I've been reading a few things lately about a type 1.5. It can also be called Slow Onset Type 1 or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults. Has anyone else heard anything about this, and if so, what have you heard/know?
characterized as very slow. usually associated with people who are "not juvenile". very often misdaignosed as type 2. it's definately a autoimmune thing (rather than a insulin resistance thing), so there are antibodys destroying insulin cells, but it's not as fast and prounounced as your typical 12 year old who gets classic symptoms very quickly. eventual outcome for LADA is plain old regular Type 1.
The more I hear (read) the more I wonder if that isn't the more correct diagnosis for myself. It is definantly something I will question my endo about (he was not the one who diagnosed me, that was just a nurse practioner).
I don't mean to name drop here, but our friend, Diabetes News Hound has this diagnosis. I asked him straight forward about it and he was very nice about explaining it to me, I'm sure he wouldn't mind telling you if you conact him. :)
I have read about it and I am certain my boss was misdiagnosed as T2 and really should be LADA. I keep telling him to talk to his doctor about it. I know many people are usually misdiagnosed and it takes sometimes years for doctors to figure it out. Other than that, I know very little.
I actually sometimes wonder if I've been diagnosed as Type 1 because I'm in the later stages of 1.5. I wonder this because, looking back, I've been having somewhat subtle symptoms of diabetes for at least two years. Thirsty (but not as bad as most people say), peeing more often (but, again, not as bad as most people say), unexpectedly losing a little weight or not gaining when I normally would, recurring minor yeast infections, hungry all the time, fatigue... I wouldn't have been diagnosed if I hadn't gone to a new doctor about the cracks at the corners of my mouth, which made her wonder about yeast and my blood sugar (which turned out to be about 350).
So I feel like this was actually all slowly coming on for at least two years... which I understand isn't typical of Type 1. But I'm not a typical type 2 either, since I'm 30 and at a reasonable weight with a reasonable diet, and labs showed that I'm producing almost no insulin. I've not pursued the alternate diagnosis though, since I'm responding well to insulin management. I may mention it the next time I'm at the endo's office, though.
I have a friend (from camp) who was diagnosed as having type 1 and type 2. She was diagnosed with this as a 12 year old, so I'm not sure if it's LADA or not.
She was diagnosed as a type 1 as a toddler, and struggled with severe insulin resistance around puberty. I remember her having to change her (300 unit) pump reservoir twice a day before she started taking type 2 medications.
Would this be related? Or is this something different? I always assumed it was type 1.5 since it was all i had heard that sounded semi-related. Thoughts?
[quote user="JennCh"]
The more I hear (read) the more I wonder if that isn't the more correct diagnosis for myself. It is definantly something I will question my endo about (he was not the one who diagnosed me, that was just a nurse practioner).
[/quote]Jenn (btw your avatar cracks me up), your endo will say "who cares, the symptoms and treatment are the same". and to a point i agree. the thing that I would do is try to get involved with the clinical trails of the drugs they are using to prolong the "honeymoon".
I see t1.5 as two big challenges: 1) autoimmune related diabetes that will turn to type 1 sooner or later, and 2) a prolonged honeymoon where 1 unit of insulin will either drag you from 300 to 59 in an hour, or from 180 to 180 in 3 hours.... and you never get an advance warning. seriously, there are therapies that slow down the GAD65 effect and keep you producing insulin for a long time.
Sonja, folks who take insulin because of t1 diabetes can also be or become insulin resistant. so they are "double blessed". It''s not called T1.5. There are some T1 who take T2 meds (the insulin resistance reducer meds... NOT the insulin increaser meds) so they don't have to use 100's of units per day. Richard is a "double diabetic" or whatever you want to call it... type 3 is already taken. =) hope this clears things up a little.