I would like to hear the reason endo/ diabetes nurse have given to people that they are LADA rather than type 2?I am STILL struggling with this ..
I have never been told "Yes u are 100% type 1( lada) and this is why..."
My gp registered me for a course. It was for type 2 ,but organiserof the course told me on the phone to go along as it might help me. It was nice to meet other diabetics and there was some stuff relevant to me so I thought I would get something out if it .But basically I was put off the course by the facillitator as she said it would confuse me or others or some sort of thing... This made me a little upset and bothered as I dont know where I fit in...
Im not sure also whether I am down as a type 2 ,or 1.. I was initally 'wrongly'diagnosed as type 2!That bothers me because if there were trials or cure for a type 1( I know thats not coming anytime soon...) then I wouldnt be eligible .
I think I heard mentioned that there are other antibody tests besides GAD which I showed up negative for. Can I push to get other antibody tests if they exist?
I was hospitalized for a short while when I was 24 for an issue unrelated to diabetes. I tested pre-diabetes back then in a routine check-up, but it was assumed because I'm overweight, told to 'watch what I eat' and that was that. When I was 26 I finally got my act together and saw my doctor, who had me tested and labeled as a type 2. I saw the diabetes practitioner in my doctor's office and she went through my situation and said that even though I'm overweight, it wasn't severe enough to be the cause of T2, nor was I really old enough overall for it.
She knew about LADA and had me tested. I can't tell you which test it was by name, but it was for diabetes antibodies and I tested positive. Although she referred to it as LADA herself, she does keep saying that I'm "between T1 and T2", which I guess makes sense overall.
I got started on metformin. That didn't help by itself, so I was given glicladize as well. It went well for about 1.5 years, although I maxed out on the metformin dosage, and then the past 6 months my BG values were all over the place. Now I'm 28 and dealing with a failing of my beta cells altogether. After 12 hours of fasting, I tested 8.2. I biked 15 minutes to my doctor's office (still fasting), got my A1C bloodwork done, biked 15 minutes back home and I tested 9.8 (still fasting) - no hypo occurred to explain the sudden rise in BG. My A1C refused to lower. I had random hypos that made me have to eat, while other times I had random hypers for no discernible reason. Diet and medication didn't influence my values like they should have.
We expected this to happen. LADA is a fickle mistress and I knew that I could have 6 months or 6-10 years, depending on how my body behaved and reacted. As of this week I've started insulin in combination with my oral meds. (Basal only, Toujeo, 10 units a day.) We're hoping that this will be enough for now to get the out of whack curve under control, but if we don't see improvement in this over the next couple of weeks we're adding bolus as well.
Sometimes it's really hard to get people to understand what type you are. I've talked to many doctors, nurses and pharmacists who all never heard of LADA/1.5. They understand that it's "a slow form of type 1 in adults", but many don't believe it either because "only children can have type 1". I'm also still overweight, which makes people insist I can't have some form of T1.
What convinced me the most was that even when I was doing everything right for a T2 treatment, it wasn't giving me the expected results in the long run. I spent 2 years mucking around with medication, adjusting it, dealing with inexplicable BG behaviors and a lot of exhaustion. I've come to understand that this is part of what LADA is. It's a slow process that drags on and isn't fixed with just meds and diet and exercise. It's something that is out of your control and you will eventually need to use insulin even when you've done everything right and by the book. I think those are the key factors in differentiating between T1, T2 and LADA.
Even if you can't get an 'official diagnosis' on this, if you recognize some or most of what I wrote, trust your own gut feelings and bring it up with your doctor. Be assertive about it. It's your body, your condition and your life. You have a say in it!