Hi Judy, I wrote the following in 2009, after 50 years of Type 1:
Throughout my life I have had my own thoughts about why my immune system attacked my pancreas fifty years ago, since diabetes appears nowhere in the last three generations of my family tree, and to ascertain all the causes of death before that would be problematic. However, up until 2nd September 2009, the prevailing opinion was that I had inherited diabetes. On that date I received a letter from a Locum Consultant in Medical Genetics, stating “...I am pleased to report that no gene fault has been identified. Therefore, all the tests to date do not support a diagnosis of a genetic form of permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus in you.”
It is currently agreed that diabetes may be initiated by a virus or trauma, especially in a patient with a genetic predisposition. I have always leaned to the latter category of trauma. Two events occurred only days before my diagnosis. My mother used to tell me that she had left me in the pram outside Shoreham-by-Sea post office while she popped in to buy some stamps. When she came out, there was a large Alsatian barking into the hood of the pram. The other event has taken on more significance in my mind. My mother had taken Giles and me down to the beach, where I was stung in quick succession, seven times, by wasps. She picked me up and dunked me in the sea in order to calm the swellings and alleviate the pain. Clearly I have no memory of either event, but my subconscious has blamed the wasps. Although many doctors have disagreed with me, I think it is possible that wasp stings could easily have caused my immune system to go into overdrive, whether it be the result of shock or of a sudden rush of histamines. My suspicions have been strengthened over the years.
Since writing the above, I am more convinced that on both sides of my family tree, there were conditions caused by overactive immune response. On my mother's side her mother spent at least 20 years in a wheel chair because of rheumatoid arthritis, my father was a severe asthmatic, as was my brother in earlier years, I copped diabetes, and in the last six years my sister has suffered with rheumatoid arthritis. My daughter is coeliac. Undoubtedly there is an inheritance of over-excited immune systems! I wish you luck.
