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Diabetes - Juvenile Community
This patient support community is for questions related to juvenile diabetes including celiac disease, depression, diabetic complications, hyperglycemia / diabetic keto-acidosis, hypoglycemia, islet cell transplantation, nutritional issues, parenting a diabetic child, pregnancy, pump therapy, school issues, and teens with diabetes.
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Chronic Fatigue syndrome & Type 1 diabetes.
by ukchris111, Jul 15, 2007 12:00AM
Hi, Hope someone can help. Had type 1 diabetes 25 yrs from aged 13, Chronic fatigue last 15 years. Last few years food probs, intolerances and unstable blood sugars. Unstable sugars big prob at moment - told `leaky gut` side affect but dont know how to treat. Always try to be positive especially with new baby girl arrived but this is really getting me down. Any advice? specialists? really appreciated. Thanks, Chris
Doctor's Answer
by JDRF-VOL-SG, Jul 15, 2007 12:00AM
I am a type 1 diabetic, diagnosed at about the same age as you. I happen to have an identical twin who also was discovered to have this health problem after it was diagnosed in me. For YEARS, she complained of fatigue and she also had stomach problems. Her doctors tested her for chronic fatigue syndrome and for celiac disease and all the tests (other tests were run, also) came back negative. Finally, she asked her doctor to test her adrenal gland function. Her cortisol numbers seemed to be normal most of the time, but her doctor tested her in much the same way as a glucose tolerance test: an initial blood draw is done to determine the resting adrenal function, and then the person is injected with something that is supposed to stimulate them to produce adrenalin. In her case, her levels actually dropped instead of rising. Her adrenal glands have been damaged by her immune system just as the pancreas has. She was put on prednisone for a year and when it appeared that her adrenal glands are now beginning to work on their own some, she is slowly weaning off of the prednisone now. Addison's Disease was the first diagnosis, but now it seems that her situation is more of an adrenal fatigue situation rather than complete failure of the adrenals.
So to make a long story more to the point, you may want to ask your doctor to check adrenal function by doing this kind of test. My sister had to suffer for 20 years before this test was finally run, and her quality of life was terrible. Unstable sugars, leaky gut, and fatigue are all symptoms of low cortisol levels.
The other things that I would suggest you have checked if they have not already been checked are thyroid function (although your symptoms are not classic thyroid symptoms, I don't think) and maybe you should be checked for Celiac Disease. All of these problems seem to be related to autoimmune system problems and are more common among type 1 diabetics than among the average population.
And one last thought... my sister seems to react with all of the symptoms you mention when allergens are present. I had never heard of these symptoms as being symptoms of allergies, but maybe this is partly because her adrenals aren't really doing a good job. If you have allergies or if you notice more of a problem when pollen levels are high, this might be something else to look into. She can notice a rapid rise in glucose levels when she goes out to ride her horses, but when she comes back in and showers and stays indoors, rapid drops happen.
I do wish you the best in finding a root cause for this fatigue.
So to make a long story more to the point, you may want to ask your doctor to check adrenal function by doing this kind of test. My sister had to suffer for 20 years before this test was finally run, and her quality of life was terrible. Unstable sugars, leaky gut, and fatigue are all symptoms of low cortisol levels.
The other things that I would suggest you have checked if they have not already been checked are thyroid function (although your symptoms are not classic thyroid symptoms, I don't think) and maybe you should be checked for Celiac Disease. All of these problems seem to be related to autoimmune system problems and are more common among type 1 diabetics than among the average population.
And one last thought... my sister seems to react with all of the symptoms you mention when allergens are present. I had never heard of these symptoms as being symptoms of allergies, but maybe this is partly because her adrenals aren't really doing a good job. If you have allergies or if you notice more of a problem when pollen levels are high, this might be something else to look into. She can notice a rapid rise in glucose levels when she goes out to ride her horses, but when she comes back in and showers and stays indoors, rapid drops happen.
I do wish you the best in finding a root cause for this fatigue.
Post Comment
I would be interested in talking further with yourself or your sister if you/her felt able? Unsure where you are based?
Thanks again
Chris
So please go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) website at www.jrdf.org -- then click on the link on the left side of the page for the Online Diabetes Support Team (ODST). This will take you to a window where you can ask to be put in touch with me... Tell them that you found me on the MedHelp Forum. I will contact them and ask them to send your request to me. Then we can discuss this with more details than we can in a generic forum, and if my sister OK's it (I suspect she will), I can put you directly in touch with her. But DO get those tests run. Not just a generic cortisol level, but have them do a cortisol stress test as I described. In her case, her cortisol levels seemed to be OK when tested with usual blood tests, and it was only when they tried the stress test that they discovered that her adrenal glands weren't able to produce cortisol when she was stressed. I will tell the JDRF folks that if a Chris contacts them with a request about chronic fatigue, to send it to me.