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Diagnoses confusion

N

Nickstick

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Hi, I recently found out that I am diabetic however what type of diabetic they are still uncertain. At 8 weeks into my pregnancy I was very very ill and went to the hospital, here they discovered I had sugar levels of 23+ and referred me to my GP. A week later my GP took my bloods again and found that my levels were still very high 21+. I was referred to the diabetic midwife who then gave me the Glucose tolerance test which came back abnormal and I was told I had diabetes. After going to the diabetic consultant I have been told that I must take Insulin (which I have been now for 10 weeks) and should class myself as a type 1 diabetic. They said having such abnormallt high sugar levels so early in pregnancy indicates that I was diabetic before I got pregnant and that I just didn't realise. He also said it is uncommon in type 2 diabetes to have such high and low levels of blood sugars and that is another indication that I am type 1. The consultant informed me that it was so early in the pregnancy that it was also unlikely to be gestational diabetes. As it currently stands I have to treat my diabetes as type 1 and take insulin injections and continue down this route when my babies (yes I am having twins) are born to be safe.

I haven't met anyone who has a similar experience to me at all so I really don't know at this stage what type of diabetes I have I don't fall into any kind of diagnostic norms I'm not over weight, i'm caucasian, I'm 29 and I there is no diabetes in my family. Its definitely a strange one that I'm may or may not resolve itself! I am not to phased if it is type 1 diabetes as I am completely fine with the diet and the injections I was just wondering if there was anyone else out there who might have ever heard of anything similar so I can get an idea of what might happen, it's a long shot but its' worth a try :)
 
I was also diagnosed with type 1 in pregnancy! At the time I hadn't heard of anyone who developed type 1 in pregnancy, it's usually gd or type 2. After my baby was born I had a 6month "honeymoon period" where I was able to come off insulin (your diabetes nurse may explain this to you as it is possible) it can be so confusing and a scary time, I'm sure all will be okay but if you need any advice then just ask x

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Birth wise I was induced at 38 weeks and all went well, my 2 babies were a good size not too big (as this can be an issue) and they fed well didn't have low sugars at birth, x

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Hi. It's not for me to diagnose you, but if the docs say it was too early for gestational diabetes then it implies that it could be Late Onset Type 1 (LADA) which is effectively what the docs are saying. This is usually the result of antibody attack on the pancreas and tends to occur before the age of 30'ish and you would not normally be overweight. There is a test called GAD which may prove the presence of specific anti-bodies but there are others that may not show up. The treatment would be insulin if tablets fail to work initially or the blood sugar has already progressed too far. So, you are unlucky but this can happen to anyone even without any family history.
 
I was also diagnosed as type 1 during pregnancy (at 29 weeks). I am slim and did not put on much weight during pregnancy, no family history of type 1 and had GTT results of 7.4 and 17. I had a GAD antibody blood test that came back positive.

I was on levemir and novorapid throughout pregnancy and kept tight control of my glucose levels throughout the pregnancy. I was scheduled to be induced at 38 weeks but this was brought forward a few days as I suddenly started getting hypos in week 37.

I kept tight control of my glucose levels throughout the pregnancy. Since the birth I am just on levemir. I am due an appointment with my diabetes team in the next couple of weeks. Now I am breastfeeding my target levels are less strict and it is nice to be able to eat more things again.

I have a gorgeous little boy who is now 4.5 weeks old.

I wonder if pregnancy can act as a trigger for type 1 in the same way that they think a virus can?

Good luck for your pregnancy.




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Hi,

I find ur post really interesting because I developed gestational diabetes at 30 weeks when Pregnant with my son. I was a heathy weight, no family history and it was treated with Metformin and regarded as type 2. When I had my GTT test done 6 weeks after I had my son (who was huge born - 9lb 11oz) it was completely normal and I was cleared. This was in 2010. Fast forward less than 3 years and just before Xmas 2012 I was diagnosed as LADA or 1.5 due to GAD65 antibodies present and a normal but low c-peptide result. My son was also born with congenital hypothyroidism which they said was nothing to do with my diabetes yet he is on the verge of being discharged as it has corrected itself which apparently only happens in 10% of cases? I too began thinking whether the pregnancy was the trigger for my immune system to start killing my beta cells! Maybe it's worth them looking into this, especially for the LADA folk :-)


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