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Diabetes & Covid

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JimmyD

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My first post and its difficult to know where i start.
My wife is the one with diabetes, diagnosed in January last year. In March last year I managed to presuade her to get her 2nd COVID shot (She had avoided getting for some time as our neighbour is strongly anti-vax, even was advocating the horse dewormer.)
In the last 8 months or so she has had problems with her immune system, adding to autoimmune disorder she already has had for 20yrs and various other symptoms. Her family in Kazakhstan haven't taken the vaccine, telling her taht over there doctors say anyone with autoimmune problems shouldn't take it as it causes major allergy issues. NOW they've also told her that nobody with diabetes should take it because whatever. I am under fire for persuading her to take it and have no way of arguing with her as she has cheked the internet and found many sites from Kz & others that also say this.

My question is this. Are there any virologists out there who know for certain whether diabetic patients should avoid the vaccine. I need facts to back me up and im almost certain many of the sites she is looking at ( & the info my inlaws are quoting) are coming from people who are not as knowledgeable as they seem.
 
You can search in Google Scholar for research papers on diabetes and the covid 19 vaccination (there's loads) if you want peer reviewed papers. I've looked at one which says younger diabetics should be prioritised for vaccination, based on data from Public Health England. Some of the research papers are quite hard going though.

A bit more accessible, is guidance from Diabetes UK : "if you have diabetes, we strongly encourage you to get your coronavirus vaccines. "
and that's good enough for me. DUK have no financial interest in selling vaccines, so are able to give unbiased advice. They employ research scientists, doctors and nurses, amongst others, and I trust them to advise what's best, over some potentially less reliable sites on the internet.
I've been triple vaccinated, and wouldn't hesitate to get another when I get invited to do so.
So, I'd say your wife should go for it, but I appreciate you may need to do some pursuading. She can also phone the DUK helpline and ask them for advice.
Best wishes, Sarah
 
JimmyD said:
Are there any virologists out there who know for certain whether diabetic patients should avoid the vaccine.
Click to expand...
In terms of just diabetes I don't think there's any disagreement: we should get the vaccination. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/health-conditions/ has pointers about various conditions, and the two for diabetes (Diabetes UK and JDRF) both recommend getting it.

More generally, https://www.autoimmuneinstitute.org/vaccine-autoimmune-disease-faq/ seems to recommend it for most people with autoimmune conditions.

I don't think any of them would recommend against asking your GP for advice, but I think the expectation is that for almost everyone getting vaccinated is safer than not.

I don't recall anyone serious recommending caution for people with Type 1 diabetes just because of the diabetes. (If there were such a general warning I think I'd have heard of it by now.)
 
I've had 3 Covid jabs (not quite ancient enough to get the 4th one) so far and had no side effects yet from any of them.
 
Welcome to the forum @JimmyD

There is some information about the vaccines here, including some common worries about safety, which you might find helpful and reassuring:

www.diabetes.org.uk

Coronavirus vaccines and diabetes

On this page:
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

I note that people with diabetes were enrolled in the trials before that vaccines were licensed, and also that the MHRA have been collecting data around safety issues. The majority of T1s in the UK (approx 400,000) will have had multiple doses by now - along with thousands of people living with other autoimmune conditions - so if there was a sgnificant risk of an adverse event I would have expected it to have become clear and be acted upon by now?
 
trophywench said:
I've had 3 Covid jabs (not quite ancient enough to get the 4th one) so far and had no side effects yet from any of them.
Click to expand...
I have had 4 jabs and believe I am younger than you and have no other medical conditions.
None have affected my immune system. The only diabetes related impact was increasing my insulin sensitivity - I had a few days of hypos before reducing my insulin dose - which is still ongoing over a year later.

About 6 week after my last dose, I contracted covid and my symptoms were very minor (I have had worse colds). I would not want to know what it would have been like without the vaccine.
 
Thank you all.
My wife (T2 diabetes) has had two vaccines ( 1 AZ & 1 Pfizer). Since the 2nd she has had increased problems and recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I think ( as does our GP) that this stems from long term auto-immune problems (Hashimoto) & other issues ( long term statins for high cholesterol &c).
She is adamant that it is all due to the vaccine. She reads all sort of websites which claim this and we have had arguments as she wants to contact <<lawyers>> who have posted ads on local post boxes offering to help apply for "vaccine damage payments" for all sorts of symptoms (all scams).
On top of that apparently, according to my stepson, in Kazakhstan they are now officially saying that Diabetic patients ( not sure if its T1 or T2) should NOT be given the vaccine. Any time I try to reason with her ( like showing the articles in this website etc) she goes into hysterics. She now sees any problems I have (i'm over 60 with a few ailments) as due to t eh vaccine ( not old age or general decrepitude).

I suppose I will have to try gently coaxing her into reading the decent info on all this. It is not going to be easy as he has convinced herself that the vaccine is causing all sort of problems and is killing people everywhere.
 
When I had my first jab, I was concerned about the side effects it may have.
I decided the low risk of side effects from the vaccine was preferable to high risk of being on a respirator in hospital if I caught covid. The only other option was to hide away from the world until covid has passed and the very high risk of mental issues put me off that idea.
 
Could you Google for studies particularly in Kazakhstan? I did a quick search and found one mentioning the increased risk of COVID to people with diabetes - risk of pneumonia, etc.

Could you ask how she thinks the vaccine damages the immune system? Don’t accept links - ask her to explain in her own words. It’s said that it’s better to ask questions and let people come to their own conclusions, than try to tell them things to lead them to those conclusions when they’re defensive and their views are entrenched. That is, the questions help them find their own way there.
 
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Hi Travellor. Thanks you for this I will look into it over the weekend
 
trophywench said:
I've had 3 Covid jabs (not quite ancient enough to get the 4th one) so far and had no side effects yet from any of them.
Click to expand...
I've had three too.. I wasn't diabetic when I had them...they all knocked me about, the last one was dreadful and I know I said I'd never have another when I was in the middle of the worst of the side effects but I definitely would. I had covid in April. I was quite ill with it and I have no doubt had I not had the jabs it could have been a different story. I'm with you on this.. I'll be having the fourth regardless of the side effects I've had. I have side effects with vitamins so I expected it.. not everyone is as complex as me!
 
JimmyD said:
Hi Travellor. Thanks you for this I will look into it over the weekend
Click to expand...

Did your wife have any covid like symptoms during the pandemic?
Not immediately after the vaccines, but any other times?
Even very mild symptoms?

It's possible she did get infected at some stage, unless she was isolating throughout, but the vaccines prevented a full blown infection, (which could have been anything up to fatal), but covid (or long covid) could still have affected her immune system reading through them.
 
She has had some mild symptoms last winter, but the LFT was negative both times. (Same for me). I suppose she could even have had it without showing any symptoms. ( I had a three day infection in January, but again it showed negative on the LFT.
She has also been staying at home most of the time for the past 2 years since Covid first hit. Only visitor we have had in that time was my daughter who tested clean before during and after the visit.
 
JimmyD said:
She has had some mild symptoms last winter, but the LFT was negative both times. (Same for me). I suppose she could even have had it without showing any symptoms. ( I had a three day infection in January, but again it showed negative on the LFT.
She has also been staying at home most of the time for the past 2 years since Covid first hit. Only visitor we have had in that time was my daughter who tested clean before during and after the visit.
Click to expand...

It's possible it's didn't show on the lateral flow test, it does happen.

 
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