Type 1 Diabetes is an Autoimmune Disease but does Stress and Trauma play a part in triggering it ?

I

​Im well aware of the fact that we dont have a clear cause of type 1 diabetes, some say it was triggered by a virus or other illness, many people say when it comes to children, that the child had'nt been well with another illness in the run up to being diagnosed​. 

In my case i blame ( if thats the right term ) stress and trauma and iv always believed this is what started my autoimmune problems. i had hit a part in my life where life as i knew it had just fallen apart in every form. The changes that came with it left me feeling extremely lost and very shocked and very frightened. extremely stressed and barely coping is the way i would describe this episode of my life.

When i had lost a huge amount of weight, and had various other symptoms i did go to a gp about it but i prescribed zanax to help me relax and take me down from the extreme state of fear and stress i was living with. 

It was only after i had collapsed in work and was brought to another GP that i ended up in A&E, the blood test taken there revealed Hyperthyroid, ( full blown Graves Disease ) an autoimmune disease where the thyroid gland was over active and producing too much iodine. My finger nail beds were dying and were parting company with my nails, the same thing was happening with my toe nails, my skin had taken on a tan to be proud of, i walked around in the depts of winter looking like id been sprayed on a daily basis. My hair was clearly thinning, o ye and i had the shakes as id hand over money to pay for something in a shop, i had a shake like someone who had been on the vodka all night. palpatations became very regular and lasted for hours. SVT's they called them, which eventually led to a situation i hope never to have to face again. I ended up in intensive care after my heart had to be stopped by injection and then they brought me back to life.

A procedure a few weeks later called an AV node ablation sorted this out. Although my thyroid condition was put into remission a few years later with medication and to date it has remained there, i do firmly believe that this is what and where my autoimmune problems started.

Moving forward a few years and my symptoms seemed to have re visited me and thinking i was out of remission i went for blood tests and that was when the word "Diabetes" was first said to me.

At first because i was of the older generation and heading for my 50s it was presumed i was a type 2 diabetic and getting rid of it (curing it) became my mission. i was NEVER going to end up injecting insulin and that was something i was 100% sure of. I look back now and just laugh at this........................

Despite changing my whole lifestyle and doing everything i was now supposed to do, i wasnt making any improvements on blood sugar and got very sick. It was only then after an antibody test was done that i was told i was a type 1 diabetic. Yep the autoimmune kind........

Devastated is the only way i can describe my feeling on that day, to be honest in many ways it was a relief because now i was going to start feeling better, but it did'nt stop me feeling like id just been thrown down a very black hole with nothing but a tea towel to cry into, and cry into it i did, for weeks, and the rest as they say is history....

Nothing will ever change my mind that the horrendous, and frightening time in my life and the trauma i suffered at that time was what started the autoimmune response in me, something back then was telling my body that bits of me didnt belong in my body so the attack started. Firstly with my thyroid gland, and then with my pancreas.  ​

More on this subject here:

http://insulinnation.com

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/living/trauma-heightens-chances-of-typ

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e-1-in-kids/

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​Just my thoughts and feelings, im not a medical professional​, but i am someone who knows her body.............................

Davina 

#TheMedia #Celebrities #PublicFigures #DiabetesAwareness #Type1Diabetes #Type2Diabetes

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#TheMedia #Celebrities #PublicFigures #DiabetesAwareness #Type1Diabetes #Type2Diabetes

​

I only ​learned recently t

hat this is Diabetes Bloggers Week.

Well, I’m in then!  Today’s theme is “What would we like changed about Diabetes.”

​ If i was to pick just one topic it would be Type 1 Diabetes Awareness​

This is rather a big area but the points i think that "need to change" about Diabetes is the use of the term "Diabetes" without a type" and then how its portrayed in the media.

Many peo​ple are AWARE that there is more than one type of Diabetes.  They are AWARE that people test blood sugars and take shots.  But, even within the medical community, the world at large is rather UNAWARE of Type One Diabetes, what the symptoms are, when to diagnose Type One instead of Type Two, and what to say to us or do for us when we need help or comforting (or even friendship).

​But leaving the medical 

medical professionals now

​ and into the

 general public.  The average person knows almost nothing about Type One Diabetes unless they have already come in contact with a Type One Diabetic.  Even then, their knowledge is only as extensive as their curiosity and 

​how much information they remember from​

 casual conversation.  While Type Two Diabetes is more prevalent, because both diseases are called “Diabetes,” the presumption is that the two are equally manageable if ONLY THE DIABETIC BEHAVED.

While Insulin has the ability to save Lives it also has the potential to take lives if used incorrectly !​

Living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes is without a doubt challenging, yes for very different reasons​,​ but hold on, do we all face the same challenges in different ways ?

No matter what Type we have we will all undoubtedly have what I call "bold days" and yes some "absent moments" 

• Forgetting to take tablets 
• Forgetting to take insulin
• Injecting the wrong insulin at times ( iv done this )
• Forgetting we'v injected already and doing it again
• Eating too much of the wrong type food
• Going out without a hypo fix
• Going out without our insulin

Yes without a doubt we have all made mistakes, some small and some not so small. We beat ourselves up for letting our concentration slip, for loosening our grip and slipping up on our daily management routine.  24/7/365 is no joke and it's not for the faint hearted​, yes we get tired, we are human.

Through all this we are constantly at battle with ignorance and yes danger. We can't just ignore when people say, ah yes I know all about that diabetes.

Quoting :

• If your low or collapse 
  y​ou need insulin, right ?
• You can't have sugar or sweet stuff of any kind, right ?
• You'll die from that, right ?
• You'll have to have amputation some day, right ?
• You must have led a very unhealthy lifestyle, Ye ?
• That's because your not fit, Ye ?
• Were you very fat at some point, Ye ?
• Did you catch that from something ?

When I hear someone say these things, it's either ignore them, smile politely and let them remain in ignorance, or correct them, try to inform them of a little something they didn't know. But this brings a risk of disapproval on their part because how dare I correct them even though they were wrong.

Making the decision for me is easy, I hear it and the rest is history.Yes people make mistakes and say the wrong thing sometimes but When that statement is blatantly out of whack and comes from someone who says they are a diabetic and has a public platform of millions then letting that statement just coast on​, is not just irresponsible it has the potential to be fatal, our silence can be as bad as the incorrect statement. 

CURED ?

We have high profile people​ saying she WAS a type 1 diabetic
and is CURED she had come off all insulin.

Why haven't the rest of us done this ? 
Because it's NOT true and NOT possible.

GOING LOW AND INJECTING INSULIN ?

Be warned, this one can kill you. A person with any type of diabetes gone or going low ( it's called a hypo ) needs glucose or sugar.

The only injection to take for this is glucagen or glucagon. 

IF THE INJECTION SAYS INSULIN ON IT "DO NOT INJECT IT" YOU COULD KILL THAT PERSON.

​Every one of us who live with either ​Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes have a responsibility if speaking about it in the media to portray it correctly or simply refrain from comment. 

The media in general have a huge responsibility when the word Diabetes gets mentioned yet we see headlines saying .... CURE DIABETES BY......

What the general public hear from the media, they believe, sure why would he have said it on national TV if it wasn't correct ? 

and ​YES​, this has been said to me....

Remember there is always an option to say " I have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and believe me it's no joking matter".

​

There is always an option to just not discuss it, blurbing out incorrect information is very damaging and when it comes from someone in the spotlight and someone with a high profile the damage is limitless. No im not giving out about someone who just does'nt know about their diabetes or who makes a mistake with the information they speak, but i am saying we as diabetics need to take responsibility for this and the media need to take responsibility as they give this a platform, those with diabetes of any kind who don't know much about it should refrain from comment.​

Our most recent incident ​flashed an insulin pen for the cameras.​

Said he gets reminded to inject when he's low. ( totally wrong info )

Apologises after his blurb gets pointed out.

Only then states what​ type of diabetes he has.​

Then goes on yet another programme to apologise profusely for his last blurb, now saying he's on insulin tablets. M​ore incorrect information as insulin can't be ta​ken through the stomach which is why we inject and pump insulin.​

It makes me wonder does that​ person know anything at all about diabetes. NO I don't agree a mistake was made on either occasion, and Yes i know he did'nt go on a TV show to create diabetes awareness, however if he was going to mention it to millions of viewers, he could at least have portrayed it correctly​ instead of pretending to be Mr Big and using it is as some kind of prop.

I think he just does'nt know what he's talking about, and is in serious need of diabetes education, but unfortunately now the public has heard him and we will live with the fall out.

If someone went on a popular TV show with millions of viewers​
and said I'm suffering from depression, cancer, Ms, or any other life threatening disease, following on with flashing equipment or medication for that condition while making a joke about it and stating incorrect facts, Would that be ok ? I wouldn't think so ......

Type 1 Diabetes 

is an autoimmune disease, nothing we did caused it and nothing we do will take it away. Our immune system has attacked an organ in our bodies as if it was a foreign object. In our case it attacked our pancreas and stopped us producing any insulin of our own. Without insulin we would die, so we inject or pump it in, to stay alive. Sugar / glucose is what we use when our blood sugar is too low, we must maintain a balance. ( it's that simple )

Type 2 Diabetes has many causes:

Being Overweight ( I don't like the word obese ) a person who never eat sugary stuff can still be overweight from eating too much breads, potatoes, pastas, pitza or fatty foods for example, and not getting enough exercise.However that's not the only thing that puts you at risk of be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Other things that can increase your risk are :

• Cancer treatments
• Under active thyroid
• Poly cystic ovary syndrome
• Medical use of steroids for other conditions
• Genetics / family history

To name just a few. There are very many slim and fit people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes so it's very wrong to label all type 2s as developing it because of being fat or lazy.

• Sometimes type 2 Diabetes is managed or controlled with diet and exercise.
• Sometimes it requires oral medications to help them increase their sensitivity to their own insulin which they still produce. This is not oral insulin, as insulin cannot be taken through the stomach.
• Sometimes they need the help of a long acting insulin injection. ( Basel ).
• Sometimes they need the help of a short acting insulin with food (Bolus ).
• Sometimes they need both insulins with their oral medication.

There have been some type 2 diabetics who have completely changed their diet and exercise regime and have come off medications. This is not the same as cured, if they slip back to their old lifestyle at any point they would be reunited also with their type 2 diabetes.

A type 2 diabetic that is injecting insulin, is NOT a type 1 diabetic. They are an insulin injecting type 2 diabetic, who would be subject to carb counting and the regime much like a Type 1 Diabetic would need to follow.​

For all of the above reasons, both type 1s and type 2s have a very serious lifestyle to live, it was said to me recently that some people with diabetes, treat their condition / disease as though it was a "Badge of Courage" and I would agree with that. Those people are either​ very courageous indeed, or very stupid.

As a final thought, I would say if you find someone unwell 

and you've established they are diabetic, if you think their blood sugar is low, they are unresponsive in any way or unconscious. 

DO NOT INJECT INSULIN INTO THEM, YOU COULD KILL THEM. 

Phone for an ambulance straight away.

The only injection they can have is GlucaGen and they may,​
or may not​,​ have this with them. 

THIS HYPOKIT HAS INSTRUCTION ON THE INSIDE OF THE ORANGE PLASTIC BOX IT COMES IN.

DO NOT POUR FLUID INTO THEIR MOUTH, IT WILL JUST END UP ON THEIR LUNGS. 

Do we react strongly every time we hear diabetes light heartedly discussed ? Yes.

Do we react strongly when the wrong information is broadcasted. ? Yes.

Do we take it personally ?

I sure do because someone will quote what they heard in the media and insist,​ as it was said on national TV then it must be right.

Living a life with any type of Diabetes ​is no joke and certainly no laughing matter. We carry around with us everywhere we go, a medication that has the potential to kill if administered incorrectly or indeed if administered at the wrong time. 

Incorrect information that is broadcast in any form is not only unacceptable but its dangerous.

No im not a profesional

Im Davina a Type 1 Diabetic

​This link will you give low blood sugar or Hypoglycenia information​

http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/hypoglycemia-low-blood.html

Just One of my Days with #Type1Diabetes to #StayWell

L

I wish I could explain to people what living a type 1 Diabetes life is like and make them understand.

Some personal sad news threw me into a line of thinking from the past recently​, and a door I had firmly closed, ​sort of got unlocked so I could re-hash and see again the stuff I so badly​ wanted to keep buried.

The result of this was a few days of kit-Kats and a large Cadburys Puddle, a new bar, big, and packing some serious comfort.

Yes I injected the appropriate amount of insulin to cover anything I'd eaten but because of the high fat content in my chosen treats, long after the novo rapid ( basel ins​ulin ) had​ peeked and finished its job my blood sugar was 

still​ climbing at a steady pace. Yes I corrected, but no I couldn't stop the climb. 

​ ​

Hitting an 18.2 is no joke at 3am when you've gone to bed on an 8 and​ no matter what I did I could'nt​ seem to fix it. The result ? A serious hangover feeling and all the effects and results of high blood sugar.

So my next day bl​ood glucose started on 12.0 BG. Now I kno​w this is self inflicted to a point, yes I fed myself but my Type 1 ​D​​iabetes wasn't self inflicted in any way.

This was how my day went :

• Injection no 1 was at 8am to correct that 12.0 and then it was back to bed to sleep it off after a coffee and some paracetamol
  ​ for that bloody awful headache.​
   
• Injection no 2 was at 11am to correct what had now become 12.2 BG, still no food yet​, I'm determined to start the drop before i actually eat.
• Injection no 3 was at 2pm, 6.5 BG so its lunch time.
• Injection no 4 was at 5.30pm a correction for a 10.2 BG
• Injection no 5 was with dinner BG was 5.2 and holding steady.
• Injection no 6 was to cover supper
• Injection no 7 was lantus - Basel insulin.

All this was about 10 finger pricks, before my CGM (continuous glucose meter ) arrived, and 7 injections ​but this was a relatively good day because i knew what was causing the problem and i did manage to correct it​.

Not being well, stress, upset and other medications means a much more difficult situation to try to control and manage, these things are not self inflicted, they are beyond our control and as long as they are actively playing a part in our lives​, they continue to play a part in our diabetes and ultimately our blood glucose, making managing our diabetes and our daily routine more difficult.​

The food planning, clock watching, and carb counting is relentless, the carbs & cals app is always with me ( on my iphone )​ and my handbag and bedside locker stash of jelly beans is always kept topped up. 

Leaving the house there's always a rice cake or two with an apple  put in my handbag along with the BG meter pouch which carries ​my blood glucose meter, test strips, a finger pricker, lancets, an insulin pen, needle tips, and a small container ​(​for the used strips, lancets and needle tips.)​

 

The all important hypo kit,  GlucoGen, is also brought, well it's no good in the fridge at home if I collapsed when I'm out.

No I don't bring a bottle of any kind of fluid because it doesn't fit in the handbag, I might leave it down, walk away and so get separated from it and that just wouldn't do at all.

I "​TREAT"​ with jelly beans, now that's treat a hypo ( low blood glucose ) not treat,​ as in having a treat. Jelly beans are like tablets to me and I take :

• 1-3 if I'm in the high 4s. 
• 3-5 if I'm in the low 4s.
• 5-6 if in in the high 3s, 
• 6-9 if I'm in the low 3s

​Basically the amount or dose differs and depends on what my BG (blood glucose) reading is.​ A​ny lower than those (3s) and it's party time, ​I jus​t scoff rather than count​. 

Thinking is gone out the window so I have a tube that carries a certain amount of jelly beans so when I say scoff it's not a big bag or anything like it, it holds about 20 in total or (​36 - 37 gms carbs)​ to a t1 like me.

12 jelly beans has aprox 22gms carbs in them so each 3 represents a treatment of 5.5 gms carbs.

• 6 = 11 gms 
• 9 = 16.5 gms
• 12 = 22 gms

The aim of this is to catch it early and treat with no more than 6 jelly beans the overall effect is when 

I'm very low, although in one​ sense I'm out of control, I'm actually still in control, if you see what i mean.

Back in the early days when I used fluid to treat, I'd just drink, and I would always drink too much, 

carrying measured drinks was'nt an option​, and seriously​, ​who carries a fluid measure with them. 

Imaging measuring out fluid in a moving car while disoriented during a hypo, or carrying several small containers of fluid, Ridiculous right ?

Once I'm all packed, then il do one last BG check to see am I ok to head out and how long I have before the next action plan of food and insulin.

​ 

A​h yes i remember the days when i just walked out of the house without a second thought about food, or anything else for that matter. Every moment of every day is a decision now that has to be made​.

• Will I have that scone and coffee with friends?​
• ​Will i go for that nice long walk?
• Will i get get into spring cleaning ?​ 

​So its prick, check, calculate, decide, then either inject, treat or leave​ for the moment......

Some days everything goes to plan, but on other days it doesn't and for no obvious reason. There are also days when I just get sick of it all and just do what I want regardless of the numbers, but yes still inject the insulin, just not be quite so strict.

On these days I always end up regretting it because that sick feeling is so hard to shift and once iv upset the delicate balance of blood glucose numbers and insulin it's so hard to get it all back on track and even when I do it takes even longer to actually feel well again.

Bedtime is another tricky one, 8 is a good number for me to go to bed on ( i​ts what was recommended to me ) ​by my diabetes team.

• any lower and I might go low through the night, 
• any higher and il wake high in the morning and start the day correcting from the day before. 

So it's check about an hour before bedtime, if I'm below 8 il work out just how much to eat to bring my blood glucose (BG) up to 8 + ish, then inject my lantus ( that's Basel, or long acting insulin ) and go to bed.

However if I check an hour before bedtime and I'm over 8 already it's either no supper, or I can eat supper and inject ( bolus ) for that food. Still taking the lantus (Basel) at bedtime..

Either too low or too high going to bed is not a good idea. 

• High has long term risks and makes me feel really awful
  ​ with the addition of a blinding headache.​
• Low, I could hypo through the night and wake up feeling really awful, or worse again just sleep through it.​

​Its always on my​ mind that​ a bad hypo could kill me so my fear of sleeping 

through a hypo is very real.

This was just going on a sort of typical day, but absolutely everything we do and go through any day effects what our blood glucose readings will be.

• If your trying to lose weight. 
• If your training for a marathon, or 
  some other event that involves physical exercise.
• If the weather is very hot or very cold.
• If ​your pregnant.
• If your going through hormone changes.
• If your ill in any way.
• If your stressed or upset.
• If you'v had a bad shock.
• If you'v had a couple of glasses of any kind of alcohol the night before.
• If your extremely tired for any reason.
• If your routine is broken.
• If you have an anesthetic even a local one for a dental procedure.
• If your taking medication for an illness ( ex steroids ).
• If you change your diet.

After living as a Type 1 Diabetic for a period of time these things become sort of automatically thought of, as we cruise on through any day in our lives. It becomes our normal, still a challenge every day, but a little less mentally time consuming. No im not complaining or even looking for any kind of sympathic groan........

However what i would like is for :

• Consideration when i say no thanks.
• Id like understanding when i say im tired.
• ​Id like not to have to explain why i need to stay home sometimes.
• Id like, not to be thought of as fussy, when i insist on a bottle of diet 7up as a mixer for my drink and when i wont eat high sugar foods and deserts.
• Id like not to be called unsociable for living the life i must live​.

Id really love if people understood why my brain gets so tired sometimes that it just cant cope with any more stuff.

I wish they could see a plate of food like i do with, portion size and carb content first, calculations and insulin second, and then see that plate of truly delicious, lip smacking, finger licking food that i finally see when theirs is half gone already.

I also wish they didn't rob the food off my plate because they have finished theirs already, because that food they are robbing has already been accounted for with the insulin iv injected. Seriously some day someone will lose a finger and Im guessing nobody will understand when it happens........

This is how a meal looks to someone with Type 1 Diabetes:

Dinner as i see it 34gms Carbs 

And for Desert as i see it: 36 gms Carbs

                                                       

Total for this meal, calculated before eating, if i was to eat this it is 70gms carbs and now id work about how much insulin it will take to deal with it.

Just my thoughts on a day in life, living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Davina