[Tatermom]

I keep hearing that there is a link between genetics, a virus, and the onset of Type 1 diabetes. I am wondering if there is a link with ear infections. Taylor had an ear infection that literally lasted a year. It just kept switching between ears and would get a little better, but never quite went away. I finally convinced the doc to stop all the antibiotics and put tubes in when she was 15 months. The antibiotics kept causing other infections and seems like her immune system didn't need to work because of all the antibiotics. Does anyone else think the antibiotics could have been detrimental to the beta cells? And..is the "sick then dx'd" pattern common?

[Tokyo Cate]

I've never thought about a link between antibiotics and diabetes because I believed the illness --> diabetes theory. I was quite sick in November 1990 (strep throat??) and diagnosed in early 1991. Taylor's experience could fall into that category, too. Ongoing ear infections followed by the onset of diabetes, though the antibiotics question is a good one. Personally, I would like to see more research done on autoimmunity.

My understanding of autoimmunity is that when the body is fighting an illness, it fails to recognize its own cells and begins an attack on them. I have a few autoimmune disorders, one of which is vitiligo (a condition in which the skin turns white due to the loss of melanocytes. These cells produce melanin, the pigment that gives the skin its characteristic color). With this disorder, you can actually see the progression, though it slowed its progression when I reached my twenties, only to start up again later. Further immune responses due to illness, injury, severe stress, etc. can make the white patches grow.

[Tatermom]

Yeah, I had vitiligo in my teens. Doc said it was a type of fungus. Who knows? Taylor started out with a strep infection in Oct 03 and was dx'd in Nov. So I guess strep is a big trigger also.

[Tokyo Cate]

I think the research on autoimmunity is relatively sound. It seems like a lot of us have had experience that supports that, though other theories likely have some solid ground.

[Starlight]

Prior to being diagnosed, i had a really bad cold that just wouldnt go away. I think as the diabetes symptoms came along, the cold disappeared but prior to the symptoms, the cold was there.

[psilocybin]

i got diabetes type 1 from a common cold. i have no idea if my pancreas was attacked extremely by the virus or my pancreas was weak in the first place and virus finished it off. kind of odd, scary in a way

[Mister Q]

I always thought it worked the other way around, the diabetes lowered your immune sytems ability to fight off nasty stuff - my diagnosis came on the back a a cyst that wouldn't heal (right in the middle of my chest, luck am a guy....lol)

I do know that bouts of high stress can bring on diabetes, my feeling is your giong to get it as it is programmed into your genes and whatever you have accelerates the whole process of it coming on. Having said that I am no medic of course!

[seacomp]

Originally Posted by Mister Q

I always thought it worked the other way around, the diabetes lowered your immune sytems ability to fight off nasty stuff - my diagnosis came on the back a a cyst that wouldn't heal (right in the middle of my chest, luck am a guy....lol)

With type 2 you are right the high BGs lead to infections that don't heal, which leads to the DX. (Mine, BTW, was also a cyst, but not in such a open place. )
With T1s, the question is can/do infections set off the autoimmune process that cause pancreas beta cell destruction. There seems to be a lot of anecdotal evidence here that it does, I don't know what the medical profession says.

[Shellbelly]

I was dx at 18 months and before that I was in and out of the hospital for my ears also. Thats what my mom thinks happen to me. There is no one in my family that has type diabetes so i guess i am the start of the hereditary??

[befni]

Hi all, I was dxd after a UTI that had been going on for about 5 weeks (the docs had said it would go away in time!), i ended up driving myself to A&E in agony and the tests proved my diabetes. However my point was after speaking to my docs there were signs that i could have had it for at least 2 years and not known. no one in my family has it either shellbelly it can be tough sometimes cant it?

[Shellbelly]

Yes it is. My sisters are tall and skinny and I get stuck being fat and diabetic. Not that I wish it on them but it just sucks!!!!

[Stumpkins]

I had a strange stomach bug that was pretty bad --which is what broke my pancreas!

[Eleigh1977]

the doctors kept diagnosing me w/ bronchitis when I really had Mono. Yeah!

I was out of school for nearly 3 months. After that I got sick majorly every single year over and over and over again. Normally w/ strep throat. My poor mom didn't know what to do w/ me. I felt like I was going crazy my senior year and saw about 6 different doctors. I told them all the tell-tale signs of being diabetic....but they never checked, because there was no history in my family. My mom would always tell them I was born three months early as well. She is also a nurse and suspected I might have low blood sugar...if they would have checked for even that, who knows??? They never tested...and we even asked. They chalked it up to stress.

I can pinpoint when I felt normal, to when I started having problems and that was after I had mono.

Once I was given the diagnosis and put on insulin...it's gotten so much better. Though I can't use some antibiotics now, because I was on them so much as a child. I have to use abnormally expensive ones now....so I hate getting sick.

I have oftened wondered if it was a combination of the two.

[Penny]

Originally Posted by Shellbelly

Yes it is. My sisters are tall and skinny and I get stuck being fat and diabetic. Not that I wish it on them but it just sucks!!!!

I have/had 6 sister, all tall and thin...I am 5 foot nothing and ...shall we say not skinny! I know what you mean, life just isn't fair, but I got all the smarts...OK, I would trade some of that for some of the skinny!