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Am I type 1 or type 2?

J

jimmehr

Member
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I am 17 coming up to 18 (yay), I was diagnosed in June 2010 with diabetes which the last 6 months before the diagnoses I Could just sleep anywhere, anytime and through very loud situations.
I was at college in that time and I just thought it was the stress of the work making me sleepy but I slept through a fire alarm for the 4th time and was ordered to go to the GP next day and they did blood tests and made me do a fasting blood test the next week and my blood sugar was 25.something
and told me I had diabetes :shock: (not known type)
First they treated me on metformin which did not work and made no difference and I reacted to it with bad stomach cramps and muscle pain, tried me on sitagliptin still did not work and reacted with bad stomach cramps, muscle pain and constantly dizzy which made me not walk in a straight line.

My GP then asked me to try the Cambridge diet with no medication which worked for about 5-6 weeks and lost about stone and half and kept my blood sugar under control but kept making me sick so I stopped.
(I had to move GP since I finished college and moved back home)
My new GP tried my on pioglitazone and I ended up in hospital a week later with high blood sugar, starting to produce ketones and collapsed while at college, the emergency doctor there was shocked that I was just on that as it takes up to 3 months to start working and I went back to my GP and spoke to a new doctor and she decided to start me on insulin (novamix 30) now My blood sugars have improved dramatically now in single figures :D and the diabetic nurse is slowing increasing my dosage so it doesnt come as a shock to my body.

Im trying to get a definite answer from the doctor and nurse and they are still uncertain what type I am?
Could I just say I am Type 1 since only so far Insulin has sorted the problem and have to do some extra dosages when I eat something different in normal eating habits or less when I am drinking alcohol, extra exercise, not gonna eat to much, etc


Sorry about the long post :P
 
Hi,

I think it is very difficult to say for sure...especially as there are more than "just" type 1 and type 2. The one thing I can say is thatit is certainly worth getting your GP to refer you on to a specialist, who can run some more tests etc, and hopefulyy give you an answer.

Sorry, not much help, but I know that if you are not typical, it is not unusual for it to take a while to pin down your condition. Ultimately though, the fact that the treatment is working is the best news!
 
Pioglitazone takes up to 3 months to work? It started working in a day for me, it worked wonderfully and I felt much better, and I'm type 1 so I assume it would work better for someone type 2 who has more beta cells.

The diabetic nurse is slowly increasing the dosage so it doesn't come as a shock to your body? Never heard that before, sounds very strange - when I started insulin they estimated the first dose, a bit on the low side to avoid the risk and hypo, and said if your blood sugar is still too high increase the dose until it is OK, so I increased it to my current level in a few days. Though the insulin mixes are different maybe?

You mention extra doses, as you are on novomix doesn't that screw up the long lasting insulin? If I took extra levemir every time I needed to take extra novorapid I'd be in trouble.

There are some tests they can do to see if it is type 1, GAD antibodies is one and c peptide maybe? And there was one more, 3 in total I think? I cant remember sorry! But if you ask your dr he will know. Given that you are now on insulin, I'm not sure it matters if you are type 1 or 2, but personally I think it's nice to know just out of interest. As you are 17 it's odd that they didn't just think type 1 from the beginning, the consultant I saw said he would test anyone who develops diabetes under the age of about 30 for type 1, and he would expect them to have type 1 not type 2.
 
Novamix 30 which is the insulin im on has 30% short acting and 70% long acting. (just case you dident know)
im usually on 2 doses a day only covers breakfast, lunch and dinner and a couple of snacks if I want any. and doesnt cover when ive had high sugar stuff so another dose is required as im trying to keep my blood sugar under 10.
My GP who specialises in Diabetes said that I need to do an extra dose for that stuff and went on about pioglitazone taking up to 3 months to work.
I dont know why the doctor said they are doing small amounts so it wont come as a shock to my body as it sounded a bit weird, I though it to make sure I dident hypo straight away.

I am still waiting for an appointment with a specialist/consultant at the hospital but one hasnt been sent to me. Ive had the retinopathy and dietician referrals which I need to get done
 
Hi,

I have been told the thing about not dropping my BG too quickly to avoid chock" too. I "think" it was something along the lines of...if you hav ehad a high blood glucose, for a long period of time, to drop to a much lower level, very quickly, can cause some retinopathy".

I did not get any reference from this, and it was a very woolly statement really..how big a drop was too big. I am guessing that it is something that is an anecdotal thing. In teh situation I was in. (Pump training) they stressed this to someone who typically had a HbA1c of 9, and wanted to aim to have a BG reading of 5 all the time. The message seemed to be, yes, that is teh ultimate goal, but aim for 7 for a 3 months, while your body gets used to the lower level.

I seem to remember that someone on the forum here had suffered becasue of this drop?
 
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