How does adult onset Type I diabetes work? Is it “burnout” of the body’s ability to make insulin? Why isn’t it noticed sooner? Does good lifestyle prevent symptom development?
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My whole family has autoimmunes – runs in both mother and father sides of my family, so there is a chance I’m at higher risk than someone with no family history. Within immediate family we have Pernicious Anemia (stomach/intestinal), Crohn’s Disease (intestinal), severe Berger’s Disease (kidney), severe Adult Onset Still’s Disease (joints/mobility), Lupus (systemic), Multiple Sclerosis (nervous system). Similar dispersion in extended family as well.
I currently am the only one within my immediate and extended family who has gotten to my age without any autoimmune (so far).
After my older sister got her autoimmune I started reading about various ones in our family and many studies theorize that a severe infection triggers autoimmunes. This was all pre-pandemic so I was the person who already had masks and stuff when it started because I was someone who wore a mask if someone around me was sick (or people went in to work sick, which was far too common back in the day).
When the pandemic hit I had a friend get severe Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (systemic autoimmune) after a COVID infection. This was all pre vaccine and there were articles at the time about MCAS and T1 Diabetes instances increasing after severe COVID infections. Correlation is not causation, but is interesting to note.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/09/research-explores-possible-link-between-type-1-diabetes-covid-19
https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-022-01891-2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34944099/
Regardless of COVID, I believe there is enough evidence that -any- severe infection probably triggers, and early in the pandemic the COVID infections were severe, so if you’re at risk for any autoimmune, common or not, avoid infections.
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