Question from Jackson, Tennessee, USA:

My daughter was diagnosed with diabetes several months ago. Every month since then, before her period, she runs a low-grade temperature and feels terrible. I’ve taken her twice to the doctor with no apparent reason for the fever/aches and pain found. If she is in the honeymoon phase (I believe she is, since her blood glucoses are easy to control and her first HbA1c was 7.0% with a relatively low dose of insulin), could this monthly fever be triggered by hormones and result in her immune system being “turned on” full force against her islet cells? I believe her diabetes was triggered by onset of menses, because they occurred within one month of each other. The fever goes away almost immediately at menses and she feels immediately “fine”. Don’t you think this scenario is possible? Or at least somehow related? Is there anything we can do to minimize this attack other than controlling her diabetes as tightly as possible?