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Can you be type 1 and type 2 ?????

A

ajsmum

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Please can anyone shed any light on what my sons consultant keeps saying to him. He was diagnosed as type 1 at the age of 14. After changing medication and being placed on lantus his weight increased significantly (the dietician has now told us it was because his lantus was way too high and he was always over compensating with his hypos). The consultant has now put him on metformin aswell saying that he is now type 1 and type 2? How can this be possible? I have googled it and cant find any evidence that this is right. I have never had any confidence in my sons consultant, we are currently seeing the dietician every week and have learnt more about being type 1 in a month than we have in 4 years with the consultant. Has anyone else been told that they are both type 1 and 2? :roll:
 
Hi Ajsmum,
Think its the same in youngsters but my understanding is that you can be type 1 with insulin resistance. Therefore metformin in started to help with the insulin resistance but the individual is still classed as type 1 and needs insulin. Not sure if I've got this right but I think it's called double diabetes.
Sorry if I am wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me
Best wishes
Jo :)
 
Thank you so much for your replies. I have looked at the links which are really helpful. I am annoyed at the same time, as soon as AJ was given Lantus he started to put on weight. I kept telling the consultant that I was concerned about this - his reply was that his HB1c was falling and that was all that mattered. In reality his HB1c was falling because he was always in hypo - and eating too much to compensate! Something that only really fell into place when we started to see the dietician. The other sad thing is that AJ loves sport and going to the gym - but every time he did any thing he would go into hypo ...... and eat ...... and so the cycle continued! Hopefully we can now put all this behind us - the nurse has reduced the lantus (by 25%), the hypos at night have stopped, and the weight is dropping (slowly).
Thank you once again! :D
 
Insulin unfortunately often does cause weight gain. I have a neighbour with this problem. She's a T2 and was doing fine on orals, but she had a spell in hospital where everything went pear shaped. She's been put onto insulin and is now at least a dress size 30. She couldn't walk well before, but is confined to a wheelchair.
Double diabetes, by the way, is well known. One strategy to improve it is to reduce carbs and hence insulin requirement.
If AJ can manage a truly low carb diet <50g carb/d. it would benefit him I'm sure. If not any reduction should have a positive effect.
 
I'm glad the links were useful and that things are getting back on track, the article does suggest that losing the weight may help to get rid of the insulin resistance.
One thing that occurs to me is that a pump could help. I have a pump because I kept going low whilst exercising. The ability to cut the basal rate or even switch it off, whilst running has meant that I could keep low overall numbers but reduce the number of hypos. I don't live in the UK though. From what I've read it can be more difficult to get one in the UK but anxiety about hypos is one of the criteria.
 
I Have asked about a pump before - AJ was really up for trying one as our clinic had a trial going when he was first diagnosed and there was a lot of talk about the positive benefits of it ...... but now his new consultant is totally against pumps and wont even entertain a discussion about them. AJ is due to change consultants soon as he is moving into the adult clinic, so maybe then there may be a change of attitude and we can look into it properly. The dietician has given us loads of informnation about counting carbs (can you believe that we werent told this before ... when he was diagnosed we were told to look at the sugars and have been doing this ever since!!! - and it wasnt through ignorance on our part, I read loads of stuff but each time I spoke to the consultant I was told that I was wrong, that the insulin wasnt causing the weight gain, that AJ had to inject even if he had a no carb meal etc - yes I am annoyed that I have had such a lot of bad info! and no I cant wait for AJ to change consultants!!!!) I wish I'd discovered this site earlier! With any exercise he is still having hypos - he has tried starting exercise at 9 and having an apple juice and banana before hand, but even then he finishes really low - 1.6 yesterday. I want to encourage the gym sessions, but dont know what he can do about this at the moment.
 
blimey Debbie, your consultant should be sacked! he doesn't have to agree with pumps or what they do but he should at the very least discuss it with you, give his advice and then refer you if he doesn't want to help you in your quest! grrrrrrrrrr :wink:

PS - my Mum used to say that she wished she could swap places with me when I was diagnosed as a pre-teen and I just had a big rush of nostaglic love when I read your profile, so thanks!! :D :lol: :D AJ is a lucky chap :D
 
Thank you! Us mums can be very embarrassing :oops: - but we all care really! (and trust me I have given AJ his fair share of embarrassment over the years!!) Before we see the consultant we have a discussion and he sets out the ground rules about how much I am allowed to speak my mind :) The consultant has started to ask the nurse to ask AJ to come in on his own .... but AJ always tells her that he wants me there. Just as well really, with all the mis info I would have thought that AJ had got it all wrong, not the consultant. Luckily the dietician is absolutely lovely - and a massive massive help!
 
nothing wrong with a spot of embarrassment if it gets a closed minded consultant to open his mind a touch! 8) I'm getting my pump in a week or so (yey!) and I've ben told it's life changing so I can't wait - keep at it, AJ deserves the best that's available if it will help with his BG control :D

PS - I embarrass my 12 year old daughter most of the time too, so I know what you mean :wink: 8)
 
Oooooh thats really interesting. Can I ask why you have decided on a pump? Do you exercise much? and if you do, do you hypo? And did your consultant suggest the pump? Or was it something that you looked into and decided may be a better option for you? Sorry for all the questions! :wink: Now you know why the consultant doesnt like me!!!! :lol:
 
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