Getting Sick More Often

[JJenson]

Ok I have been recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about 3 months ago. My dad has had it for liek 40 years and my brother has had it for about 20 years now.

They have never had an issue with getting sick more but over the last 6 months I have been sicker than I have my entire life. Is this cause of the diabetes or just bad coincidence?

I have tried searching but can't find any answers.

One more thing I am on Novalog and also Lantus and it seems as if the Lantus does absolutely nothing. There is no change when I take it to when I do not take it? any clues?

Thanks
Jeff

[2high]

firstly, welcome to DF :)

If your lantus isnt doing much, I think you really need to get your dosage looked at by your Dr, or try something else... Because that really doesn't sound right...

As for the getting sick part, it's hard to say for sure, but if your D was coming on for a while, it's quite possible. D is an auto-immune disease, so when you get run down with sugars creeping up, it's likely you will get sick a lot easier than usual. Hopefully that will all settle down as you get things under control.

Anyway, there are a lot of really friendly, smart people here, willing to give lots of great information. Again, Welcome.

Kit.

[JJenson]

Yeah I have tried lots of different doses on the Lantus from 20 up to 40 units and also 0 units. The weird thing is no matter what I do I can control my sugar levels and keep them in the safe range.

I just wonder why that is cause I don't believe I should be able to do that if I am not taking it??

Well then I hope as time goes on it will get better I was guessing it was cause of the oncoming of it and going through things like the honeymoon phase and then coming off of it.

Thanks again and I am glad to be here.

Jeff

[Chris Graham]

Hello and welcome!

Have you gotten a flu shot? That might help you some.

Good luck!

[JJenson]

No I havn't got a flu shot. I actually keep getting really bad colds and strep. I have not gotten the flu at all and I hope that stays that way.

[MJM]

Jeff, you are very welcome here. You will find it very informative. If you have problems starting off I think you should go back to your medical team and look for reasons why this is happening. To me it just does'nt sound right. And if you're in doubt get it checked. It's possible the lantus batch is faulty although unlikely.I would suggest that you get the flu vaccine though.

[ProudNanaof5]

Welcome to our family... :wavey: The way the Lantus is working seems strange. How long have you been taking it? When do you take it? am or pm? Might work better if you split the dose. I take 3/4 of mine in am and the rest in pm. But it should do something... I'd talk with my endo if I was you. Good Luck and glad you joined us...

[JJenson]

Thanks for the advise. I went to a doctor and they said this is actually strange as well. Apparently what was said in the first reply about the immune system at first was confirmed by the doctor as well. So I am sure I will be back to my healthy self after little bit.

As for the lantus I take it at night before I goto bed. The weird thing is I can control my levels better without it so I have decided to stayoff of it and monitor very closlel the effects of it. As of now I am at 1 week and actually have better levels and things are staying where they should.

So I guess I will just consult my doctor and tell him the findings and see what he says but I really see no point in taking something if I can control it better without.

Thanks all for the suggestions

Jeff

[duck]

In recent memory, I went literally years and got one measly, mild cold in that time. But more recently, over the last 18 months, I have become like Jerry Rice--I seem to catch everything.

A lot of it is just plain old luck. For years, I worked with a number of germaphobes, had no kids, etc. Now, I work with idiots who will come to work coughing and hacking (as I type this, the dude across from me is hacking up a lung), and when asked by someone if they are "okay" they say "No, I think I have the flu, but I can't miss any time here..." I could literally stand up and cuss them out when I hear that ignorant ****.

Also, I have a three-year old in daycare at least twice a week, and man-oh-mighty I never anticipated how powerful a vector-agent a toddler could be. He's like a walking germ-carrier...what makes him cough knocks his daddy out with bed-rest and anti-biotics (exaggerating).

And last year, working in DC, riding the mass-transit with sick people all the danged time didn't help my health either.

Anyway, keep you hands washed often, don't ever stick your fingers in your eyes/nose/mouth, etc., and you literally cut down your chances of getting sick dramatically.

[lilituc]

Diabetics do get sick more often. Here is an article about it (which might be a bit hard for some of us to read):
Communications and Public Affairs (http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/story.html?listing_id=21647)

Maybe Lantus just doesn't work for you. Can you try Levemir instead?

[DanG]

Thanks for the advise. I went to a doctor and they said this is actually strange as well. Apparently what was said in the first reply about the immune system at first was confirmed by the doctor as well. So I am sure I will be back to my healthy self after little bit.

As for the lantus I take it at night before I goto bed. The weird thing is I can control my levels better without it so I have decided to stayoff of it and monitor very closlel the effects of it. As of now I am at 1 week and actually have better levels and things are staying where they should.

So I guess I will just consult my doctor and tell him the findings and see what he says but I really see no point in taking something if I can control it better without.

I think the season for sick is on - as in, winter and cold and as someone else mentioned, all the sick people we encounter.

I know I am just now feeling a whole lot better after about 6 weeks with whatever sore throat thing is/was going around, and then some insulin resistance and who knows what else. But, I'm finally back to old routine of pm 20 lantus and 3-10-5 humalog for meals. Feeling strong and good is a looooong road this season for me, and perhaps that is the season for you too.

As to the doc - I was told by the doc 33 years ago that I would know more about this living condition than he. After all, this is a living condition. All doc can do is speak from what he understands of other patients and their experience and fix for this/that. Rely on your best judgement for using lantus or not. I have not heard anyone here say that lantus is absotively necessary for your well being... yet. Speak up, anyone that knows the life effects of using lantus. I too am scoping out an unusual high need for lunch.

Anyway, I think you are doing great "playing" with your meds - it is your life, your meds, and it seems to me you are using your head on scoping out what needs to be done. Not unless someone sez lantus is required for life - I see no problem dropping it and monitoring your progress.
DanG

[dgrilli]

The real reason flu hits in winter - and how to stop it naturally


For decades we've heard the myth that flu strikes in winter because of the colder weather. But numerous studies have all debunked that theory. Studies have shown that flu hits the tropics in their "winter" when it's still quite warm (usually during the rainy season).

No, there's another reason flu hits in winter. And it gives you an easy way to stop the flu before it hits. And it doesn't involve getting a flu shot.

We already know that our bodies produce a lot less vitamin D during the winter. But is it possible the reduced vitamin D levels in winter contribute to the flu?

The evidence is there. Years ago, an observant British general practitioner, R. Edgar Hope-Simpson, connected influenza epidemics in the northern hemisphere with winter solstice. So, flu hits right when vitamin D levels begin to plummet. Conventional medicine has largely ignored his work, until now.

Just this year, two major medical journals released a report written by Dr. John Cannell, a California psychiatrist at the Atascadero State Hospital in California. This is a maximum security facility for the criminally insane. In his report, Dr. Cannell noted that wards all around his got hit hard with a severe flu-like outbreak in April 2005. None of his 32 patients caught the flu - even after they mingled with infected inmates from other wards.

Dr. Cannell wondered why his ward avoided the flu when it hit all the others. He soon realized it was the high doses of vitamin D he prescribed to all the men on his ward. He had found that his patients, like most other people in the industrial world, had a deficiency. (He must be one of the very few psychiatrists that pays attention to nutrition!) His efforts to correct the deficiency boosted their immune system and completely protected them from the flu.

Why does it work? Science recently discovered that vitamin D stimulates your white blood cells to make a substance called cathelicidin. Researchers haven't studied this chemical on the flu virus yet, but they have previously reported that it attacks a wide variety of pathogens. These include fungi, viruses, bacteria, and even tuberculosis.

So, it turns out that my suggestions for you to have your vitamin D levels checked this time of year were right on target. But now, armed with this new information, I don't even think it's necessary to spend the money on a test. Vitamin D is cheap. And it stimulates your body to make what might be the ultimate antibiotic! One with no toxicity at all and only kills those organisms invading you (not your own cells).

Arm yourself with the incredible protection of vitamin D. Get sunlight when you can. Just be sure not to burn. If you are mostly indoors, I strongly suggest that you add vitamin D to your daily regimen. I recommend 5,000 IU per day. I see no downside to this dose, especially in the winter months!

Yours for better health and medical freedom,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD

Ref: FASEB Journal July 2006; Epidemiology and Infection, online, December 2006.


I have just read this and thought I would post it. I did start supplementing with D3, it was real cheap like less than 5 Dollars American for a whole bottle. This stuff really works for me. I believe the hype and the science behind this.

I have not taken a 5000IU dose and I don't expect to although I've heard that some have taken 70,000 IU daily for three days when sick. Whithout any problems. I have been taking 800IU daily in the morning and once or twice 1200IU.

I would like to try some D-Ribose and that Insulow that was posted in another post.

[duck]

Does the sun not shine in the tropics during flu season? I mean, I'll pop my vitamin D anyway, but I wonder?

[SueM]

Once your diabetes is is stable you will find the infections etc, will clear up and you will go back to normal.
If any diabetic looks at their record books they will prob see when/if they are going through a bad patch of control they are more prone to infections/virus's.

[2high]

Once your diabetes is is stable you will find the infections etc, will clear up and you will go back to normal.
If any diabetic looks at their record books they will prob see when/if they are going through a bad patch of control they are more prone to infections/virus's.

Record books?? *cough*... Yeah, erm, sure. I think I have about 50 of those somewhere... semi filled...

Seriously though, Sue's right (as usual!).

I really hope the doctors get you straightened out... But in the mean time, good luck, and we'll see ya around...

[kgm0612]

Hey Jeff..........welcome!

When I was first dx'd almost 4 years ago, I didn't feel well for many months afterwards. Then winter came along and I caught one cold after another. My primary doctor suggested I get a pneumonia shot, which I did, and a yearly flu shot. I have also added a daily vitamin and extra vitamin C. So far, I'm feeling pretty good! Good luck!

Karen

[JJenson]

Thanks for all the great replys everyone this is very helpful. I am doing great feel good minus cold after cold after cold but other than that life is no different now than it was a year ago.

I got the diabetes handled for the most part now I will just wait for the immune system to be rebuild. I am sure it will come back after reading cause all my energy has and strength for the most part.

I see no reason that diabetes will rule my life or my families. I will always monitor it though to make sure it always stays that way for me.

As far as I can tell Lantus and anything else has not been needed so I will stay off of it until I see any fluxuating that shouldn't be there.

Thanks all again for all the replies its been great glad I have somewhere I can come and ask questions. I should get my wife on here this would help her alot. She gets a little stressed sometimes about it cause her parents try and tell her things that aren't true about diabetes or at least my diabetes.

Thanks all
jeff

[duck]

Jeff, we do have some couples on here, not many. But yeah, encourage your wife to join up. A lot of the "conventional" horror stories that get bandied about in regards to this disease are about diabetics who did not make any effort to take care of themselves. Then their stories take on mythical proportions and become the "truth". It can be very frustrating when we are confronted with these stories...

Back to the original topic, I don't agree with the study that says diabetics get sick more often or suffer from infections more often. To paraphrase a famous doctor who has Type 1, if we control this disease to the point where our labs and readings are "normal" all the time, then how do we run increased risks of organ failure or getting sick?

Getting ill depends on many things, and let's face it, the germs are everywhere. But practicing good hygiene and avoiding people who are sick go a long way toward staying healthy.