COVID seems to be causing diabetes in some people!

[thewayne]

Yeah, we need more weirdness.

Apparently COVID infections are producing a form of diabetes in some people that is possibly transient. In some cases it starts as Type 1 then becomes Type 2. Very weird. They've started an anonymized repository called CoviDiab to build a better knowledgebase of what's going on and to try to find out is it the disease, or might it be the disease plus drugs being used in treatment, or just WTF.

Strange days indeed.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-global-data-effort-probes-whether-covid-causes-diabetes/

Comments

[acelightning]

I suspect it's related to the fact that some people's bodies respond to the Corona virus with a cytokine storm - both forms of diabetes seem to be related to the immune system in various ways. I have Type 2 myself, as well as atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure, and I'm doing everything in my power to avoid contagion.

[thewayne]

I think, though I'm by no means certain, that the cytokine storm is a later stage development in the progression of the virus and this diabetes onset is seen as an early stage/initial assessment thing.  I believe that's why they want steroids later on in severe cases to tramp down the immune system to fight the cytokine storm and not early on when the immune system has a chance, but I may be misremembering things.  Too many complicated facts! But in the end: new virus, we've been studying it for ten months now.  Still building information.  My wife said she saw an article unrelated to COVID about adults without diabetes developing Type 1, which is pretty weird. That's the thing about the human body: the deeper you poke, the weirder it gets.

[graydon]

Epithelial tissue diseases are really poorly understood. (Psoriasis, asthma, various sweating disorders, acne, etc.)

Modelling COVID-19 as contagious severe asthma side effects doesn't seem to be all that far off so far, and that doesn't make diabetes all that surprising, since the damage that produces persistent diabetes can start with metabolic regulation issues.

[thewayne]

My asthma is quite strange, how my breathing difficulty is an on-again, off-again thing.  My wife also has asthma, and it manifests very differently for her.  We live at 9,000' and I work at about 4,600' and pretty much never need my rescue inhailer down here, but I generally take a puff or two before taking out the trash at home: it's about 200 yards to the dumpster, literally uphill both ways as there's a hill in the middle.

[graydon]

That's kinda the scary part; it's all so poorly understood. There's about to be millions of people with conditions for which there is no treatment framework.

[thewayne]

Every day: Morning: Nebulize budesonide and albuterol, about 1 hour Neilmed Sinus Rinse Three nasal sprays

Night: Nebulize budesonide and albuterol, about 1 hour Neilmed Sinus Rinse Two nasal sprays

Two Allegra plus something prescription in the morning. Plus my rescue inhaler as needed as a preventative, I might need it once or twice a year for actual labored breathing.

Literally every day, 2-3 hours of my waking life holding a nebulizer up to my face, not able to do a heck of a lot else while doing so. Fortunately I found something called an Omron silent vibrating mesh nebulizer, so I don’t have that obnoxious noisy air compressor further destroying my hearing daily. About all I can do while nebulizing is surf the web, watch TV, or play Lord of the Rings Online.

While asthma is a potential life-threatening problem, for me it’s more out of concern for my immune disorder. Try to keep my lungs as disaster-free as possible to prevent nastiness from growing in them.

[graydon]

Disaster-free lungs is an excellent plan!

There's treatment for asthma, but it's nigh-all "reverse the symptoms" and highly empirical. (and it took a long time for the empiricism to get where it is now.) There isn't any "we know the biological cause" or "can identify risk factors" or "we think we know the mechanism". Kinda like the difference between cancer and Parkinson's; despite a lot of empiricism and complication, cancer is a set of known mechanisms while Parkinson's is a complete bafflement.

Several million people with debilitating conditions about which the science of medicine experiences complete bafflement will probably lead to advances, given time. But it's likely to be really messy getting there.

[dewline]

And the hits just don't stop coming, DO they?

[silveradept]

Yet another novel part of the novel coronavirus, potentially. So much fun and yet another reason not to be blinkered into the idea of "if everyone gets it, we'll all be fine."

[thewayne]

Also, see “Getting rid of pre-existing medical condition coverage” including all of the Americans who have gotten COVID. Wonderful timing for the Republicans. Pity Trump has Gold-plated Cadillac insurance for the rest of his life, otherwise him having gotten it he’d be among the uninsurable.

[silveradept]

I think he could find coverage, at least, if he's the smart businessman making money hand over fist that he claims to be to all of us. I suspect the real truth is much more like what he shows on his taxes, and that he'd have to make do with whatever Medicare could provide him with, at least until his friends finally manage to disassemble that program, too. At which point the con can't continue, but also it's well past the point where he stopped being useful to the Republicans, so they won't care about him, either.