Re: Just a story that's made me wonder

Okay, those who know me know my 15-year-old son was diagnosed April 2009 and that he's a dancer.  Summer 2008, he went away to dance camp for 4 weeks.  This meant he was dancing A LOT.  This meant that he was eating on a university meal plan where he picked out whatever he wanted to eat three meals a day.  DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND.  There is nothing about this story that should make you think that I think his food choices caused his T1.  But I know that he made daily horrible food choices.  I witnessed it one weekend when I was there to see the Paul Taylor Dance Company.  And my son and I share a 15 year old friend who was also at the camp and she confirms that his choices were horrible.

Twice that summer he got sick.  Like vomiting sick.  Vomiting sick is really strange for him, as in it hadn't happened in years.  The first incident, one Saturday night, he had been at a Contact Improv Jam for a few hours.  Walking back from the jam with friends, he got really sick, stomach hurt horribly, and he collapsed (didn't not pass out).  Counselors called EMTs.  We get a call at 11:30 p.m. that EMTs are with my son!!  They didn't find anything wrong.  (Nobody checked blood sugar that I know of.)  Counselors got him settled in bed and checked on him throughout the night.  He stayed in bed Sunday.  He stayed in bed half of Monday, then resumed life at dance camp.

A few weeks later, he left a Battleworks performance halfway through because he felt so bad (and he was loving the performance).  He curled up on a bench in the lobby of the theatre until it was over.  (He was 14 and not allowed to go anywhere by himself.)  He felt horrible and stayed kind of wimpy for a few days.

So during the intervening 9 months, he went to school and danced with no illness that I can remember.  He's always been underweight and I don't think he was gaining during that 9 months.  I not really sure when the weight loss before diagnosis started but he lost over 10 pounds.

So his dad and I have wondered if this was some kind of precursor to the development of his full-blown T1.   My sons blames the first incident on a milkshake and the second on food poisoning.  ???  Of course, we will never know.  This was all nine months before full blown diabetes.  And since that presented itself during a trip to Rome where he was literally having 2 gelatos every day with lots of pizza and pasta, and then returned to the States and starting vomiting (voluminously and repeatedly hours later) within 24 hours and not recovering and regaining strength for three days before I finally took him to his pediatrician----well, it's hard not to experience that without eventually thinking of the previous summer and wondering about a connection.  Again, I KNOW the gelatos or other bad food choices did not cause the diabetes.  He'd been losing weight and drinking, drinking, drinking, and acting strange from the moment we arrived in Rome.  But I think that all could have sent him over the edge---such that when we were finally in the ped's office, his blood sugar just read HI (which meant over 600) and by the time we got to the ER, they admitted him straight away, with threats of ICU, but fortunately just in on Wednesday and out on Friday.

Thoughts?  Similar stories?  Not symptoms leading up to dx, but half a year or so before dx?

The happy part to the story (for me) is that at dx he was 85 pounds.  Put that boy on insulin and BAM!!!  His weight gain was immediate.  And he started growing in height as well---body's response to much needed weight gain in a 15 year old? In September he was 110.   He's still underweight (what is he now, 5 foot 7?), but he looks SO much better.  Some of you have heard this part before from me, so I'm guessing I should really turn out the light and go to sleep.

I don't have a similar experience, except to say that I know an awful lot of people who were diagnosed on vacation or right after coming back from vacation. Something like 2/3 of the t1 folks i know IRL were diagnosed on vacation. 

i know that's not what you were asking about...

I started havingsymptoms 6 months before I was Dx'd.  During that time, my body MUST have been making SOME insulin, because when I finally was Dx'd I was "only" 600 something.  Here's my theory (based on no actual medical knowledge, only my own experience):  Your son's body was making insulin, although at a low level.  When he ate, his body did not make enough insulin to compensate for the intake.  Being sick for a few days (and probably not eating much) gave his body a chance to recover.  The one time that I had to seek medical Tx for a high, I started throwing up (because of the high).  I think it makes good sense.  I also don't believe that the eating CAUSED the diabetes, just exacerbated the early symptoms until his failing pancreas could catch up.

Riley vomited a lot for a few months off and on leading up to being dxed. It was due to poor food choices I guess it was the diabetes. She never ran a fever and was extremely tired from time to time.  This is like from October to December tho. On my scale it said she had lost 10 lbs the dr scale said 22. I thought the 10 was just from her getting sick so often and that was why. I couldnt figure out why she was barfing so much tho she never ran a fever but yeah now we know.

Brandan got sick for the first time when he was 9 months old. It was diagnosed as simply a upper respiratory infection. He was sick for nearly 2 weeks. He would gag on his bottles because he was so stuffed up. Looking back on it I think that is where his symptoms began. Over a little time it seemed to me that he wasn't growing, but I was told not to worry because he was already quite a bit taller than most babies his age and it's normal for growth to slow down. Well anyway, the real symptoms didn't start showing until he was  12 months old, a couple of days after his first birthday party. I had to refill his sippy cup a lot for him, that resulted in more wet diapers. I thought nothing of it. Then we he started throwing up I thought he had a stomach virus. When it progressed I thought it was food poisoning.............. OK most peple here know my story too. (He hadn't grown, by the way, and he lost weight.)

I have read many times that it's believed that a virus or something in the environment triggers diabetes. So I think that his very first illness is what triggered it and all the cake he ate at his party is what pushed it over the edge. Sometimes I wonder if it was always there because he was pre-mature and very sick when he was born and he has always been slender.

I suspect that my son also had 'low-level' symptoms for probably approaching 6 months. He was 3, but would have these weird tantrums from time to time that I suspect now were caused by high blood sugars - they were not what I would consider normal, we couldn't distract him with other things and he would just SCREAM. All we could do was sit and hold him until it was better. He has had none of those since dx. We have also struggled with potty training - it was like he just did not get it at all. Now I think this wasn probably because he peed much more frequently than other kids! We tried the 3-day potty training method about 2.5 mos before dx. It was awful - because you are supposed to keep giving them fluids to make sure they have to go a lot. So I did and it would literally run thru him. We finally gave up when he was sitting at the table at the end of the third day drinking yet another glass of juice and I turned around to the sound of water falling on the floor - I thought he had spilled the juice - no- he had absolutely no idea he was peeing! Talk about frustrating - we gave up and his accidents and volume increased just prior to dx.  

But  He had always been a skinny kid (just like mom and dad) but the weight loss was much more noticeable during the last 2 weeks pre-dx. Now he looks great - not fat - but filling out nicely.

So I think too, that there may be slower onsets - when we were asked if he had been sick (the virus trigger idea) in the 2-3 months before dx, we could not think of anytime that he had even had a cold during that time. Had to go back much further to think of one. And as someone else posted, it is that the pancreas still has some insulin producing capacity - just not the normal amount. This make sense to me as people with other auto-immune diseases can go a long time without diagnosis if their symptoms come on slower or more intermittently than others with those diseases. ANd then they progress at different rates in those diseases too (MS, lupus, etc.)

I was showing signs of diabetes a month before being diagnosed. i wasnt throwing up thankfully. i had been trying to lose some weight but i lost 36 pounds in 6 weeks due to diabetes. my dad though i was throwing up to lose the weight but my mom knew i wasnt. she made a doctors appointment for may 31st, 2007 at 4:30. after some time, they told me at 5pm i had diabetes. i didnt feel sick until the day i was diagnosed and they told me that my blood sugar was over 1000. i remember sitting in the doctors office and crying for about 20 minutes straight. i was 11 and had no idea what was going to happen. i spent two days in Edward Hospital and i gained about half of the weight i lost back. i was released from the hospital 5 days before the end of 5th grade. everyone in my grade knew i had diabetes before i told most of them.

Almost 3 years, I dont mind having diabetes. i still get to have some sugar but in moderate. I know what i can and cant eat. i feel diabetes as a blessing, just my opinion. diabetes made me grow up at an early age and now i can help educate others and nothing seems to compare to that night, May 31, 2007 at 5pm.

My daughter,13, was diagnosed a year ago Feb.  The one thing I remember being odd was that she had a round of vacinations that previous Sept. and began showing symptoms of D around Dec., two months later she was dx.  I know when she had her vacinations in Sept. she had a slight cold.  I can't help but think the vaccines had something to do with it.  However, I have read that the autoantibodies tha T1's have can be present in the body years before dx.

My daughter had been pretty health child.

K

The summer before I was diagnosed at age 4, I had a cold/virus and then hip inflammation which was caused by the virus.  I think I began showing symptoms (extreme thirst but no vomiting and I don't know about weight loss) several weeks before diagnosis in early September.  There's definitely a correlation between illness and the onset of diabetes in people who are susceptible to it.

I did have some symptoms.  For 2 months prior to my diagnosis, at RANDOM times, I would eat a meal and immediately run to the bathroom to throw up.  However, it didn't matter what I ate.  For example, one time it was Japenese food.  Yes, I know there are carbs in rice, but when I eat that I normally only bolus for 45g because anymore and I go low.  So I don't see why that would be pushing me over the limit.  I don't think it is so much what you eat, but  the time. My doctor believes that my diabetes was brought on by an illness the summer before.  I was diagnosed in February, but the July before I had meningitis.  He thinks that is when my body turned on my pancreas and then it apparently takes a few months to develop T1.  So that is my story.  But I vividly remember the Sunday before I was diagnosed, jumping up from the dinner table and running to the bathroom.  I sat in there for a good long while with a trash can in my lap.  That was definitely when I knew.  I think everyone is different though.  Hope this helps!

actually we were thinking my daughter was lactose intolerant and her first episode with throwing up randomly was after eating pizza a lot of it too and that was in June but it didnt really happen again like that until October.

Hi Angie

I think it's great that you've reached out to this community on behalf of your son.  I'm assuming he's a first generation type 1 in your family?  I am as well.  I was diagnosed at 14 years old, but was experiencing symptoms since the age of 11.  I remember falling down at school, then stumbling to the doctor's office even though I couldn't see anything, and then he called my mom.  He told her that I needed to drink whole milk and orange juice.  He diagnosed me with hypoglycemia (with no blood work!)

I drastically lost weight over the next 3 years.  I dropped down to 110 lbs. and I was a large framed 5'8".  Let's just say that a size 0 was much too big for me.  Skeletal.  (I still have a few pictures)

The reason I went to the doctor was because I was losing so much weight, I never felt well anymore (always tired and thirsty and aching) and my menstrual cycle stopped.  My gynecologist diagnosed me at 14 years old.

I remember obvious symptoms of diabetes (now that I know what it is) from 3 YEARS before diagnosis.  But, since we didn't know that anything was WRONG and I very rarely complained about my health, we didn't find out I was type 1 until much much later.

I was diagnosed at 17.1% A1c and blood sugar over 1200.  I was losing 10 lbs per DAY and eating constantly.

Don't know if this answers your question, but to me, your son'ssituation seems pretty standard to diagnosis.  I know I was eating EVERYTHING IN SIGHT for the few years before diagnosis because my body always FELT hungry.  I would drink two 2-liter bottles of regular soda per DAY because it was the only thing that would make me feel less dizzy (even though I know my BG was high to begin with).  Don't get down on his eating habits.  Teenagers tend to do that stuff anyway. 

The last meal I remember, prior to daignosis, was this... we went to the gynecologist with my mom and grandmother.  The Gyno drew some blood for testing, and then we went to Burger King for lunch.  I ordered and ate: 2 whoppers, 2 large regular sodas, 1 large fry, 1 vanilla milkshake.  And after that, I was still hungry.  An hour later, I was famished and starving.  The next day, I had lost another 10 lbs overnight.

Ketones make you throw up and hurt all over like you have the flu it can kill you. Ketones are caused by not having enough insulin  that your body needs  They cause a lot of damage to your internal organs.  I passed them when I was throwing up for four months from gastroprisis. I have had type 1 for 34 years since I was 12 years old. So if a type 1 is sick they should check for ketones.

Hi Angie,I have gone over all this stuff in my mind many timrs.Thinking what was the one thing that set this all in motion.Stess-well her grandmothers health was going down at this time-was it that..they were very close....her diet-she ate no more junk than the ave, kid that we knew.But did that soft drink push this into go ?..I always had a fear that my kids would get d.My husband with the type2..but I would reasure myself that maybe that would never happen--and if it did-it would be in the adult years.Signs-what were they ??? I told not one but two doctors of my fears ....take your husbands meter out-test your kids every once in a while to look at their numbers....We lined up-they tested-held there breath-numbers perfect.Silly of me to worry.....Once one day-I saw a doctor on tv-she said if you see a brown looking dirt like place om your childs neck--it could be a sign of d.I saw that-it would leave though.I talked about this later with one endo-he gave no feedback on it.....that is the only sign I hold myself accountable for.....She was fine- I do remember her drinking a few glasses of water before she got sick suddenly-threw up--feel asleep-I thought she had a stomach virus-Next morn-she looked terrible..I called my husband -we threw her into the car and rushed to the emergency room--she begging for water--she got worse and worse so fast--I came into the hospital saying test her-I think she has diabetes...It KILLED ME-to hear them all around her using the words-diabetic--She said Mom.I don't want to have diabetes...We went by ambulance to a bigger hospitall-she was in DKA-later--She was in ICU with a baby with type1....We have to find A CURE--no more babies and children and adults everyday hearing those words.You can have a normal life-but you have diabetes.....

on a facebook group I belong to, some of us noticed that a lot of our children's 'anniversaries' of diagnosis fell on or just after holidays (valentine's, halloween, easter, etc), birthdays or other special occassions. One theory is that since kids tend to be eating more sugary stuff at these times, that may make the symptoms more obvious, which then leads to diagnosis.

Looking back I would say our son began entering the diabetes world a few months before diagnosis. There were a few days (here and there, spread out over months) that his daycare would tell us that he used the washroom a lot in the afternoon. I would think either 'how much juice did you let him drink at lunch then' or 'he went to the washroom a couple extra times, big deal'. Each time they told us this we would keep an eye out at home, see nothing and they wouldn't say anything about it anymore. Then this would happen again the odd day here and there, each time the same. The day before valentine's they had a valentine's party and he wanted to bring root beer. there was also cake and candy:). It was also his last swimming lesson in the session he was in, so we went to mcdonalds for a treat after. more rootbeer there. That night he peed so much, we knew something was definately not right. He would not normally have so much pop in a day, especially with all that other sugar, but it was a party, then a treat. This helped us to see that something was definately wrong which led us to a fairly early diagonsis (he hadn't gotten real sick or DKA or anything. in fact he didn't want to go to the hospital and kept insisting he felt fine and that it didn't matter that he was peeing a lot). The next day we limited his sugars and didn't see all the peeing of that day, but we still knew. (my husband is also type 1).