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

After having the BCG vaccination at 13, I experienced some of the common side effects (fever, headache and swollen glands).

It was a few weeks later I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

We have no family history of any other family members ever having diabetes.

Not saying it was the bcg vaccine that caused my diabetes but strange how tests over recent years using the vaccine resulted in a strong improvement in HbA1c for people with type 1 diabetes.
 
PinCushion40 said:
After having the BCG vaccination at 13, I experienced some of the common side effects (fever, headache and swollen glands).

It was a few weeks later I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. ...
Click to expand...
Whatever triggered the diabetes probably happened years earlier. At diagnosis, when blood glucose starts going up, most beta cells have already been destroyed. It takes years for this to happen.
 
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I got type 1 when I was 17 I was a very fit healthy young person shall we say. I was in the first year of my apprenticeship and was playing 5 a side footy at the local sports centre , I got pushed ( not deliberately) into the breeze block wall hit it with my head and became unconscious for a short time , a few days later I started the peeing drinking blah blah and was diagnosed with type 1 . There was a train of thought at the time that following trauma some people developed it , I’m not saying that was the reason but there was a train of thought at that time .previous to this I hadn’t suffered any virus etc

stay safe

“Valar Morghulis“
 
I had a virus 4 years ago and never felt that my energy levels get back to normal. I lost about 5 stone in weight.
My health got worse over those 4 years before completely crashing at the beginning of this month when I was diagnosed with Type 1.

I'm pretty sure the virus kicked this all off.
 
Weirdly I became diabetic after taking prednislone a type of steroid medication prescribed offcourse but it made me become diabetic but something tells me my diabetes isn't normal like other type 1 becuase once I was put onto mdi I noticed that I'm not needing actual background insulin becuase I was going low taking basal lol. But now doctors has told me to taking fast acting insulin only novorapid iv been some sort of diabetic for like 18 years now lol
 
MarkMunday said:
Whatever triggered the diabetes probably happened years earlier. At diagnosis, when blood glucose starts going up, most beta cells have already been destroyed. It takes years for this to happen.
Click to expand...

There is currently a study underway in the UK after 2 centres have reported approximately twice as many children as normal presenting with T1 after having Covid-19 (or being exposed to it).
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/201473/covid-19-linked-increase-type-diabetes-children/
Will be interesting to see if there's a new rise in T1 cases now that the number of positive test results has increased significantly.
 
Yes, I got diagnosed with diabetes 2 weeks ago but my nurse thinks I had it for 3+ months ...... I think that too...... back in January I had flu for the first time in my life but now I know I have type 1 diabetes and how long I think I’ve had it before diagnosis I’m absolutely adimant I had COVID not flu...... I had 1 flu symptom but all of Covid symptoms
 
Interesting finding. Because onset with children is much faster, the timeframe is shorter. These children may have been T1 antibody positive for some time beforehand but, because of the virus stress, the ability to keep blood glucose down ended prematurely. The study suggests a link between T1 onset and exposure to COVID-19. Which is not the same thing as saying that T1 was caused by the infection. Popular opinion often misses this subtle distinction, confusing the issue.
 
It’s been suggested to me that my diabetes could have been caused by Covid, all the symptoms came on very quickly after I had covid symptoms at the end of March.

There is a national study tracing positive cases & new onset diabetes but I wasn’t able to get a test at the time.

My understanding is they don’t know if it leads to T1, T2 or a new type.
 
My one was a bit weird in the fact it wasn’t as fast as everyone else so I can’t pinpoint when it actually happened.

Just looking through my camera roll on my phone seems like my weight loss started June-July 2019. Initially it was a gradual weight loss of a couple kg in a couple of months. Then from September 2019 onwards I lost nearly 8-9kg in more than a month. I had previously been weight conscious so was happy when this all happened and didn’t complain or find it strange.

Weight went from 86kg June 2019
To 57kg April 2020
(-29kg) 10 months time

Mid-April my family basically forces me to contact the GP and after a consultation I think my doctor is like 400% sure it’s diabetes, he even asks about it and does coeliac tests (as coeliac is an autoimmune disease related to T1D). I get admitted into hospital and get explained everything. Was promised maximum 1-2 days.

I was so depressed I was crying literally every second of my time there until a nurse comes or something then I’d wipe away my tears. I literally go in the shower to cry for long periods of time. Long story short the sadness and bad mood was actually impacting my BG and as a result I had to stay in for 4 days, I realised that I need to fix up to get out so I did. Forced myself to stop crying and taught myself carb counting whilst still in the hospital. When I got meals I would just eat the salad or the meat. Just a slice of bread for breakfast with black coffee. Finally blood sugar was around 12mmol/L when they discharged me. First thing I did when I left hospital was inject 2 units of insulin to bring my blood sugar down.

When diagnosed my fasting blood glucose was 19 mmol/L so I was producing a fair bit of insulin I suppose?

C peptide was 113pmol/L

So I’m sorry I can’t pinpoint a virus but this is my experience of T1D. Still cry time to time maybe once a month. One thing I would say is before my T1D I used to get ill often, a lot of coughs, runny noses, tickle throats and low energy but my illnesses always tended to be mild but for a long term
 
My daughter might be in a similar situation as yours - T1d almost immediately after covid (4 months - enough for the autoimmune response to kill the beta cells).

Learning as we go - diagnosed T1d, so going through the nightmare now. Please let me know if you find any information. I posted her timeline on another thread.
 
Hi there
When I was diagnosed at age 9 nearly 50 years ago, prior to that I had suffered some really bad ear infections and been on lots of different antibiotics so am convinced it had something to do with it. There is no family history of it either.
 
Yes , I had a throught infection 60 years ago this November and then went on to Type 1 , it was called Diabetes mellitus at that time 60 years ago!
 
Yes. I had a virus about four years ago. It left me with exactly the same after effects as the Covid virus, chronic fatigue being the worst. I was sent for a glucose tolerance test and following that I was initially diagnosed with type 2. About a year or so after I began losing weight rapidly. At the time I thought it was great but then I had a stroke. All the symptoms I had input down to the stroke, like the dreadful balance and the fact that all food tasted disgusting, my mouth would be so bone dry I couldn’t even moisten my lips. Then a new doctor joined the practice and he didn’t think the symptoms had anything to do with my stroke. He sent me to a diabetes endocrinologist and a week later I was diagnosed with type 1. There is no type 1 in the family and I did some research and I am convinced it started when I had a virus. Then this year, with Covid, there have been a number of people that have developed type 1 following having Covid. So my advice to everyone is if you have prolonged symptoms following ANY virus get checked out and if your glucose levels are high ask to be tested for type 1.
 
I had really bad flu a couple of years ago, first time I’ve ever had it, and wondering if that started my late onset (possibly slow onset) T1. Pre-flu I was really healthy but afterwards I was constantly unwell when I think back - colds, throat infections, UTIs. I was diagnosed earlier this year after bad stomach pains, an ear and kidney infection. I guess I could take my pick of infections and viruses but I suspect it was after flu (no family history of diabetes, and in my late 40s)
 
Yes I did, at the age of 14 I came down with ,what the GP said was a sore throat and perscribed me with syrup medication with did not help as I lost weight very fast until diagnosed at the hospital in Bangor North Wales 60 years ago
 
 
Yes I also had a virus shortly before becoming ill with diabetes - 42 years ago. I have been told its not unusual. But to be homest, "seemingly out of nowhere" is how it usually starts. Although being overweight predisposes you to T2, in T1, there's no way of predicting it. It just happens.
 
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