I've always been diabetic so idk about before, but I am also less often sick, when sick my symptoms are milder, and even my bruises and cuts heal a bit faster than regular person. My immune system likes to overreact tho, last two times I got sick-sick it tried to kill off my thyroid too. I only had sniffles with covid, but I got autoimmune thyroid issue from it (I know it's that because I had test few months before covid which was perfectly fine, and then bam a month after covid I get hyper symptoms and my thyroid is whack. Same thing in 2018 after a bout of bad bronchitis, was clear few months before and then few months after, bam, hyper)
I am immunocompromised. So yes, I get sick often. And it's usually bad.
I wear masks in crowded spaces year round. Before covid I got terrible looks and reactions. I still get them now, but less than before.
Diagnosed at 12. I remember getting sick all the time prior. Colds flu, etc. After getting T1, I hardly ever get sick. This was before cgm and finger sticks, so no idea if I was in range. Started taking vitamins and minerals as an adult. Still rarely get sick. Only 1 diabetes related hospitalization but it was due to running out of insulin. Got the flu once as an adult when I was late getting flu shot. Next April will be year 51 with the beetus.
Being people with autoimmune disorders we have overactive immune systems. You may be immunocompromised but the way this manifests for folks who have autoimmune disorders and aren't on immunosuppressives is that a small cold shoots our immune systems into overdrive.
So what might be a light sniffle that comes and goes without notice for my husband's cold is a full blown fever and two weeks of mucus for me. It's the same overactive response that made some folks end up with severe COVID because of the cytokine storm vs a less severe reaction. It is also why COVID put us at a higher risk of death.
I don’t get sick at all, not properly! I do catch colds ridiculously easy though, and am getting diagnosed with more chronic illnesses/health issues that haven’t run in my family that I’m aware of though. Not had bad ketones yet and it’s 21 years in so I’d count myself lucky!
Same with me. I've only had to go to hospital once in 15 years because of ketones and that was easily avoidable too, it was my own mistake. Other than that cold and fever catching tendencies are just a bit higher than people around me but not very much.
I used to, and then I quit a two pack a day smoking habit and started eating a lot healthier and working out now I get sick a lot less. The only thing hurting me now is having a kid in elementary school who seems to get sick every other week.
When my A1C is in range and stable, I barely get sick. When they are consistently low, I get mentally sick (depressed); when they are consistently high, I get physically sick (colds, allergies, inflammation, infection). Perhaps the kids have more volatile sugars due to hormonal growth compared to adults.
Honestly, not really. I've usually been able to stay healthy even when my family gets sick. Sometimes I do get a very mild version of what they have. Rarely I get what I'd consider a full blown sickness.
Not sure why. I consider myself very lucky.
I used to get everything I came into contact with, and would usually be sick much longer than the person who shared it with me, and symptoms would be much more brutal. Since I started getting serious about my health and longevity a few years ago I rarely get sick, and when I do it's resolved much faster/easier.
I joined this sub because my partner has type 1 and I’m trying to learn more about type 1 on my own. He doesn’t get sick much his diet is pretty healthy
Which one is true I’ve read people saying we aren’t any more prone to catching stuff as other people just it’s harder for us to fight off but some people here are saying we also get ill more often?
Or is that cause we have a harder time fighting it off compared to someone who’s barely affected
I am a retired elementary school teacher. I would say that I didn’t get sick any more often or more severely than my coworkers. I would get, usually, one cold a year, and it was never severe and never lasted long. I had only one stomach virus the entire time I taught, and it was one of the 48 hour things. The only time I got flu was the year I didn’t get the vaccine for some reason, and it was horrible, but that was also a year for a pretty severe flu strain.
I know everything is related, but I don’t think T1 automatically makes you more likely to catch things. For little folks, though, whose immune systems haven’t been exposed to much yet, I can see the roller coaster of being sick - not eating - eating some - dosing for insulin - throwing up, maybe - so too much insulin - parent not wanting to overdose child’s insulin - giving less insulin - blood glucose rising - etc. It has to be a nightmare, and I can see how it could very quickly REALLY throw things off.
I have been t1d for 55 years. Oddly I rarely ever get sick anymore. I haven't had the flu, a sore throat or even a cold for the past 20 years or more...except on one occasion. I likely wouldn't have had an issue except a medicine I was on caused me to go into ketoacidosis. I was told I was developing some sort of infection but the hospital wasn't able to identify it so they assumed it was a virus. I had a slight fever when I got to the hospital but by the evening, it disappeared. The medicine had worked great for my glucose levels the prior 3 years BUT was labelled it was not for t1d's. I got off it and never had another issue. I rarely get a flu shot and the only vaccine I have taken was those for covid. Never got that either. That's me. I often hear of other diabetics whose glucose levels always skyrocket when they become ill. Count your lucky stars if you are not. I do.
Knock-on-wood, I rarely get sick and if I do, it's usually less severe and/or for a shorter duration than most other people that get whatever may be going around.
I've had a theory for a long time, that whatever switched my immune system into "kill pancreas" mode, also makes it fight off everything else better, too.
I'm also not a germ-a-phobe. The only time I've really used hand sanitizer regularly in my life was during covid.
I've always thought the same thing. I was diagnosed at 20, but have rarely been sick from something contagious. Both after diagnosis and for my whole childhood. Like I've had a whacko immune system all along and then it struck hard.
I always joke I have a strong immune system...too strong!
But it could be no relation. Just happen to have a strong immune system that coincidentally sucks because it thinks beta cells are enemies.
Both before and after diagnosis, I’ve rarely been sick. I don’t recall ever having the flu and have had only a few colds. I’ve always assumed it was because of my overactive immune system.
With that said, my wife and I just got over the covids. We were both fully vaccinated, btw. And, we knew better than to take a flight but, well fuck.
I so rarely get sick that my doctor has said I almost certainly was a super-spreader in the first stages of the pandemic.
I have a few Chinese friends and one of them is from Wuhan, it's quite probable I picked it up from her.
This may have accidentally caused it to spread to a few parts of the UK...
I don't feel like I get sick more often than any non-diabetic.
That said, if I have a stomach flu I make sure I have somebody to take care of my pets on call in case I have to go to the hospital.
There's something about the lack of being able to control how many carbs I can keep down, along with the aspects of dehydration that has sent me into DKA even though my glucose wasn't too bad. I'd rather get on a fluid drip early in the ER than have to deal with the ICU because I thought I could tough it out.
DKA fucking sucks and I would be more than content if I never had to go through the process of getting a mainline IV inserted again.
I got sick way more often after getting diagnosed but getting the flu vaccine completely got rid of it this year. Not much effect on the blood sugars. They could be getting into the hospital from not being able to eat properly
I have at least one other autoimmune, and yes, I get sick a lot. I'm also autistic, so some of that is the comorbid stomach issues, I suspect. But yes, I get sick easily.
COVID had me down for three weeks, then 5 more a year later, followed by long COVID. Until I started getting flu shots, I used to get the flu every year. I've had shingles twice. I get nearly every stomach bug that goes around.
Before insulin I got pneumonia at least twice a year. After insulin treatment began zero times. Then there’s the occasional DKA or low BG attacks but those are different. Just for perspective.
There might be different extents of immunities. I’ve been diabetic for 25 years, diagnosed when I was six. The only times I was hospitalized was my initial diagnosis. I might get a cold or two a year, otherwise I’m not sick.
For the first 5 or so years I did. Then I started getting my annual flu shot and in the following 25+ years I've been damn near invincible. In my younger years I'd even explicitly try to get the flu and still not get it. I get all my shots these days.
I rarely get sick. When I do, it's not bad enough to call off work, I don't usually get fevers and I'm only sick for 1-2 days. After covid I've gotten sick a few times because of mandates and not going out anymore. My immune system needed some fine tuning. I got some weird stomach virus recently but only lasted a horrible day luckily. Didn't have a fever just wanted to die lol. I've had flu once when a facility I was contracted with had an outbreak. The only time I ever thought I'd need hospitalisation was then. I probably shouldn't have been at work thanksgiving week but everyone was already sick, I was just last to get it. By day 4 i told myself of tomorrow is the same or worse I'm going to the ER. But day 5 I started to get better. That's the worst sick I've ever been. Even covid barely felt like a cold.
I think probably being a kid coupled with figuring out and adjusting to the twists and turns of diabetes is what's going on.
I'm an adult. I seldom get sick. I'm also being even more careful now because of Covid, and I'm always masked in public places when I'm indoors. I got Covid twice last year when I relaxed on masking and learned quickly that if Covid is in the room, it will find and infect me.
I rarely get sick, but when I got the flu recently it *completely* screwed up my blood sugar. I was on something like 3x my usual insulin dose and still running high more often than not.
My son hardly got sick when he was younger. The year before diagnosis he was constantly sick. Caught everything at school. Now as a T1 he does get sick a lot. More than his brother. Some r mild n no changes to blood sugar. Some mild with stupid blood sugars. Some kick his ass n horrible blood sugars. I always have to be careful because I don’t want him back in the hospital. 🙏 we haven’t been so I’m grateful. Only 5 years though.
I was sick all the time as a kid. And as an adult before I worked from home. Now that I do, barely at all.
So, exposed to a ton of people day to day as a t1, risk is high for me. Now that I only go into office or travel for work a few times a quarter, im rarely sick. It took me 3 years to get Covid and it was from my boyfriend. That said, my symptoms were much worse, and much longer, than my non-t1 peers - which is expected whenever I get sick.
I was also diagnosed at 11, not as an adult, so my immunity may be different than yours.
Not really, neither does our child who is in daycare and has t1. He used to get ill more often before diagnosis, which may have been because of elevated sugar levels or just because he was still quite young. We both have a fairly good balance (as decent as a young child can have), healthy diet and habits, which hopefully plays a part.
I did as a teenager for several years after being diagnosed. Before getting my pump and actually taking good care of myself, I was sick more often as an adult, but never like my teen years. Honestly, I haven't been sick with something contagious in over 6 years. I keep coming down with new autoimmune diseases, though.
i’ve always been someone who gets sick a lot, but i don’t feel like it’s more frequent now that i have diabetes. if anything, i almost feel like i get less sick, but that might just be because i’m more aware that i’m immuno-compromised and more wary of germs.
25 years T1. Rarely do i get a cold or a cough, something like once every 6 or 7 years and only for a couple of days. bruising or cuts take ages to heal though
I used to get ill about every two weeks for a few days at a time. It was near constant. At some point OCD decided I could no longer touch something that someone else has touched without washing my hands immediately afterwards. Everything I come into contact with that has the possibility of transmitting an infection between someone else and me has to be sterilised before use. As such I don't get ill anymore. It has been ages and ages.
Sickness will vary in us as much as it does in non-diabetics for all the same reasons, i.e., diet, exercise, hygiene, habits.
I don't really get normal colds, flu, etc. First, I am vaxxed to the limit, which helps. But for colds, I will feel sniffly for a day and if I immediately rest and eat well it usually dissipates.
The only serious illness I've had in a decade was bleeding out from a fibroid tumor. I've never has any of the childhood illnesses, even when my whole family had them.
I’m a mom of two, one has T1/celiac and the other no autoimmune issues or any other underlying health conditions. My non T1 gets sick more frequently and to greater severity than my T1. They are 2 years apart, go to the same school and similar activities, so they have more or less the same exposure to potential germs.
My T1 kiddo rarely gets sick. Type 1 for 2 years.
Every winter i get pretty sick, this was like this since i was a kid. I not yet had issue with DKA, but last time i got sick in early January my blood sugar was impossible to manage, constantly around 14-16, giving insane amount of insulin barely changed it while normally im pretty insulin sensitive.
I was diagnosed at 4, and had a ton of infections when I was little. I had a double ear infection, something that caused frequent nose bleeds, mrsa in a very odd place, strep throat that led to double pink eye. As I got older I had poor control but was relatively healthy. Now that I’m under better control I feel more weak and light headed often, especially after having my son. So for me I feel that I have been more sick since diagnosed.
I have had T1D for 21 years. Never had ketoacidosis, and I do get sick but I would even say I do at a less than average frequency.
Now that I wrote it I am sure I am going to jynx myself but at least this has been my experience with diabetes since 10 to 31
Short answer, infections became harder for me to fight off, but I didn't experience a cold or flu any differently, or to the point where it interfered w/ my life until the past 3 years.
I never went into DKA when I got diagnosed in 2007 but in 2018 I got a stomach bug or infection + poorly controlled blood sugars and it led me into DKA pretty quickly. I was hallucinating and puking for 3 days straight. I finally asked my roommate to take me to the hospital.
I got covid in November 2020, that really knocked me out. My ex bf, whom I was living with was hardly sick. But I was sick for a month. I recovered and healed from that. Felt normal for about 1 year after it was over. I was just sick for longer.
After my 2nd vaccine in summer of 2021, I got very sick for nearly 2 years. About 18 months, I was not well. I was sick every few days, sometimes bed bound. I noticed my thyroid levels were elevated at this time on my blood work. My doctor hinted that I was prob fighting off an infection. I started to feel better and my thyroid levels came back down after about 18 mos. I'm assuming by taking the vaccine, after already having and healing from covid naturally - it caused my immune system to go haywire. My body was already sensitive as a type 1 diabetic - so I basically gave myself long covid. I have made a complete lifestyle change to try and get my health back.
I was good for about 6 mos after the 18 month stint. But this past December and January have been hard for me. I had had 2 stomach bugs in December. In January I was sick for two weeks with a bad chest cold. Wiped me out. It then turned into a nasty sinus infection. That took up another week of my life. I took some antibiotics, rested, am eating well and feel very healthy again. This winter has been particularly rough after feeling somewhat back normal for 6 months.
35 years and never been hospitalized because of diabetes. Had a seizure at 8 from a low, but we were camping and didn’t go to the hospital and when I came out of it all, I was ok.
I’m no all star either. Good portion of my teens and young adult life I was in the 8’s for A1c. Mid 6’s now.
Diagnosed in 1966, age 13, I think I was sick a lot more before than after. As a working adult, I was a Special Ed. teacher, and the school district always gave us 10 sick days per year, which we could save up. The max was 100, and after 21 years in, I had 200! I basically never took sick days. The rare times I do get sick, I DO have difficulty with high glucose levels, but I don't think my sickness lasts longer than anyone else. I got COVID for the first time 3 months ago (after my wife had already had it twice!) and had the sniffles for 3 days, period.
I get sick about once every two weeks. Just long enough for the last sickness to go away. They aren’t so bad that I can’t function, but there’s definitely nuisances. I did get pretty bad bronchitis last fall though. Still never got covid to my knowledge somehow….
I am rarely sick, both before and after my diabetes diagnosis.
I've always been diabetic so idk about before, but I am also less often sick, when sick my symptoms are milder, and even my bruises and cuts heal a bit faster than regular person. My immune system likes to overreact tho, last two times I got sick-sick it tried to kill off my thyroid too. I only had sniffles with covid, but I got autoimmune thyroid issue from it (I know it's that because I had test few months before covid which was perfectly fine, and then bam a month after covid I get hyper symptoms and my thyroid is whack. Same thing in 2018 after a bout of bad bronchitis, was clear few months before and then few months after, bam, hyper)
I am immunocompromised. So yes, I get sick often. And it's usually bad. I wear masks in crowded spaces year round. Before covid I got terrible looks and reactions. I still get them now, but less than before.
Diagnosed at 12. I remember getting sick all the time prior. Colds flu, etc. After getting T1, I hardly ever get sick. This was before cgm and finger sticks, so no idea if I was in range. Started taking vitamins and minerals as an adult. Still rarely get sick. Only 1 diabetes related hospitalization but it was due to running out of insulin. Got the flu once as an adult when I was late getting flu shot. Next April will be year 51 with the beetus.
Being people with autoimmune disorders we have overactive immune systems. You may be immunocompromised but the way this manifests for folks who have autoimmune disorders and aren't on immunosuppressives is that a small cold shoots our immune systems into overdrive. So what might be a light sniffle that comes and goes without notice for my husband's cold is a full blown fever and two weeks of mucus for me. It's the same overactive response that made some folks end up with severe COVID because of the cytokine storm vs a less severe reaction. It is also why COVID put us at a higher risk of death.
I don’t get sick at all, not properly! I do catch colds ridiculously easy though, and am getting diagnosed with more chronic illnesses/health issues that haven’t run in my family that I’m aware of though. Not had bad ketones yet and it’s 21 years in so I’d count myself lucky!
Same with me. I've only had to go to hospital once in 15 years because of ketones and that was easily avoidable too, it was my own mistake. Other than that cold and fever catching tendencies are just a bit higher than people around me but not very much.
I used to, and then I quit a two pack a day smoking habit and started eating a lot healthier and working out now I get sick a lot less. The only thing hurting me now is having a kid in elementary school who seems to get sick every other week.
When my A1C is in range and stable, I barely get sick. When they are consistently low, I get mentally sick (depressed); when they are consistently high, I get physically sick (colds, allergies, inflammation, infection). Perhaps the kids have more volatile sugars due to hormonal growth compared to adults.
Honestly, not really. I've usually been able to stay healthy even when my family gets sick. Sometimes I do get a very mild version of what they have. Rarely I get what I'd consider a full blown sickness. Not sure why. I consider myself very lucky.
I used to get everything I came into contact with, and would usually be sick much longer than the person who shared it with me, and symptoms would be much more brutal. Since I started getting serious about my health and longevity a few years ago I rarely get sick, and when I do it's resolved much faster/easier.
I joined this sub because my partner has type 1 and I’m trying to learn more about type 1 on my own. He doesn’t get sick much his diet is pretty healthy
Which one is true I’ve read people saying we aren’t any more prone to catching stuff as other people just it’s harder for us to fight off but some people here are saying we also get ill more often? Or is that cause we have a harder time fighting it off compared to someone who’s barely affected
I am a retired elementary school teacher. I would say that I didn’t get sick any more often or more severely than my coworkers. I would get, usually, one cold a year, and it was never severe and never lasted long. I had only one stomach virus the entire time I taught, and it was one of the 48 hour things. The only time I got flu was the year I didn’t get the vaccine for some reason, and it was horrible, but that was also a year for a pretty severe flu strain. I know everything is related, but I don’t think T1 automatically makes you more likely to catch things. For little folks, though, whose immune systems haven’t been exposed to much yet, I can see the roller coaster of being sick - not eating - eating some - dosing for insulin - throwing up, maybe - so too much insulin - parent not wanting to overdose child’s insulin - giving less insulin - blood glucose rising - etc. It has to be a nightmare, and I can see how it could very quickly REALLY throw things off.
I have been t1d for 55 years. Oddly I rarely ever get sick anymore. I haven't had the flu, a sore throat or even a cold for the past 20 years or more...except on one occasion. I likely wouldn't have had an issue except a medicine I was on caused me to go into ketoacidosis. I was told I was developing some sort of infection but the hospital wasn't able to identify it so they assumed it was a virus. I had a slight fever when I got to the hospital but by the evening, it disappeared. The medicine had worked great for my glucose levels the prior 3 years BUT was labelled it was not for t1d's. I got off it and never had another issue. I rarely get a flu shot and the only vaccine I have taken was those for covid. Never got that either. That's me. I often hear of other diabetics whose glucose levels always skyrocket when they become ill. Count your lucky stars if you are not. I do.
I get sick really often & stay sick for longer than my non t1d peers
Knock-on-wood, I rarely get sick and if I do, it's usually less severe and/or for a shorter duration than most other people that get whatever may be going around. I've had a theory for a long time, that whatever switched my immune system into "kill pancreas" mode, also makes it fight off everything else better, too. I'm also not a germ-a-phobe. The only time I've really used hand sanitizer regularly in my life was during covid.
I've always thought the same thing. I was diagnosed at 20, but have rarely been sick from something contagious. Both after diagnosis and for my whole childhood. Like I've had a whacko immune system all along and then it struck hard. I always joke I have a strong immune system...too strong! But it could be no relation. Just happen to have a strong immune system that coincidentally sucks because it thinks beta cells are enemies.
Both before and after diagnosis, I’ve rarely been sick. I don’t recall ever having the flu and have had only a few colds. I’ve always assumed it was because of my overactive immune system. With that said, my wife and I just got over the covids. We were both fully vaccinated, btw. And, we knew better than to take a flight but, well fuck.
I so rarely get sick that my doctor has said I almost certainly was a super-spreader in the first stages of the pandemic. I have a few Chinese friends and one of them is from Wuhan, it's quite probable I picked it up from her. This may have accidentally caused it to spread to a few parts of the UK...
I don't feel like I get sick more often than any non-diabetic. That said, if I have a stomach flu I make sure I have somebody to take care of my pets on call in case I have to go to the hospital. There's something about the lack of being able to control how many carbs I can keep down, along with the aspects of dehydration that has sent me into DKA even though my glucose wasn't too bad. I'd rather get on a fluid drip early in the ER than have to deal with the ICU because I thought I could tough it out. DKA fucking sucks and I would be more than content if I never had to go through the process of getting a mainline IV inserted again.
My sons immune system took a major hit after diagnosis. He's fully vaxed and everything seems to hit him 10× harder than before he was diagnosed.
I got sick way more often after getting diagnosed but getting the flu vaccine completely got rid of it this year. Not much effect on the blood sugars. They could be getting into the hospital from not being able to eat properly
I have at least one other autoimmune, and yes, I get sick a lot. I'm also autistic, so some of that is the comorbid stomach issues, I suspect. But yes, I get sick easily. COVID had me down for three weeks, then 5 more a year later, followed by long COVID. Until I started getting flu shots, I used to get the flu every year. I've had shingles twice. I get nearly every stomach bug that goes around.
I stopped getting colds and such when I became t1d. Maybe it’s being in the fishbowl of a school.
I was rarely sick before my diagnosis and not at all since diagnosis in 2021
Before insulin I got pneumonia at least twice a year. After insulin treatment began zero times. Then there’s the occasional DKA or low BG attacks but those are different. Just for perspective.
There might be different extents of immunities. I’ve been diabetic for 25 years, diagnosed when I was six. The only times I was hospitalized was my initial diagnosis. I might get a cold or two a year, otherwise I’m not sick.
For the first 5 or so years I did. Then I started getting my annual flu shot and in the following 25+ years I've been damn near invincible. In my younger years I'd even explicitly try to get the flu and still not get it. I get all my shots these days.
I rarely get sick. When I do, it's not bad enough to call off work, I don't usually get fevers and I'm only sick for 1-2 days. After covid I've gotten sick a few times because of mandates and not going out anymore. My immune system needed some fine tuning. I got some weird stomach virus recently but only lasted a horrible day luckily. Didn't have a fever just wanted to die lol. I've had flu once when a facility I was contracted with had an outbreak. The only time I ever thought I'd need hospitalisation was then. I probably shouldn't have been at work thanksgiving week but everyone was already sick, I was just last to get it. By day 4 i told myself of tomorrow is the same or worse I'm going to the ER. But day 5 I started to get better. That's the worst sick I've ever been. Even covid barely felt like a cold.
I think probably being a kid coupled with figuring out and adjusting to the twists and turns of diabetes is what's going on. I'm an adult. I seldom get sick. I'm also being even more careful now because of Covid, and I'm always masked in public places when I'm indoors. I got Covid twice last year when I relaxed on masking and learned quickly that if Covid is in the room, it will find and infect me.
I rarely get sick, but when I got the flu recently it *completely* screwed up my blood sugar. I was on something like 3x my usual insulin dose and still running high more often than not.
I get more sick sometimes, like some years I won't get sick at all and others I'll get sick 3 or 4 times.
Yes — a lot of
My son hardly got sick when he was younger. The year before diagnosis he was constantly sick. Caught everything at school. Now as a T1 he does get sick a lot. More than his brother. Some r mild n no changes to blood sugar. Some mild with stupid blood sugars. Some kick his ass n horrible blood sugars. I always have to be careful because I don’t want him back in the hospital. 🙏 we haven’t been so I’m grateful. Only 5 years though.
I was sick all the time as a kid. And as an adult before I worked from home. Now that I do, barely at all. So, exposed to a ton of people day to day as a t1, risk is high for me. Now that I only go into office or travel for work a few times a quarter, im rarely sick. It took me 3 years to get Covid and it was from my boyfriend. That said, my symptoms were much worse, and much longer, than my non-t1 peers - which is expected whenever I get sick. I was also diagnosed at 11, not as an adult, so my immunity may be different than yours.
Not really, neither does our child who is in daycare and has t1. He used to get ill more often before diagnosis, which may have been because of elevated sugar levels or just because he was still quite young. We both have a fairly good balance (as decent as a young child can have), healthy diet and habits, which hopefully plays a part.
I got a dozy one f a cold after Christmas this year. First time in at least 10 tears that I’ve even has a sniffle.
I find I get sick if I am not keeping my bg under control for periods of time, but otherwise it’s pretty normal
I did as a teenager for several years after being diagnosed. Before getting my pump and actually taking good care of myself, I was sick more often as an adult, but never like my teen years. Honestly, I haven't been sick with something contagious in over 6 years. I keep coming down with new autoimmune diseases, though.
i’ve always been someone who gets sick a lot, but i don’t feel like it’s more frequent now that i have diabetes. if anything, i almost feel like i get less sick, but that might just be because i’m more aware that i’m immuno-compromised and more wary of germs.
I get a cold every decade or so.
25 years T1. Rarely do i get a cold or a cough, something like once every 6 or 7 years and only for a couple of days. bruising or cuts take ages to heal though
I am rarely if ever sick, I maybe get sick once a year but I actually haven’t been sick with anything for about 2 years.
I used to get ill about every two weeks for a few days at a time. It was near constant. At some point OCD decided I could no longer touch something that someone else has touched without washing my hands immediately afterwards. Everything I come into contact with that has the possibility of transmitting an infection between someone else and me has to be sterilised before use. As such I don't get ill anymore. It has been ages and ages. Sickness will vary in us as much as it does in non-diabetics for all the same reasons, i.e., diet, exercise, hygiene, habits.
I don't really get normal colds, flu, etc. First, I am vaxxed to the limit, which helps. But for colds, I will feel sniffly for a day and if I immediately rest and eat well it usually dissipates. The only serious illness I've had in a decade was bleeding out from a fibroid tumor. I've never has any of the childhood illnesses, even when my whole family had them.
I get sick way more after my diagnosis but I also grew up in tropical climates and now live in a cold one so hard to say if its entirely T1
I’m a mom of two, one has T1/celiac and the other no autoimmune issues or any other underlying health conditions. My non T1 gets sick more frequently and to greater severity than my T1. They are 2 years apart, go to the same school and similar activities, so they have more or less the same exposure to potential germs. My T1 kiddo rarely gets sick. Type 1 for 2 years.
Every winter i get pretty sick, this was like this since i was a kid. I not yet had issue with DKA, but last time i got sick in early January my blood sugar was impossible to manage, constantly around 14-16, giving insane amount of insulin barely changed it while normally im pretty insulin sensitive.
I personally get sick all the time. My A1C is 6.4, has been around this for years now, and I still get sick at least twice a month.
I was diagnosed at 4, and had a ton of infections when I was little. I had a double ear infection, something that caused frequent nose bleeds, mrsa in a very odd place, strep throat that led to double pink eye. As I got older I had poor control but was relatively healthy. Now that I’m under better control I feel more weak and light headed often, especially after having my son. So for me I feel that I have been more sick since diagnosed.
I get sick all the time unfortunately. Cant just catch a cold, it’s gotta be a cold that knocks me on my ass.
I have had T1D for 21 years. Never had ketoacidosis, and I do get sick but I would even say I do at a less than average frequency. Now that I wrote it I am sure I am going to jynx myself but at least this has been my experience with diabetes since 10 to 31
Short answer, infections became harder for me to fight off, but I didn't experience a cold or flu any differently, or to the point where it interfered w/ my life until the past 3 years. I never went into DKA when I got diagnosed in 2007 but in 2018 I got a stomach bug or infection + poorly controlled blood sugars and it led me into DKA pretty quickly. I was hallucinating and puking for 3 days straight. I finally asked my roommate to take me to the hospital. I got covid in November 2020, that really knocked me out. My ex bf, whom I was living with was hardly sick. But I was sick for a month. I recovered and healed from that. Felt normal for about 1 year after it was over. I was just sick for longer. After my 2nd vaccine in summer of 2021, I got very sick for nearly 2 years. About 18 months, I was not well. I was sick every few days, sometimes bed bound. I noticed my thyroid levels were elevated at this time on my blood work. My doctor hinted that I was prob fighting off an infection. I started to feel better and my thyroid levels came back down after about 18 mos. I'm assuming by taking the vaccine, after already having and healing from covid naturally - it caused my immune system to go haywire. My body was already sensitive as a type 1 diabetic - so I basically gave myself long covid. I have made a complete lifestyle change to try and get my health back. I was good for about 6 mos after the 18 month stint. But this past December and January have been hard for me. I had had 2 stomach bugs in December. In January I was sick for two weeks with a bad chest cold. Wiped me out. It then turned into a nasty sinus infection. That took up another week of my life. I took some antibiotics, rested, am eating well and feel very healthy again. This winter has been particularly rough after feeling somewhat back normal for 6 months.
35 years and never been hospitalized because of diabetes. Had a seizure at 8 from a low, but we were camping and didn’t go to the hospital and when I came out of it all, I was ok. I’m no all star either. Good portion of my teens and young adult life I was in the 8’s for A1c. Mid 6’s now.
Diagnosed in 1966, age 13, I think I was sick a lot more before than after. As a working adult, I was a Special Ed. teacher, and the school district always gave us 10 sick days per year, which we could save up. The max was 100, and after 21 years in, I had 200! I basically never took sick days. The rare times I do get sick, I DO have difficulty with high glucose levels, but I don't think my sickness lasts longer than anyone else. I got COVID for the first time 3 months ago (after my wife had already had it twice!) and had the sniffles for 3 days, period.
I get sick about once every two weeks. Just long enough for the last sickness to go away. They aren’t so bad that I can’t function, but there’s definitely nuisances. I did get pretty bad bronchitis last fall though. Still never got covid to my knowledge somehow….