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T1D - What age where you when you were diagnosed?

What age were you when you were diagnosed with T1D?

  • Total voters
    25
Teapot99

Teapot99

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Hi everybody,

I thought I would create a poll to see at what age everybody on here was diagnosed with T1D. I just thought it would be nice to see how long each person has been diagnosed. I have spoken to quite a few people and this was suggested for me to do. I was wondering if anybody was diagnosed around a similar age to me? Thank you 🙂
 
Someone said something to me recently which fits very nicely with your question.
They had a theory that autoimmune conditions, like diabetes, occur at ages divisible by 7. He was diagnosed at the age of 7 and knew someone else diagnosed at the age of 28. I was diagnosed at the age of 36 but was feeling unwell for some months, so it is possible I had diabetes when I was 35.
Is this just coincidence or is there something in it?
 
helli said:
Someone said something to me recently which fits very nicely with your question.
They had a theory that autoimmune conditions, like diabetes, occur at ages divisible by 7. He was diagnosed at the age of 7 and knew someone else diagnosed at the age of 28. I was diagnosed at the age of 36 but was feeling unwell for some months, so it is possible I had diabetes when I was 35.
Is this just coincidence or is there something in it?
Click to expand...
That's really interesting. I would say that's maybe a coincidence as I was diagnosed at the age of 5, but I could just be one of the people that don't fit in this rule? Seems quite interesting though!
 
I was 51 by the time I went to the doctor, but I know I was showing symptoms for a few months previously. Stretching a point, it’s possible it was triggered when I was 49 and brewed up slowly.
 
helli said:
Someone said something to me recently which fits very nicely with your question.
They had a theory that autoimmune conditions, like diabetes, occur at ages divisible by 7. He was diagnosed at the age of 7 and knew someone else diagnosed at the age of 28. I was diagnosed at the age of 36 but was feeling unwell for some months, so it is possible I had diabetes when I was 35.
Is this just coincidence or is there something in it?
Click to expand...
Me at 56, another one divisible by 7
 
Tom1982 said:
Josie was 4 when diagnosed, so unfortunately she’s blown the multiples of 7 theory out of the water. If it’s any consolation she also ruined my plans for world domination when she came along :rofl:
Click to expand...
I was 5, I think my Mum thought the exact same thing :rofl:
 
Thanks for all voting! It's really interesting to see! I wonder if the 7 rule can be applied to more of us? :confused:
 
Tom1982 said:
Josie was 4 when diagnosed, so unfortunately she’s blown the multiples of 7 theory out of the water. If it’s any consolation she also ruined my plans for world domination when she came along :rofl:
Click to expand...
I am sure the skills you have learned with Josie and her T1 can be put to great use with your world domination.
 
I was 6. I had chicken pox and my autoimmune response killed my islet cells. Although the consultant at the time told me I'd probably end up developing it sooner or later anyway.
My daughter is 7, irrationally dreading the day she gets chicken pox..!
 
Lauren said:
My daughter is 7, irrationally dreading the day she gets chicken pox..!
Click to expand...
The vaccine is licensed. Just isn't (yet) recommended by JCVI outside of a few groups. You might try asking your GP and see if they'll give it. https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/chickenpox-vaccine/

(Presuming it's the same price as the adult shingles vaccine Shingrix it's not cheap to have it privately. Around £460 for two doses. It may not be, obviously.)
 
Lauren said:
I was 6. I had chicken pox and my autoimmune response killed my islet cells. Although the consultant at the time told me I'd probably end up developing it sooner or later anyway.
My daughter is 7, irrationally dreading the day she gets chicken pox..!
Click to expand...
Oh wow, I wonder if that is what happened to me? I got it around the time my parent's divorced but I had had chicken pox before... It would make a lot of sense if that was the case. I've never thought about that before
 
helli said:
I am sure the skills you have learned with Josie and her T1 can be put to great use with your world domination.
Click to expand...
Yep! I can now fault find and repair large industrial equipment whilst refreshing the Dexcom Follow app repeatedly! I’ll add multitasking to my CV 🙂
But it’s not been all bad. Lots of people told me that being diagnosed young was, in some respects, better. It’s aged me massively but she doesn’t know any different now, so that’s great.
 
I was 16 when diagnosed but was probably 15 when I actually got unwell. I just didn't want to see the doctor! I had glandular fever (apparently - it came up in the blood tests but I didn't have symptoms). The GP at the time thought the glandular fever probably triggered my immune system to attack my pancreas causing type 1 diabetes. I don't know if this is actually true but it seems logical.
 
47 for me - so not quite divisible by 7! I'm convinced mine was brought on following an mRNA Covid vaccine (Pfizer one) messing with my immune system (developed Psoriasis shortly after, another auto-immune condition) and then shortly after that lost loads of weight and was diagnosed Type 1
 
I was also 16 but I had shown patterns of pre-t1 for a while before. When I did PE I would be unwell (like a cold) hungry and weeing loads, and also when I went to stay at my dads, i would say for over a year at least. Nobody spotted the pattern.
The weeks before I had awful toothache and then that cold type reaction again (I react like this with a few days of highs/its like hayfever) went to my GP he heard the symptoms tested my wee then blood it was 24, he sent me off to hospital.

@Lauren I have worried when my daughter had toothache and cold type symptoms but we did the ELSA Study and she came back with no markers in her genes which helped a little. I will always worry she will get it.
 
I suspect menopause might be a factor in my developing it at 55 although I had been battling menopause symptoms since I was 49 but diabetes definitely didn't develop until I was 55 as I had a normal HbA1c the year before. My sister (14 months older than me) developed a different autoimmune condition around the same time as I got diabetes and a similar age to when our mother developed RA (also autoimmune) at menopause too, so I suspect dramatic hormonal change may have been the trigger for our immune systems to go rogue! I do wonder is hormonal changes may also be a trigger for young people. I know viruses are a strongly suspected trigger but just a gut feeling that hormonal changes may play a part too.
 
Jo had literally never been ill until I stupidly took her to the beach at the end of our road one October night after work. She ended up getting a terrible earache and the rest is history. I’ll regret that stupid decision until the day I die!
 
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