Environmental Factors

No one can be certain what the environmental factors are, research is still ongoing. I have read that some research suggests a possible (not proven) link between drinking cows milk, others suggest lack of vitamin D, viral/flu infections, eating wheat products early in life. Nothing is proven and these are all theories right now.

I have often wondered this too, and once met a young medical student, who was convinced that it was a combination of genetic factors, along with a fu.virus/illness episode, that teh body reacted to, an in doing so, the immune system knocked out teh beta cells. (Sorry for teh bad scince...this is my memory that is flawed, rather then her theory!!)

Is she right, I don't know. I was diagnosed in eth 1970's aged 4, so don't remember myself. I asked my Mum, and she said the only noticable thing about the month previous to my diagnosis was that it was Christmas, and I fell ofteh stage in the local village panto So if it was a virus, it was a very minor one!

There are lots of theories being investigated, but basically, nobody knows. It's even weirder that type 1 is increasing at a rate of at least 3% a year, and nobody knows why that is, either.

It's a very mysterious disease!

when I was diagnosed in 2001 with type 1 - Juvenile Diabetes at the age of 37, I was told it was rare as this form of diabetes was usually found in Juveniles hence the the term.
Before I was diagnosed with type 1, I was diagnosed with under active thyroid and coeliac and months later type 1.
In my youth I was always fit and healthy and was rarely sick at all until I was in my 30's, I moved to Runcorn in 1985 which has a big ICI chemical plant maybe about 10 miles away. Lots of people in Runcorn suffer from various illnesses, even my son when he was a baby had a bad reaction from the water on the estate.
Many people believe being not so far from the chemical plant is the cause for the illnesses people have which include cancer.
but saying that my family live in liverpool, my brother and mother have coeliac which manifests on the skin which I dont, they are both border line type 2 diabetics, my other brother does not have any of these illnesses, so its a bit confussing. If its genes alone then why does one brother not have any of these illnesses.
I was told diabetes, coeliac and thyroid problems were auto-imune, my Dr told me to watch my gluten free diet or bad things will happen, I guess he ment diabetes! I must admit I didnt keep tight control on my coeliac.
So Im not sure what actually caused my problems :|

I've given up with the why am I'm diabetic..

I've heard many reasons for causes..

From lack of vit d, cows milk, too much of a ultra cleanliness, virus, chemical, genes all sorts of things..

Yes I do live near a nuclear power station and a Jam factory used to be in town.. But I don't think these are linked to why I'm a diabetic..

After all I am the only member in my family that has diabetes (either T1 or T2) and no ancestors had it either... Just me :cry:

Now I have 8 siblings one is my twin sister and has said none are diabetic (and I'm the older twin so not quite the baby of the family)

So your guess is as good as mine to why I ended up diabetic?

I'm with Jopar, never really question or wonder now, read about lots of causes...and did suffer with chronic Pancreatitis as a child....so it could have been this, but I also have other Auto immune diseases, which go hand in hand with the Type 1......you could speculate forever.

sswimmer said:

I have been type 1 for 25 years. Does anyone know what the environmental factors are that contribute to the cause of Type 1? I recently read on the U.S. Juvenile Diabetes Foundation site that they believe there are environmental factors (but did not state what they are) and not just the genetic link that lead to contracting Type 1.

After all these years of struggle with this disease, I'm still trying to come to a peaceful lifestyle living with it.

Click to expand...

Interesting theory and one of many I've heard of my time with diabetes. To date nobody really knows what triggers this autoimmune disorder, like Joper I remember in the 80's that cows milk was a big headline but this seems to have faded like so many before and those after.

In time they will hopefully pinpoint the cause but I'm past caring what caused my diabetes....in the greater scale of things there are much more conditions and illnesses we could have!

Nigel

I feel the same as Nigel, why bother wondering about the what-if's!

I was diagnosed t1 in May this year 2 weeks before my 24th birthday. No history of diabetes in my family, was perfectly healthy up to this point, very active, etc! I was a little stressed about work at the time and maybe I drank a little too much at times in the past but really my diabetes team or me myself have no idea why immune system decided to take those poor little beta cells out so I'm not going to dwell on it. Its easy to wonder about these things and maybe get a bit down but at least we can live normal lives with just a little care and attention :mrgreen:

If I'm ever having a bad day this video gets me out of it snappy enough. This guy is truly inspirational:

www.vimeo.com/9358866

I remember the milk thing, I think it is still an official line with the NHS to some extent, well it was a few years back.
On the maternity ward when I was having my babies, there were posters up every where about the benefits of breast feeding babies, and one of the things I remember on these posters was it said breast feeding your baby reduced the risk of Type 1 Diabetes in later life...and as you say there is a consensus out there that there is a link with Type 1 and cows milk.

I am swayed towards the "leaky gut" theory myself . There was a lot about this in the press linked to Autism and a number of Auto immune diseases, including Type 1 . The gut in some people "leaks" so the hard to digest proteins from grain (gluten) and milk ( casein) leak through the lining of the gut.
This causes chronic low grade allergies which over time cause the Auto immune response which leads the body to attack organs and cells, ie the beta cells..also it can be multi glandular ,as a lot of us Type 1 's know about :roll:
In the brains of children's and adults with Autism it causes chemical imbalances which cause exacerbation of atypical behaviours.
I am Celiac...so can't have the grains at all now, but it took years to diagnose and maybe the damage was done a long while back.
Can't prove any of it like :lol: But it has always interested me