived was 'overtaken by a virus called Cocksakie B virus...........' lots of people had all or some of the symptoms you described, my ex husband had to give up teaching for nearly a year, I did not show any signs of the virus but I became very ill and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes [BS 43 ].
I attended a lot of lectures etc on the subject of Cocksakie B virus and I have it in my medical notes that the virus was the trigger - I do have diabetes in the family but something needs to trigger your genes to change their role.

Eleanor
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

Hi catsymoo :)

I got Type 1 at the age of 26, but no, I didn't have a virus beforehand. I too would LOVE to know the cause of Type 1! It's so frustrating not to know what causes it. When I was first diagnosed I practically interrogated my consultant about the cause! :D

She told me that it was very difficult to identify a cause as sometimes the cause is something that happened some years before diabetes revealed itself. She also pointed out that many people get ill before being diagnosed simply because they're run down, with high blood sugars, and so prone to infection and generally feeling like cr*p.

I have read about the Cox Sackie virus being investigated as a link, and also a gastro-intestinal virus which can, allegedly, damage the gut and expose the body to 'foreign' particles that wouldn't normally enter the body (thus inititating an immune reaction in those who're genetically susceptible). I've also heard milk implicated and wheat too. My consultant was very reluctant to plump for one cause or another, but finally said she believed there'd probably be more than one cause, and that these causes could include cows' milk in early infancy and/or a virus or bacterial infection. But I guess that until we know for sure, the answer could be anything or even a combination of factors, either together or one after the other.

Another interesting factor is why/whether certain people are more prone to auto-immune diseases. Has anyone else heard the theory that those who have the blood group O are more likely to suffer auto-immune conditions? I'm blood group O.

I'd love a questionnaire with loads of questions about health history etc, that was looking for the answer to the cause of Type 1. When I was diagnosed, I presumed my consultant would be asking me lots of questions to ascertain any links with other Type 1s in an attempt to get ideas about the causes - but no.... :eh:

Every research questionnaire I get about diabetes always asks about family history and is looking at genetics, but none seem to be looking at any environmental causes (ie viruses, food, chemicals etc etc). I find that weird because I was told that Type 1 was 20% genetic, 80% environmental - that is, you need to be born with the 'right' genes, but something environmental causes diabetes to develop. She said it was like being born with a stick of dynamite, but something had to light the touchpaper!

(Interesting question btw - I don't post very often but your question spurred me to today)
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I had quite a few virus before I was diagnosed every week I would be at the doctors with a cold or chest infection then I got a nasty throat infection and got diagnosed Type 1 diabetic a week later
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I'm pretty sure I had the flu before I was diagnosed as type 1 - I certainly had the symptoms, anyway. It's hard to tell when that stopped and the DKA started, though!
 
Re: Did any of you type 1s have a virus before you got diabe

I had mumps a year before I developed Type 1 diabetes. It which not only attacked the glands in my neck but also caused inflammation of other organs in my body, including the pancreas. Mumps is caused by a virus and my parents were told this was probably the cause of my diabetes at age 9. This was over 50 years ago, but over the years I have found several papers that say there is evidence that Type 1 diabetes increases in a population after a mumps epidemic. However the mumps virus is only one of several viral infections that appear to be identified as causative by triggering an auto-immune reaction.

:think: However this has me questioning - has the MMR vaccine decreased or increased the incidence of Type 1 diabetes? could the vaccine trigger the auto-immune response or because of the inert nature of the virus just prevent the disease and eliminate 1 possible cause of Type 1 diabetes. I have looked for research into this but can find none, maybe someone at diabetes UK knows if such research has been done. If not - wouldn't this be an excellent research project, particularly as measles and rubella are viruses that have also been indicated as possible causes.

Also what people have to remember is that many have childhood virus infections without showing symptoms. Many of us oldies had measles, mumps or rubella without even knowing it, just feeling a bit under the weather for a few days. Not everybody gets the rashes or badly swollen glands that send people to the doctor for a diagnosis.
 
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