T1D - What age where you when you were diagnosed?

[Lilly]

I was diagnosed late 60s

 

[rebrascora]

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!

My understanding is that it is probably a ticking time bomb and that ear infection was just the trigger but it could have happened earlier or later perhaps at a less convenient time, like in the middle of her exams or when on holiday somewhere abroad. There would have been lots of other opportunities throughout her life for something else to trigger it, so don't beat yourself up about taking her to the beach that one time. None of us can live in a plastic bubble.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

My kid was 8, almost 9, when diagnosed so doesn’t fit the 7s theory.

 

[Carlos]

I was 22, which doesn't fit the 7 pattern either.

 

[Woodywoodpecker]

I was misdiagnosed type 2 at 57, 7 months later type 1 58 after bad chest infection. Nurse at local docs told me was my fault I had it, changed her tune when a nearly ended up in hospital

 

[SimonP]

7, so it must be true 😉

 

[Lauren]

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

I used to work in a hospital pharmacy and have seen countless scripts for children who have contracted type 1 after chicken pox. No one seems to talk about it!

 

[Lauren]

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.)

I'm happy to pay for the vaccine but it is a live virus so could trigger an immune response anyway (so says my GP )

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I'm happy to pay for the vaccine but it is a live virus so could trigger an immune response anyway (so says my GP )

As far as I understand it Zostavax is a live attenuated vaccine but Shingrix isn't. They'll both trigger an immune response of some kind, of course. (Shingrix is more effective at protecting against shingles. I presume it's better against chickenpox but I don't know.)

 

[Carlos]

I'm happy to pay for the vaccine but it is a live virus so could trigger an immune response anyway (so says my GP )

I thought that the whole point of traditional vaccines was to trigger an immune response. I think the mechanism of mRNA vaccines may be different.

 

[SimonP]

I used to work in a hospital pharmacy and have seen countless scripts for children who have contracted type 1 after chicken pox. No one seems to talk about it!

I had an ear ache shortly before I was diagnosed, but then again I had lots of ear aches as a child.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I think the mechanism of mRNA vaccines may be different.

Not meaningfully, no. The idea of all vaccines is to present antigens (things that the immune system will react to). With most vaccines they contain the antigens (either because they're attenuated or inactivated viruses/bacteria or they're constructed protein structures). mRNA vaccines contain mRNA that causes some of our cells to generate and so present the antigens. (Viral vector vaccines are similar, using a damaged virus to do what viruses naturally do only instead of causing cells to reproduce the virus they cause the cells to generate particular antigens.)

So you're always getting antigens which your immune system responds to. The immune response is the whole point.

 

[OLVE75]

Thanks for all voting! It's really interesting to see! I wonder if the 7 rule can be applied to more of us?

I was diagnosed Type 1 at the age of 49 but had raised HBA1c tests since age 42, incidentally when I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hypothyroidism - 7 Year rule for both Autoimmune conditions.

 

[PhoebeC]

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!

It wasn’t your decision that lead to diabetes. Give yourself a break

 

[trophywench]

Hey, @Carlos - I was 22 as well. Decades prior to yourself. I'd had raging D & V in the February, started Monday or Tuesday the previous week so I'd been off work since either the Tues or Wed and when I didn't improve over the weekend I had to ring the GP and get a sicknote for work and she said quite firmly that it was very likely to be a nasty virus cos there really was 'a lot of it about' at the time. (I doubted that a bit, we lived in Kidderminster but both worked in Birmingham me in an office and husband at a motor factors hence the people we shared most of our space and breathing with weren't 'local' to our home area, and not evident amongst the folk we knew.)

Recovered from that OK and back to work. At various times over the next few months There were times wen I had odd symptoms but it was from late May I started to feel a bit rough and extra tired at times when I didn't think I'd really done anything more to instantly explain it - but never lasted very long at a time. Therefore it couldn't be anything 'serious' -- could it! I justified it like that for a couple of months and it was only when the constant raging thirst and needing to wee got VERY out of hand I eventually decided to visit our GP, rang them, first available appt after 5pm was the following Tuesday so I took that, it was soon enough cos it wasn't urgent......

GP said what he thought it was and called nurse through to take me to the nurse's room do urine sample and she kicked me back out to wait outside the GP office again and he would call me back in asap, which he did, yep it was diabetes. Admitted to hospital the following morning, drip set up, bloods taken. Diabetes confirmed and first insulin jab at 2.30 ish that afternoon.

Very annoyed; since we couldn't afford to go on holiday that year I'd already decided to have that next fortnight off (all prebooked with my office) and watch the Munich Olympics - what and when exactly how it pleased only ME* - and now I couldn't. Bugger. (*ie. Not to please parents, in-laws, husband or anyone else at all, thank you.)

Hey ho!

 

[HayleyR]

I was 30 when I developed it, really out of the blue....

 

[Teapot99]

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!

Hi Tom,

My parents thought the same thing in relation to having not done things to prevent it. Please don’t beat yourself up about it though, my Dad still regrets things (e.g. divorcing my Mum - thinking that I got T1D due to stress - very unlikely) and thinking if things were done differently then it wouldn’t have happened. It’s hard but I’m very sure that Josie doesn’t blame you at all!

 

[Carlos]

Hey, @Carlos - I was 22 as well. Decades prior to yourself. I'd had raging D & V in the February, started Monday or Tuesday the previous week so I'd been off work since either the Tues or Wed and when I didn't improve over the weekend I had to ring the GP and get a sicknote for work and she said quite firmly that it was very likely to be a nasty virus cos there really was 'a lot of it about' at the time. (I doubted that a bit, we lived in Kidderminster but both worked in Birmingham me in an office and husband at a motor factors hence the people we shared most of our space and breathing with weren't 'local' to our home area, and not evident amongst the folk we knew.)

Recovered from that OK and back to work. At various times over the next few months There were times wen I had odd symptoms but it was from late May I started to feel a bit rough and extra tired at times when I didn't think I'd really done anything more to instantly explain it - but never lasted very long at a time. Therefore it couldn't be anything 'serious' -- could it! I justified it like that for a couple of months and it was only when the constant raging thirst and needing to wee got VERY out of hand I eventually decided to visit our GP, rang them, first available appt after 5pm was the following Tuesday so I took that, it was soon enough cos it wasn't urgent......

GP said what he thought it was and called nurse through to take me to the nurse's room do urine sample and she kicked me back out to wait outside the GP office again and he would call me back in asap, which he did, yep it was diabetes. Admitted to hospital the following morning, drip set up, bloods taken. Diabetes confirmed and first insulin jab at 2.30 ish that afternoon.

Very annoyed; since we couldn't afford to go on holiday that year I'd already decided to have that next fortnight off (all prebooked with my office) and watch the Munich Olympics - what and when exactly how it pleased only ME* - and now I couldn't. Bugger. (*ie. Not to please parents, in-laws, husband or anyone else at all, thank you.)

Hey ho!

My diagnosis came about after having symptoms for a couple of months, but just putting up with them. Eventually I went to the GP, who did a finger test that read not very high, so he booked me for proper tests the following week, this was a Friday.

By that time I started having cramps in my legs, and on the Saturday I looked so ill that my dad took me to A&E, where I was diagnosed and admitted to the ward. The cramps were due to electrolyte imbalance and dehydration, and the A&E doctor told my dad that I was probably only a day or so away from having a heart attack.

Moral of the story, don't ignore weird symptoms that last for more than a few days.

The GP was mortified that their finger test hadn't caught it. This was 1994, the testers weren't all that accurate, accutrend in particular was notorious for reading significantly low, so I don't really blame the GP, they did as best as they could.

 

[digihat]

Was Diagnosed at 31 originally diagnosed as type 2 at first got a health check up by coincidence hba1c was just over. Few months later did a complete health MOT gym diet etc, then suddenly started feeling weaker gradually despite being my healthiest ever. Went docs checked hba1c again went in triple digits which I found baffling at the time. They did a kentone test while at appointment and in no uncertain terms sent me to A&E as fast as possible highlighting DKA.

Didn't know what it was at the time 4 days in hospital later the journey of insulin began while the did the antibiody tests, Znt8 positive out of the three and as they say the rest is history. I still remember the doctor I was speaking to at the time asked me "Where's your Insulin" and "I was like not on insulin" at that time ha

I already had celiac disease which I was told can lead to increase risk of type 1 diabetes was told about this previously but had forgot. Had just lost my mum when this all started bit of suspicion it might have started the antibody attack due to the stresses etc but no way to prove it.