QUESTION - is this possible

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Hazel

Hazel

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I had an Email from an ex-colleague to tell me that a young man we both worked with has just been diagnosed with MS

When we worked together we swapped notes on diabetes, he T1 and me T2, he was often a sickly young man, who seemed to succumb to every bug, cold, etc, his HbA1c never getting into single figures.

But MS as well........... Has he just been extremely unlucky, or could it be connected to his T1 diabetes.

I am so upset at this news, as MS I think is a whole heap worse than diabetes.

I would value your thoughts
 
Hi Hazel, from what I have read MS is an autoimmune disease, like Type 1 diabetes, so they may have a genetic link. My father has psoriasis which is also autoimmune, and I think that thyroid problems can also be autoimmune in origin. So unfortunately we appear to be prone to all sorts of things :(
 
Steffie, thanks for the link

Jikes - I had never heard of that connection, poor guy
 
Thanks Alan, what a shock, he is only late 20s

Could badly maintained diabetes been a factor?
 
Hazel said:
Thanks Alan, what a shock, he is only late 20s

Could badly maintained diabetes been a factor?
Click to expand...

I don't think that the potential damage that may be done by diabetes would be a cause, although it may make the symptoms more difficult to deal with. MS affects the nervous system - brain and spinal cord - so it's possible that neuropathy would add to the problems.

It must be awful to have this on top of the diabetes. I think that we can often fall into the trap of believing that having one horrid disease means we won't have to worry about others - I know I have caught myself thinking this way on more than one occasion. Sadly that's often not the case and we can be just as vulnerable (if not more so).
 
Both diabetes (of all types) and multiple sclerosis have been linked to low levels of vitamin D, as they are more common in higher latitudes, where people get less sunlight through the winter. However, "linked with" / associated with does not mean that lack of sunlight / lack of vitamin D means you will get diabetes or MS, just that it makes it more likely.
One of my best friends, a few years older than me, developed MS a few yeats before my T1D appeared. Both of us have odd travel patterns, including sveral summers spent in arctic & subantarctic regions (me), several years living in arctic Canada (her), majority of time spent in northern hemisphere, with some time in southern hemisphere, but neither of us are too bothered about what increased our chances of getting out conditions; we just get on with living with them. She has had to get a tricycle to remain mobile over long distances, although also walks and drives a lot, accompanied by various dogs over the years. I reckon I got off easier than her.
 
Soz Hazel i havent a clue but have a hug on me (((Hazel)))
 
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