Hello,
I have been fortunate not to get Covid during the Pandemic. I am interested in hearing from Diabetics who have had Covid (i.e. which variants). Sometimes the most encouraging thing is not how to deal with the fear of getting it, but it is hearing from people who have had it, and they came through it. Even if you haven’t had it yourself but you know other diabetics who have.
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I am also interested in if anyone knows of any scientific research done on what the stats are for Type 1 diabetics in terms of what the increased likelihood of getting it is, what extra complications there are, death rates among T1’s versus general population. Anyone know where to find all that? Oftentimes it is natural to be more fearful than is justified. It is part of our genetics of survival. I am not downplaying Covid at all in saying that.
I had it for about two weeks - got the positive test the last week of March and tested negative on my birthday a couple of weeks later. ALL I wanted to do for about the first week was sleep and I had NO appetite the entire time. I ate minimally - force feed myself just to get some nutrients and lost several pounds as a result. I needed to lose some but that was not the way to do it. CIQ did its job and ironically, while illness usually raises blood sugar I had two straight weeks of near perfection. I recovered at home - with strict instructions from my endo to go to hospital if I had any respiratory problems. I did not (despite the fact that I also have cough variant asthma) and got my first vaccine as soon as possible (I think there was a waiting period following recovery), followed by my second. I get my booster next week.
I got the alpha variant January 2020, and the Omicron variant just a couple weeks ago. From my experience, the alpha variant was a complete bitch. It wasn’t because of the initial illness - but it was the auto-immune reaction and long haul Covid that came two weeks later. It lasted for 3 months and completely immobilized me, fried my nervous system and put me in a continual panic attack, halted my ability to sleep, wrecked my digestion,…the list goes on… I thought I was going to lose it. My doctors had nothing to offer me that worked, so I ended up doing my own research and rehabilitating myself over a few months with holistic approaches. I can go into the details of that if you want.
The good news is, Omicron is pretty well canceling out the other variants, and at least for me, it was pure peaches compared to the Alpha variant. The sickness was basically like a flu/cold and lasted a week. I did get an auto-immune reaction similar to last year, this time mostly effecting my nervous system and putting it into a ramped up fight or flight, but it wasn’t too bad and I was able to correct it fairly quickly through diet, supplements, acupuncture and breathwork. My whole household and half my friends all got Omicron recently, and it’s been not a big deal, across the board. So I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
I have not tested positive (knock on wood) and have been living with that same fear! I think our imagination is often worse than the reality but who knows? Just know you’re not alone…
I was exposed on New Year’s at a friend’s house party. Started having symptoms 3 days later - fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle aches, headache, sore throat, chills, and cough. Never had a fever or lost taste or smell, but an over-the-counter home test said I was positive. My symptoms were rather mild & treatable using regular flu/cold medicine, so I didn’t bother getting an “official” test (but I suspect Omicron). For perspective, I didn’t feel like exercising or anything too strenuous, but I was still able to work (from home) and do my normal household chores & activities. After two weeks of feeling “blah,” I’ve since recovered with no further complications. The worst part of it all was absolutely horrible glucose readings. Blood glucose was in the 200 - 250 range despite taking massive amounts of insulin - about twice as much as normal - and the insulin barely budged my blood sugar levels. Thankfully, my numbers have returned to normal over the past few days.
I was vaccinated back in October (with the “one & done” J&J - my doctor said it was likely more effective against Delta than the other shots since it had been released later & underwent more testing). No booster though, and my 23-year old daughter has not been vaccinated at all & never had a single symptom despite constant contact. We tend not to subscribe to the typical 'Ronafear and understand that some folks will fall victim to the virus (or some other sickness) regardless of the precautions they may take - all the breakthrough infections and deaths among the vaxed & boosted seem to support that notion, as do the countless instances of folks that recover completely despite comorbidities that should have proven fatal. I’m personally more fearful of the vaccines than the virus - they suspended animal trials for the vaccines because the animals were dying. That doesn’t fill me with much confidence…
Oh - I’ve specifically asked my doctor a number of times about statistics for Type 1 diabetics & Covid - most recently for the vaccines (our immune systems DID target our pancreas, after all, and I was apprehensive about triggering it again!) But there really is no research. Initially, I was told that the “People with underlying health conditions such as diabetes” was specific for Type 2, and included the typical laundry list of T2D extras (high cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure, etc.) that increases Covid mortality. From what I’ve read, the functioning of high blood glucose and the virus leads to increased mortality among Type 2’s & undiagnosed diabetics (which is why I was so concerned with my high BG over the past few weeks). But specifics for T1Ds & Covid, the vaccines, the boosters, mortality, etc. are just not available (or are not being shared with the general population)…
Thanks Jason for your input! Yes, high blood sugars is actually what I fear most about omicron. I am the same way. I eat next to nothing when flu, double the insulin and it does very little. Dangerous part is that at some point it responds and all of a sudden you have this massive low…
Sam
I had covid last October, so probably delta. The fever lasted less than 24 hours for me and some fatigue. I enjoyed the naps, so I’m not sure if I had the fatigue levels others had. Some chest congestion did linger for about 2 weeks, I took a lot of mucinex. My taste and smell loss lasted 2-3 weeks, I can’t really remember.
My insulin use went up about 25% and that lasted the longest for me, maybe a month or so. I did and do take a lot of the things in the covid protocols that you can find online, maybe that made a difference?
Most of my family and friends have had omicron, not me or my t1 brother yet so I can’t comment there. He has been covid free thus far.
My son is T1D. (Age 14-15)He got Covid a few weeks after healing from influenza A! Typical fatigue, fevers 100-101.5 and some sore throat/ mild-mod cough. I am an RN do I knew to closely watch his oxygen saturations. I highly recommend having a finger pulse ox at home. He danced below 90 % for 1-2 days in the 2nd half of Illness, but we had albuterol on hand to give occasionally. Lots of fluids, rest, and over the counter meds as needed and he did ok. We watched ketones daily and he never really had any. My understanding is that type 2 diabetics may struggle more, but there is also a higher percentage of them that are overweight (major comorbidity). The great news? Once he was well, fast forward a couple months and everyone in the house got Covid and he had NO symptoms, yet tested positive. His antibodies did their job and he is doing great now. I’m kind of glad it happened and now he has some protection.
Samuel
The scariest part of COVID for me was that my mother passed away from COVID on Easter 2020 and it caused me to go into complete isolation for a period of months until I realized I could not live that way. My mother was asymptomatic, although she suffered from other immune compromised conditions - kidney disease (stage 6), T2D, among others. Up until a few days before she passed, she was coherent and nobody would have known she had COVID. The last few days is when things changed significantly for her.
I was diagnosed with COVID in Feb 2021 and had a virtual doctor visit within an hour of my diagnosis. At that time I felt like i had a mild cold. My doctor prescribed two types of pain killers, OTC cough medicine, and I continued taking my allergy meds. Within 8 hours of my positive results, I had intense body pain, severe headache, and complete exhaustion. I slept for at least18 hours each of the next 5 days, waking up to eat, take my meds, and shower. I had a slight fever on and off during the 5 days when I felt the worst. I also ate very little and lost some weight (that was much needed). Finally, I lost my sense of smell and taste the day I was diagnosed and that lasted for about 10 days.
The good news is my BG stayed in range for the 5 days I was very sick. The pain medicine tended to increase my BG so I made sure to adjust my bolus for the expected rise and it worked well.
My wife, who is not diabetic, also tested positive at the same time I was test and she was asymptomatic and other than being a little tired, she had no visible symptoms.
Since that time, I was fully vaccinated with Pfizer in March 2021 and boosted with Pfizer in Oct 2021. With each vaccine shot, I had moderate to significant side effects. After the first shot, within 12 hours I felt like I had COVID again (with all the same symptoms). After the second shot, within 12 hours I had a moderate headache and significant chills (which I did not have with COVID). With the booster, it took about 22 hours before I became very exhausted after taking a short walk (about a mile) and slept for about 6 hours in the middle of the day.
I wish you the best is staying safe. The new variants tend to be more contagious than the initial virus and I fully expect I could catch it again unless I hide in my home, which I will not do. I try to make educated and careful choices.
Take Care!
I caught covid in October of 2020. I struggled with high sugars and lost my sense of smell and taste for about 6 weeks. I had slight cough that i attributed to allergies until my smell disappeared. I noticed i couldn’t smell the diesel fuel i was working with. Overall for me i have been much sicker with various flu strains. I decided not long after that to start living my life again and I still occasionally worry but i have noticed that since i stopped watching the news my stress over the whole thing has receded back to normal.