Question:
From Prodigy:
My daughter complained of severe joint pain right before she was
diagnosed with diabetes. She was only 2 1/2 at the time and I don't
think that it was growing pains. Since then I've talked to other
parents of diabetics who told me the same thing. My daughter's
endocrinologist, however, refused to make a connection between
diabetes and joint pain. Could there be a connection, and if so what?
Answer:
Joint pain is not normally associated with the onset of clinical
diabetes. It is, of course, true that some forms of arthritis are due to
an
autoimmune disorder
as is Type 1 Diabetes; but the two processes have
not so far been linked.
One explanation in your daughters case is that she had a
subclinical infection at the time of onset which produced both a
'reactive' arthralgia [joint pains] as well as enough further destruction
of islet tissue
to make her clinically diabetic.
DO'B
Original posting 26 Jun 97
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