Sobering results:
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Here’s the study: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2018/01/10/dc17-2131
Unfortunately they give no additional information about the T1 or T2 patients. It would’ve been nice if they’d at least given the average A1c.
It’s worth noting they’re only looking at ages 40-89.
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Wonder if they tracked how many infections started at pump or CGMS sites? I didn’t see that in the article.
It’s interesting, I can easily believe that bacterial and fungal infection risk is higher (I definitely have found that when I get a bacterial infection, it can get more serious more quickly than most people I know, which I suspect is thanks to higher levels of glucose feeding the bacteria), but I swear my immune system is way more effective at killing viruses, which I tend to suspect is the same factor that led to it killing my islet cells. I get viral infections way less often than most people, and even when I do get them, I seem to get less bad versions usually, sometimes I don’t even realize the reason I feel off is that I’m sick until I figure out that I must be because everyone else is really sick. So my suspicion is that T1 has a mix of vulnerabilities and benefits, immunologically. I don’t know if anyone else has similar experiences…
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Yup. What you describe is exactly my experience. I seem to get more bacterial and fungal infections that won’t go away without treatment, but my immune system is very efficient at fighting off viruses. I’ve spent every week for months in a walk-in clinic waiting room for an hour and never get sick. Each winter I have one bad cold that puts me off work for a few days. Many others I know are out for two weeks with the flu or bronchitis on a routine basis. The last time I had a fever was about 12 years ago…
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Same. When I was first diagnosed, my doc had also tested me for several bacterial/fungal infections (I had chronic sinus infections, for one thing), and lo and behold, it was quite the list of things we had to kill off with heavy meds. However, I rarely get viral illnesses anymore - even while pregnant and with a naturally depressed immune response, I think I only got one cold the entire pregnancy (despite being pregnant through the winter and with exposure to a lot of things) and wasn’t sick with anything for months after.
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It makes sense—there wouldn’t be a (relatively) common tendency in the population toward a hyperactive immune system unless it also conferred advantages. It’s like T1 and similar disorders is just past the tipping point into where it gets maladaptive, but for the people with similar genetics who don’t get an autoimmune disorder triggered, it’s probably great, which keeps those genes going.
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I wonder if there are any studies about this. Seems fascinating to me that pwds (type 1 specifically?) might be less prone to viruses but more prone to bacterial infections.
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This seems fairly common to hear in T1, but I tend to hear people with other autoimmune conditions get sick more easily. So I wonder if this is specifically a T1 thing, or maybe the fact that people with other autoimmune conditions are on immune-suppressing medications, or maybe the fact htat T1 is relatively controllable compared to other conditions. I know that as I’ve been diagnosed with more conditions, while I wouldn’t say I get sick more often, I DO feel like utter crap on a much more regular basis than I used to.
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I think that your point about treatment with immunosuppressant meds is likely a factor. Also I agree with you, just because I am less prone to viral infection, does not mean I feel more “healthy” across the board. Just means that viral infection isn’t the source of my problems and that at least that’s not one more thing I’m dealing with on top of the rest.
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I flip flop on both sides - I’ve gone through periods where I hardly ever get sick, then periods where it seems I catch every single thing I’m exposed to. I think that just goes to show the immune attack in autoimmune diseases isn’t at a constant level - you’ll have flares and then times there’s not much going on, and maybe that’s why I go through periods of illness/health. Curious if others experience the same?
Interestingly enough, prior to my first autoimmune disease diagnosis, I was incredibly healthy. I hardly ever got sick, and when I did, it was always a much more mild case than those around me.
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I don’t seem to. The times when I feel crappy I almost exclusively attribute to autoimmune issues or allergies, so my immune system seems constantly activated in attacking internal/external things. In fact, I’ve been feeling really crappy and run-down (basically as if I have a cold) for about two and a half months now and will be seeing my GP this week. I’ll be really curious to know whether I have some sort of infection that’s just not going away or whether it’s just bad allergies or something else.
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This is why I shouldn’t post late at night when I’m not thinking LOL I’m in the middle of a flare, too, and have been feeling awful for weeks, and my immune system isn’t able to keep up with exposure to illness. After not being sick for over a year, I have been sick with almost back to back illness the entire year so far. 
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Yup, same for me. I wake up every morning feeling like I want to take the day off work, except I don’t have enough sick days. Every day for the past two and a half months. I did take today off, though. Ugh. I really can’t tell what’s going on with me. If it’s an illness, I haven’t had any breaks. And if it’s allergies, I can’t live with this severity for the next six months. Hopefully my doctor will have some idea what’s going on. The symptoms vary, but most days it’s some combination of feeling exhausted, headache/sinus pressure, sore throat, itchy throat/ears/eyes/nose/skin, stuffed up, irritated eyes, a cough, and feeling intermittently nauseated. It’s annoying because often I feel better by the evening, only to wake up in the morning feeling crappy all over again.
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Yeah, my experience is similar to @Jen’s for the most part, re: consistent good immune function, but variable health due to inflammation and other factors. The only time I was particularly prone to getting sick from external things was my freshman year of college, but I was barely sleeping and eating terribly, so not really a fair judgment on my immune system. I ended up getting either mono or something mono-like, which had some permanent effects (proneness to muscle tension/myalgia, fascia problems; probably worsened the symptoms of my connective tissue disorder) that seem to be a common thing for people with various underlying health issues or proneness to them who then also contact Epstein-Barr or similar viruses. I’m sure I would have never contracted it had I not been so worn down (the only 2 people of my friend group, all of whom shared drinks etc, to get it were the two of us who were definitely most sleep deprived), so my advice to parents of soon to be college students is to point out the very real serious health risks of skipping basic self-care. You don’t have to be perfect, but be sure to get some reasonable sleep in there somewhere.
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Also, @Jen, hope your doctor is able to provide some helpful answers!
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That’s worth getting diagnosed. I had something a bit like that years ago, and the allergist had me make mitigations for dust mites. Encasing the mattress and increasing the frequency of cleaning blankets reduced the load from dust mites enough to make my symptoms go away.
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Yeah, the problem is that I already do all of that. I have pillow and mattress covers, wash my bedding in hot water weekly, put my one throw pillow in the freezer for 24 hours at least once a month, have a HEPA air purifier next to my bed, vacuum weekly with a HEPA filter vacuum (and daily with a small non-HEPA vacuum), usually shower at night, keep my windows closed, wear an allergy mask when cleaning. Heck, I even have a portable dust mite sheet that I bring with me to hotels. I take prescription-strength antihistamines every day, plus prescription nasal spray and eye drops and inhaler, plus have been doing allergy shots for dust mites and other allergens for the past 3.5 years. But even my allergist, who deals with allergies all day every day, calls my allergies severe. He’s offered me prednisone the last two springs, and I suspect the same may happen this year. The last two years I managed to avoid taking it, but really, I can’t continue on like this. If I do end up taking prednisone, I am not looking forward to the effects on my BG…
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Jen, I am really sorry for you, that sounds like a really rough ride. If dust is part of the problem, you may want to invest in an in-wall vacuum system. We have it in our latest house, and the difference in dust reduction and lack of smell when vacuuming is amazing, even compared to our HEPA vacuum. It has a side benefit of having a “dustpan” under the kitchen cabinets so we can sweep our wood floors every day into that.
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