Diagnosed last week

[JennyP]

Hi, I am new here. Diagnosed last week. TBH - not a surprise as I have been on Metformin for 18 months trying to get my BGL down and prevent Diabetes. My hubbie is T2 and is doing great on his low carb diet and is now off metformin. But my mystery is why is mine getting worse ? Metformin is not doing anything for me. I eat fairly healthy anyway but I am overweight due to injuries and sickness ... so I have not been exercising like I should I suppose. So I have tightened the diet even further. I have been more active this year and have lost weight. So why the increasing numbers ? Dr suspected LADA and I was tested but I had no antibodies ( only a trace amount ) and my C Peptide was normal mid range . ( but looked lower in the GTT than a few years ago). I have 4 other autoimmune diseases so we were wondering if I had LADA and this is why my numbers are increasing ?

Can LADA develop this slowly and be confused for T2 ? Do you have to have normal BMI for LADA ? I look T2 but I know I have had a healthy low carb type diet for a decade or more ( with a few slips of course but still better than most ). I was in my 30s when I started low carb diets. I had hypoglycemia problems even then... There is no T2 in my family although there are lots of autoimmune problems. Anyway ... I guess I keep doing the low carbing and see what happens but I feel a bit puzzled. Especially when the receptionist scolded me for not doing my diet correctly I hate the stigma attached to being T2. The jokes... Thanks, Jen

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Especially when the receptionist scolded me for not doing my diet correctly :

I have a receptionist like that. She once told me not to take the pills. The dispenser heard her say it and came and stood next to her until I had been processed.

Metformin does not lower blood sugar levels in my opinion. Some people defend it because of benefits down the line but no-one seems to think it helps with the blood sugar. Personally I have no clear idea of what it does apart from ruin the taste of food.

 

[Carbdodger]

Hello Jen
When you say you low carb can you say how many carbs and when?
Cd

 

[JennyP]

Cd, I would probably have about 70g - 100g a day. Mostly veges in the evening meal and 1 x slice of bread at lunch... an open sandwich idea with lots of protein topping. Try to keep each serve to about 15g or carbs or less. Cheese with a coffee for eg.. I eat to my meter and half serve of mandarin seems OK but nothing like a normal diabetes diet recommends.

Squire, I agree about Metformin. I wonder why I take it. It has none nothing at all except ruin taste. I am on the SR type but the normal type upset my stomach.

 

[elaine77]

Sorry but you are both wrong about Metformin.

It may not work for you two but I am LADA and it is making a massive difference to me! My BS is generally always between 4mmol and 8mmol whilst I have been on Metformin but when I came off it to switch to the slow release version my levels shot up to 10-12mmol despite me not changing my diet at all. I also wasn't ill or anything else that could have affected my levels and as soon as I was back on the Metformin for a few days my levels stabilised again.

Because I am LADA the Metformin won't work forever but saying it doesn't work at all is clearly wrong as it works for me. It also doesn't affect the taste of any food I eat.


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 22 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. LADA can develop very slowly. I suspect I'm LADA but could be something else between T1 & T2 and I wasn't diagnosed as a diabetic until I was 60. My GAD was negative last year but the c-peptide showed I had virtually no insulin. I was never overweight and am now on insulin having given up on 3-level tablets. So it can come on fast in a few months or take years and at almost any age but most are young. Both my Diabetes GPs were convinced I was a normal T2 (diagnosed with a urine stick; very hi-tech!) and I'm sure my current one still thinks I'm a T2 who has progressed to insulin. I've been low-carbing for years it not being a choice but essential to avoid going into the 20s before insulin. So, many GPs assume T2 by default and just don't see the facts presented to them. You can be LADA and be overweight with insulin resistance; strange you are overweight as your low-carb diet sounds excellent. Metformin never did much for me apart from the metallic taste for 6 months. It has, I believe, around 3 modes of operation i.e. reduces glucose output from the liver, helps reduce insulin resistance and I've read reduces glucose absorption from the bowel? Legend has it that it helps reduce heart problems. I added Gliclazide on top of Metformin and then a few years back Sitagliptin. Each helped a bit until the pancreas gave up. Have you discussed adding further meds with the GP as the low-carb isn't working for you

 

[Thommothebear]

Metformin altered the taste of food for me too, but only for3 weeks or so, after that is been fine. It was a slight metallic taste. The stomach upsets only lasted a few days too. i'm on the SR type. It has helped my BG a tad but I'm more interested in the cardio protection it supposedly gives as there s abjg history of diabetes and heart attacks in my family

 

[JennyP]

I was probably on more carbs in the last few years...say around 150g a day. And some days maybe more. I was not being 100% strict except to watch my weight. So I did have chocolate ... and potatoes and rice..

I had a parathyroid adenoma and i believe that can cause pancreaitis and I know I have had two attacks of that. I also had my Gall Bladder removed late last year. I am not sure if that means anything in re to BGL... I think I was put onto SR Metformin as I was dxed Insulin Resistance. That was at least 18 months ago.. Fasting BGL were always around 5.5 and we were watching them.. so my diet was fairly healthy ..in a non urgent sort of way. I did gain weight though as I was inactive due to the bone pain of Hyperparathyroidism. For several months I had to use crutches as my legs were so painful.. and the bone pain and fatigue affected me for about 5 years.

My BGL was stable at 5.5 for about a year on Metformin and has now jumped to 6.2 this year despite me losing 15kg, and despite a sudden return to good health ( after the surgery) , and more exercise. It is really puzzling! My fasting BGL have been 6.2 all year... which is why I had the GTT... and I was dxed from there. Now I am testing myself before meals and after meals and the trend still continues very slowly upwards... Would it be wise to repeat the C Peptide and GAD antibodies test at a different pathology sometime within the next few months ? are they tests that can have a false negative/normal ? My pathology is very rural and they courier the 'rarer' tests to central office and I know from my parathyroid testing - that some tests need special care en route. Thanks, Jen..

 

[desidiabulum]

Hi,
Has anyone suggested that you might have MODY (mature onset diabetes of the young)? That would not necessarily show up on GAD or c-peptide tests, although sufferers tend to be more slim than you suggest that you are. MODY tests are Glucokinase analysis and HNF1A and HNF4A gene analysis. Different types of MODY can have different degrees of deterioration -- most types are potentially milder than LADA in effects. Autoimmune issues tend to go more with LADA, but you never know....

 

[JennyP]

No.. no one has suggested that to me. I don't know much about that at all. Due to my size , I was presumed T2. Even LADA seemed a bit iffy due to the weight and IR but due to other a/i conditions and further deterioration - we just wondered. I still have Insulin but the GTT showed it is less than it used to be.. My BMI used to be 39.3 and is now 33.4 but my BGL is rising.. I am a size 14 now. Waist is nearly normal now.