Diabetic son worries

[micknkaz]

My son is 14 and has just been diagnosed type 1 diabetic. At a recent hospital visit we were informed he also has celiacs disease.
I am worried sick of what the hospital will discover next and the impact diet and lifestyle changes will have on him.
My questions are
1. He had appendicitis at the age of 3. This took the hospital over a week to diagnose and to operate on him. He was clearly graveley ill and his recovery was long and traumatic. Can these new illnesses he is now suffering from be in any way a result of the appendicities?
2. What are the risks he will be exposed to with the combination of cealiacs and diabeties?
3.Will it have an impact on his life expectancy?
Thank you

[Smithy]

Hi,

To give answers to your questions, some of which will sound like the above answer, here is what I think:
-For question 1, it may be that both diabetes and celiacs came about in part as a consequence of the appendicitis and the subsequent operation he had. Auto-immune disorders are thought to be triggered by a number of different catalysts including not only viruses, but mental stress, surgery, or other conditions that adversely affect the body. Nobody knows exactly how this works, but it is not something to worry about since there is nothing we can do about it. And, as already mentioned, if it wasn't the appendicitis, it could've been any number of other things that would have triggered it. There are no guarantees that something else won't occur, but that's the case for absolutely everyone.
-For question 2, from what little i know about celiacs, it makes for a more complicated life than the already complicated diabetic condition. If complications of celiacs start, then absorption of nutrition becomes a problem which makes it tougher to control diabetes. However, it is relatively easy to stave off the complications of celiacs with a gluten-free diet. This does make it more difficult to balance the diet appropriately--an absolute necessity with diabetes--but with so many food options available, I think the problem will seem minimal once you get used to it.
-For question 3, yes, these diseases will affect your son's life expectancy...but that, in my view, is not something for which you should ever really have concern. By this, i don't mean to say you shouldn't want a long healthy life for him, but rather that there are a lot of things we don't control in life and any one of us could drop dead in a second. What's important to be concerned about is the moment. And in a way, your body tells you when things are going well. (When my sugar levels have been consistently in the 'normal' range for a couple of days straight, I am filled with energy!) To be a diabetic in good control means you likely have an excellent diet and a good level of exercise--two factors that will increase the life expectancy of all people. Assuming he is motivated to control his diabetes, he may end up taking better control of his diet and exercise levels than if he was never diagnosed.

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

I would not worry overly much about the double diagnosis. Apparently, it is fairly common for type 1 diabetic folks to also have celiac disease. Dietary modifications are needed, but there is no effect on life expectancy with celiac, just a need for gluten-free foods. Most people do just fine once the diet has been adjusted to remove the gluten.

Most articles that I have read about causes for type 1 diabetes offer causes that are partly genetic and partly due to a virus (usually) that activates the immune system. In the case of your son and all of the rest of us who are type 1 diabetics, we carry several genes that make our immune systems overly eager to do their jobs. So at some point in our lives, something caused our immune systems to kick into action, and while they were dealing with the virus that triggered it (a number of common viruses have been listed as possible triggers), our immune systems not only dealt with the intruder virus, but also killed off our pancreas' insulin-producing cells.

If your suspicion about the appendicitis is that it triggered the immune system's attack on the pancreas, I would offer that it probably would not have mattered whether he was diagnosed immediately or whether it took a long time for the diagnosis to be made. There is no way known at this time to turn off our immune systems once they are activated. Researchers are working on this issue, for it is a major issue in the whole idea of pancreas transplants, for in some cases, after a transplant, the overactive immune system kills off the new pancreas at some point. So trying to stifle this autoimmune disorder that we have is one of the big things that researchers are working on. So far, even if the doctors had diagnosed the appendicitis immediately, there would be no way to KNOW that the immune system was going to attack the pancreas OR to prevent it from happening.

[Forum-vol-wak]

I am not a physician, but the mom of a type one diabetic.   I would suggest that you ask your sons   endocrinologist.  I do know of several diabetics that have been diagnosed with celiac also.  These 2 diseases have do have a link.  I do not know what the life expectancy would be I would suggest you go to the following website for more info:


http://www.celiac.org


I know how frustrating that he was not diagnosed immediately.  When I had my appendix out it took the doctors about 2 years to diagnose my appendix.  It was not acute at the time when the tests were done.  And it was very frustrating.