T1D and ADHD/ASD

[Anonymous]

Is Type 1 in any way correlated with ASD or ADHD?

[Anonymous]

I have no idea but anecdotally I grew up T1D from age 7 and was always very structured and somewhat rigid. For decades I chalked that up to needing to be because of the T1D. This was well before all the amazing medical technology that exists now in the field. I thought perhaps I was OCD out of necessity.

These days, I’ve come around to self-diagnose with ASD. I think ASD fits better than OCD, in my case.

Oddly, I have a sibling who is also T1D and has also recently self-diagnosed as ASD as well as a recent clinical diagnosis of ADHD.

So, two anecdotal cases for you.

[Anonymous]

I know two people with t1 diabetes (one is now an adult and one is a child) and neither are adhd or ASD. Both girls.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I remember looking this up and there is a higher-than-average rate of comorbidity.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9722754/

Certainly true in our household.

[Anonymous]

I know a few kids on the spectrum. One has TD1.

[Anonymous]

Mom of a T1D - I have never heard this theory and it is def not something I have noticed from my experience within the community - and I know a lot of T1Ds.

[Anonymous]

My ASD level-1 teenage DC tested positive for T1D antibodies recently. He was always in the pre-diabetic range all his childhood although he is very slim. No family history of T1D.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ASD level-1 teenage DC tested positive for T1D antibodies recently. He was always in the pre-diabetic range all his childhood although he is very slim. No family history of T1D.

You sound like you might know this, but just in case, weight/slimness has nothing to do with type 1. Sorry your kid tested positive.

My T1D kid has no family history either. Apparently most don’t,

And my understanding is that if a kid has ASD/ADHD they are at higher risk for T1D.

[Anonymous]

If your child has both ASD and T1D, what age were they diagnosed with T1D? Was it after an illness or immunization?

[Anonymous]

It’s been known for a while that viruses trigger T1D — I believe the thinking is that the mechanism is a combination of (1) genetic predisposition, (2) “molecular mimicry” — where a particular virus/antigen shares structural similarity to pancreatic beta cells, so the individual’s T-cells become “cross-reactive,” ie read the beta cells as viruses and therefore attack, (3) a more generalized inflammatory immune response.

Certain viruses have been identified as being common triggers — human enteroviruses and coxsackie are two big ones, but also some herpes and rotoviruses, mumps, probably covid too, and a handful of others. I believe the individual must have the predisposition, and even then the mechanisms are complex (the immune system is unbelievably complicated and individualized).

In our case, our whole family had a short, dramatic enterovirus about 5-6 months before DC’s diagnosis at 12. Diagnosed ADHD since forever. But my gut is that the virus only accelerated a process that was already underway. Hard to know for sure.