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Stress, the cause of type 1

Hi there .im 53 and no history of diabetics in my family.i drive a dustcart and two years ago I had a bloke jump out in front of my lorry trying to kill himself. Was a great shock the bloke did survive though but too months later I was taken to hospital and diagnosed with type 1. They say the shock could have caused it.wish I hadn't put my brakes on now.
 
Interesting question. My grandfather was late onset T1 like me and he felt it was brought on by the deaths of both his parents within months of each other. Mine was brought on by my first pregnancy when I was 29 which is a stress on the body of course. LADA Diabetes is lingering (L=latent) and stress or illness is a trigger I believe. Classic T1 diagnosed in childhood? Different matter?
 
A friend, now 80, had an accident at 15 when she was hit by a motorbike. Not badly hurt but seemed to quite suddenly bring on type1.
I was going through a very traumatic emotional time just before being diagnosed type2, not overweight, not ill and t2 not in close family.
 
Hi there Dale. I had quite a traumatic experience when I was 15 and within 2 years I ended up being a diabetic on insulin. No one else in the family has it or have had it so I do believe it was due to that, even going back to 1988 it was mentioned that it could be linked to that hope this helps jo
 
Yes I think this was so in my case, very stressed about moving to Spain to live and only a few months on was diagnosed with type 1.
 
I think my late onset T1 was caused by extreme stress too. No history of diabetes in the family and diagnosed at 52 after a few years of what seemed like a living hell. Of course I'm still confronted with 'type 1? Are you sure?'
 
I became type 1 at the age of 42 after my husband committed suicide. My body just went into shock and was dealing with huge amounts of stress. I also have diabetes in my family as my brother has it but diagnosed as a teenager. Stress is defiantly the reason for me.
 
For me I totally changed my lifestyle, I went from drinking every night, eating rubbish and zero exercise to going teetotal eating healthy and going to the gym 3 times a week.

Can't think of any other reason as to what could have brought mine on at 35.
 
Hi Dale, no advice I'm afraid, and I'm no expert, but I've come to believe that there could definitely be a link. My son sustained a neck injury and suffered for a year before finding out it was fractured and had to have spinal surgery. Shortly after that, he crashed his car (wasn't hurt thank God) then a year or so later was diagnosed with Type 1, completely out of the blue (like most T1's). It's only after my sister said she knows of two young men who had serious motorcycle accidents who went on to develop T1 that made me think this way. My son was aged 22, so like you, not the most usual age to get it.
 
I was diagnosed after my ex husband left, I was in shock and very upset ( and telling our two children) I became ill with suspected Colitis, then type 1, always been fit and well and very rarely any coughs or colds.
 



I feel that it is possible that stress brought on my Type 1 diabetes as my daughter was very ill for the whole of the year before diagnosis. This was extremely stressful, I had many sleepless nights and was worried all the time.
 
I think that for people that may have a predisposition for diabetes then a traumatic event could "trigger" it - or more like the straw that breaks the camels back.
I had a motorcycle "accident" in my late thirties (stolen car came out a side road into me). Long story short but 18 months later, diagnosed with T2 (wrongly - actually T1). Went to a "Living with Diabetes" class. I asked the question about trauma. Of the 12 there, half had had some sort of high stress event; car accident, fell of a ladder, bereavement, burglary, divorce etc.
So, yes, I definitely think there is some correlation - but the medical profession (and the insurance industry) completely deny it.
 
Hi yes I would definitely say it can be caused by stress. I lost a boyfriend and a few years later took type 1, nobody in my family's history has had diabetes. I am sure that some of the things you have been through and the awful things you must have seen would definitely have contributed to it - I have suffered from PTSD and know how deeply awful and debilitating it can be - hope you feel better and coping with everything
 
Yes I think there is a connection. There was no diabetes in my family at all. Then my favourite uncle died suddenly. At 19 I went down to 6 stone, got a cold and went to the Dr. I was in hospital within 2 hours. I have now had diabetes for 42 years and find if I get stressed at all, sugar goes up and I get any infection going. I wear a sensor from freestyle libre and it has been fantastic at helping to control my blood sugars.
 
I was only 2.5 years old but when I had just turned 2 I ripped half of my second toe nail off, mam said it was terrible, and 7 month later type1 so maybe
 
The genesis to mine was an awful head cold in Europe on extended holidays at age 49. Although I likely had a genetic predisposition from the fact of a parent who had been type one from childhood. Whammo off came all the weight for me without plausible reason (as my pancreas caved in) and then a slow burn to insulin dependence a number of years later when oral meds became ineffective. I guess in my case there had been years of stress with fairly hearty eating and perhaps a bit of overweight involved. When the stress dropped away then the virus I caught was probably when the defences were down.
 
Hopefully we'll all know for sure sooner rather than later.

Personally, I was working away from home for many months and fairly unhappy. The unusual thing is that immediately prior to becoming unwell - I was fairly happy.

But I assume that the "stress" from a poor career choice was the root cause. I've had very little wrong with me up to that. I was prematurely born and have hayfever but that's it.

I do firmly put my T1D down to emotional environmental factors.
 
We were going on holiday, I was driving. Not far into the journey a large truck approached from the other direction and as it got level with us, it bashed into the bough of a large roadside tree, which then fell on our car. We were OK, but shocked. Later that week the symptoms began. T1 was diagnosed soon after.
That was forty years ago last month....
 
I always thought this was a known thing? Either way, I was in a car crash as a seven year old and within a couple of months I was diagnosed with Type 1......
 
scan313 said:
I always thought this was a known thing? Either way, I was in a car crash as a seven year old and within a couple of months I was diagnosed with Type 1......
Click to expand...
It's a known "thing" as much as the rest of the ideas as to what causes type 1 diabetes. Currently, it's just a concept.
 
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