[Rigel]

Has anyone ever been able to pinpoint a trigger for their type1 diabetes? I remember having a severe viral infection over a year ago after a trip from NY. Who knows if that was the cause? Even the doctors aren't sure. Maybe the trigger occurred even sooner. How long can a person have type1 before showing any signs of diabetes? Is it possible that I had this for many years (3-4yrs) before any symptoms showed?

[Gina]

I think i started getting symptoms in 1996...i wasnt diagnosed till nov. 2000 ...so i think it is possible that you could have developed it over many years...because of me waiting so long i landed myself in the hospital for three days on IV drip...I knew i had all the symptoms and was afraid to go to the doctor but i was really feeling like **** for years....probably if i went sooner to the doctor i wouldnt be on so much insulin....i skipped over the honeymoon phase and went straight to marriage....hahaha...

I dont know what triggered it in me...i think i just got the lucky gene i guess! everyone in my family that has ever gotten type 1 diabetes has gotten it in their twenties I was 25 at diagnosis, my moms sister was at 29 i think and my grandmothers brother was 21 or so....one each generation...BUT THEY SAY TYPE 1 ISNT HEREDITARY GO FIGURE!

[Jon]

The doctor that I talked to right after my son was diagnosed asked me a few questions. He wanted to know if my son started on dairy products before he was a year old, and also wanted to know if he had the flu recently. I told him yes to both. They said that they used to think that proteins in cows milk would build up on the pancreas and cause the immune system to attack the pancreas. Now they think that a virus causes the immune system to attack pancreas cells.

I read another theory that a parasite gets inside the pancreas, and the immune system attacks the pancreas trying to get to the parasite.

My son, his mom, and his moms sister are all type 1. His moms sister was 16 when she got it. His mom was 26. My son was 8. His moms sister got it first, and we were all living in the same house.

Could it be something in the house that caused all 3 of them to get it? Or is it hereditary? I didn't get it, so heredity must have something to do with it.

Most people report flu symptoms a little while before they get it. Is it caused by the flu, or does getting diabetes cause flu-like symptoms?

Hopefully somebody will come up with some answers soon.

[mweber]

I was diagnosed with type one at the age of 30.Doctors told me alcohol,stress,and illness could cause it, since I'm the only one in my family with it who knows,but I did have strep throat prior.

[Jon]

For a while, I wondered if it could be related to hairstyling products. The only 2 diabetic kids I knew had moms who were hairdressers. I don't think that is the case now.

[Gina]

lol jon... your theories are making me laugh lol....

I actually have a weird story about why i think it came about with me at least i think...what triggered it.....like 4 or 5 years ago i smoked pot with my friends ....no i dont do it all the time...or anymore....at all...but anyway ....i got really sick from it one time i think it was laced or something and that same year i remember that i was feeling sick all the time and always going to the bathroom and started losing weight....i didnt think anything of it but i totally think something from getting high and sick from it triggered it

[Jon]

Just say no Gina! Maybe one of your stoner friends (just kidding) had the flu, and when you shared the (joint? pipe? bong?) you caught the flu.

And she thinks my theories are funny. I don't think my kid was smoking pot. At least not when he was 8.

[Tony]

Jon, what is she talking about? I never smoked anything and I have Diabetes. Gina are you feeling ok. Oh maybe I should ask my uncle if he did. He has Diabetes.

[snakeye]

Well what do we have here: Smoking pot, infections, flu, heredity and the list goes on.
I was a very very active person (hyperactive should I say) before I had it. I used to work a lot. I was an import admin for a company which I would also do bookkeeping, cost calculation, overseas connections, closely related work with customs and shipping of good and the list goes on...and a lightjokey at night...
Did a lot of venue installations etc. etc.
Then something happenned and I've understood that I could not take it anymore...Lot of stress..

After that I had a very passive 1 year which I sat in front of my computer, or either TV or out at clubbin. Meanwhile I'm not even a social drinker neither other chemical stuff. So it was a very very passive one year physically compared to my normal lifestyle. Food consumption was the same and even more. And sleeping was also another issue: I could not sleep at night, I felt better at night, always. So I've always slept when I was really could not stand. And that was in the morning! Ate when I get hungry, slept when I felt it.

Then I started to work again and after a week I was diagnosed.

After diagnosed I've always thought of the past so I definately know that the symptoms were "there" 3 months before diagnosed.

So whats the point?
A massive change of physical activity, and I know that my food consumption didn't change that much even tho the activity was less. I used to eat even more when I was on my ***!

In short I had messed up with my body...

I could ask to myself now "could it be this"?

If it is... so what?
Maybe I shouldnt do it again eh? :p

You and I know a lot of people who's doing worse than us on our body, have had worse infections and worse lifestyles...dont have it!

So I believe the reason has never been "too easy" for this...
I don't think the reason is only "one thing"

Our mixture is unic and will be resolved or, maybe resolved already.

Ultimately, however...
I "can't" believe that,

SOMEONE WILL LET US HEAL FOR SOME REASON ANYWAY.

Yeah I know it's nothing to do with the subject but it's 03:11Am in here!

[Mick]

I got type 1 in 1965, at the age of 12. I had no family history, no illness or infection proir to diagnosis, no known environmental, food, or other exposures to questionable substances, no smoking dope (at least not quite yet...!), just rotten luck! When I was diagnosed, I was also suffering from a ruptured appendix (that's what I went into the hospital for), and almost died from the septic shock of the appendix and the ketoacidosis from the undiagnosed diabetes (my glucose was over 900). However, the appendix had nothing to do with the diabetes, because I'd been having diabetic symptoms for many many months.

Go figger, eh?
Michael

[snakeye]

Ah Rigel just one thing that might be of information; the body shows no symptoms until at least over 80 or 90 percent of the insulin producing cells (islet cells, beta cells or whatever) are damaged, dead in other words.

900! I could not stand that! Mine was 360 with a lot of panic attacks that I could not stand...

Meanwhile if you're curious if you have any of your own insulin in you bloodstream and how much it is, the tests name is "C-Peptid"

[Gina]

Originally posted by Tony
Jon, what is she talking about? I never smoked anything and I have Diabetes. Gina are you feeling ok. Oh maybe I should ask my uncle if he did. He has Diabetes.

i am saying that ...after i smoked that one time...i got really sick for like a week after that...and i think maybe something triggered me off or something ...im just saying because after that time, i was never the same! i actually thought i had mono or something also...i remember i slept like that whole summer away ...

[Rigel]

Out of curiosity I think I'll request that c-peptide test from the doc next time I see him... so how long does it take for the beta cells to lose 80-90% of their functionality? Does the onset vary from months (fast) to years (slow) or is it still under speculation? Kinda nervous to think that I could have had this for much longer and all the complications that may have started already I'm kicking myself for not submitting to annual medical checkups, which could have caught any signs earlier.

[Jon]

Gina, maybe your pancreas is just sleeping it off! Try drinking some caffeine to wake it up. It is probably still hungover.

I have not heard of the C-peptide test. Is that a blood test?

[snakeye]

Rigel, I'm not quite sure. The time it takes probably varies from one to another... Try to think of your past: When did you show up the symptoms while you didn't know you had it?

I'm quite sure that I had them more than 3 months but...Maybe this had all started before... But don't be so curious about it... Even very small amounts of beta cells are enough to produce the insulin which the body needs. TypeI diabetes comes fast and you're aware of it quicky... (Thats what I remember from the first days searching the net for the questions in my mind) Type II is different: That's why it's mostly emphasized everwhere that,

"It could be there but you may not be aware of it"

Don't worry because that issue is different and mostly related with TypeII. Some Type II patients may not be aware because their resistance sometimes is very "slight" but not "dynamic" enough to cover their "mealtime peak of blood sugar" then they eat. And they rearly go into a ketoacidosis coma too... So they have diabetes but it's not very visible sometimes.

C-Peptide is what I know as a blood test which shows if you have any of your own insulin in your bloodstream...I'm not quite sure if it shows the amout actually....

If I'm wrong at anything, which I might be...kick my but!