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How do you get Type1.5

Hello spud9669.

I have moved your post into here for you.
Given the question you ask in your opening post it is best placed here .

Hope you don't mind - but I have assisted/helped to set you your own thread up .
Just to help get you started off, as it is your first post .
Please don't worry about this - I am happy to help and assist you .

Hope you get some great support and replies soon .

Anna .
 
Type 1.5 generally refers to Late Onset T1 or LADA. This is most often caused by GAD antibodies but it can be caused by other antibodies, viruses, pancreatitis etc. Basically it means your pancreas is failing to produce enough insulin. It can occur at virtually any age but is most common in the young.
 
For some unknown reason your immune system starts attacking and killing the beta cells in your pancreas that produce insulin. Nobody knows why, or how quick, or how to stop it and so it's completely different in every single person. Insulin is inevitable and uve basically got to sit around and wait til the time comes when you need to inject. They just don't know enough about it at the moment in the medical world and so unfortunately it's a bit trial and error for us who have it


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.
 
So is 1.5 detectable in the first in the Ha...whatever it's called blood test then?

So no worries about being diagnosed wrongly / differently?
 
The hba1c won't tell u what type you are as it's just an average BG test for the previous 3 months.

U need a GAD antibody test to confirm whether you have autoimmune diabetes or not. If you have antibodies you are autoimmune an therefore either type 1 or LADA/1.5 and if you have no antibodies you are non-autoimmune and so therefore type 2. Type 2 is a condition, type 1/1.5/LADA is a disease.

My consultant has basically said that because of all the variations of age and speed of onset the medical profession now refer to diabetes as either auto-immune or non auto-immune diabetes because it is the only way to distinguish correctly between the condition of type 2 and the disease of autoimmune diabetes. Makes sense to me and makes it all a lot easier to understand.


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.
 
When I was diagnosed this year they just assumed that I was type 1 as was not overweight and it CE on suddenly. I asked my gp about the gad test and he didn't seem to know anything about it. He has since learned about it but said it would be unlikely I would be tested as I was 'probably' type 1. I was put on I insulin straight away and the hospital didn't seem to want to run any tests to confirm otherwise. I wouldn't mind knowing in some ways but ultimately my insulin regime works really well for me and until something changes I guess it doesn't matter.

There is a really interesting article about sugar in the national geographic this month that talks about the effect of fructose on the body and how it can cause obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi Elaine. I understand the points you make, but I might to some extent disagree. I very much fit the T1.5 category i.e. never overweight, sudden loss of weight just before diagnosis then full diabetes symptoms and eventually failed to respond well to three level tablets including full dose Gliclazide. I was labelled T2 by my first DB GP using a urine stick (!). My sugar was extremely high and had I gone to A&E I would have been labelled a T1/T1.5. I was unhappy at my excessive sugar levels, despite very low-carbing but refused insulin (as I was T2 wasn't I) so had private GAD and c-peptide tests last year. The c-peptide showed that I had very little insulin production but the GAD was negative. I have since read that there are several different antibodies associated with DB and the GAD only tests for that one. Viruses and pancreatitis and no doubt other causes can result in a failing pancreas which I have. So officially I'm T2 but I 'know' that I'm T1.5. My new DB GP realised I now needed insulin and fortunately now have it. So, you can see that T2 is used by the health profession as a melting pot of anything that isn't obviously a T1 and/or GAD positive and it is not as simple as that. I would like to see more testing done so that those with a failing pancreas as opposed to insulin resistance can be determined more quickly.
 
My consultant told me the GAD test is just a shortened way to say it and that the test actually tests for all of the antibodies, GAD, Ia2 etc.. And he confirmed it to me with a letter. I know this to be true because my letter confirmed that I was IA2, MODY etc.. negative but GAD positive so when I said GAD test I meant the test for all antibodies. But, many GPs don't seem to know anything about this and so I suppose therein lies the problem. Perhaps you had other antibodies or perhaps you are not autoimmune and exhaustion has killed off ur beta cells, that's obviously individual to u but I do agree with the medical profession stating "auto-immune or non-autoimmune" diabetes rather than"types" because, as u just said, there is too much variation in the types for those terms to be useful anymore.

I think pancreatitis is totally different... If the pancreas has to be removed for some reason then the diabetes is not really a disease as such, rather it is a condition or a consequence of surgery because patients would know beforehand that they were going to have that problem as a result of the surgery... I think not having enough insulin-producing cells and literally just not having a pancreas are not the same thing.... A patient also knows what caused their diabetes with pancreatitis, but I agree that there is still the issue of why you needed the pancreas removed, though I'm not sure that has anything to do with diabetes.... Surely diabetes is a consequence of pancreatitis not pancreatitis is a result of diabetes? Confusing myself now! Haha

Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.
 
elaine77 said:
.. Surely diabetes is a consequence of pancreatitis not pancreatitis is a result of diabetes? .
Click to expand...

A close friend of mine is T1, he got is as a result of pancreatitis. He did NOT have his pancreas removed. It's still there working away at some things, just not at insulin for whatever reason.

So I agree, diabetes is a consequence of the pancreatitis I am a little jealous that he knows why he's a diabetic and I don't. But at the end of the day we're both using the same treatment so I guess for me it doesn't matter. I'm T1, it came out of the blue, but it's here none the less!
 
There are separate tests for the various antibodies but they are often ordered together. GADA just happens to be the one that is the most likely at all ages , is actually part of the definition for LADA and also persists for longer than the others.
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding ... o/tab/test

I don't know if many people are yet tested for zinc transporter antibodies(ZnT8), they have only been know about for a few years but they have been found in people with LADA
http://www.diapedia.org/type-1-diabetes ... -the-adult

MODY requires genetic testing .

Hale, he might be treated as T1; and fits nicely into that box on a computer but he isn't really T1. He really comes under the diabetes other types section. Pancreatic diabetes is sometimes called a T3c as in this paper:
Is Pancreatic Diabetes (Type 3c Diabetes) Underdiagnosed and Misdiagnosed?
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/conten ... 5.abstract
 

Absolutely agree, as does he (we talked a lot about it after I was diagnosed) but he really can't be bothered to explain it to people. It's easier for everyone if they just think he's type 1. But to be honest I think it would be easier to just say "I'm one of the ones that needs injections", people can get their heads around that nice and easily!
 
Hi Elaine & Phoenix. Thanks for the info. I hadn't realised that often the NHS includes other antibody tests with GAD. I think my private one was just GAD which leaves a few questions still. The ZnT8 stuff shows that we are all still learning.
 
Diabell, I don't even think the NHS know it! Lol I have seen posts on here where people have asked their GP for a GAD test and the GP has sed "what's one of those" lol so considering you're not a qualified doctor I think u can be forgiven! I'm lucky in that I had a rubbish GP but a really good endocrine consultant who explained all sorts to me because I ask so many questions lol


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.
 
I don't often get to pop my head into the site these days but decided to today and am interested in reading the Type 1.5 comments, as that is what I have.(Spent 5 years wrongly diagnosed as Type 2, then had a positive GAD test and was told to consider myself LADA but for treatment,say I am Type 1).
Anyway, just reading this thread, I was interested to read about pancreatitis.I have a friend who ended up with diabetes after having pancreatitis but he was told he is Type 2.He is 74 now but I've always told him I felt his blood sugars ran way too high.I am now wondering if his doctor got it wrong years back and he could in fact be a Type 1.It's so easy for a doctor to assume older folk have Type 2 because of age but I'd like to know, does pancreatitis cause Type 1 only, Type 2 only or can it cause either?
Thank you for reading.
 
A new locum at my local surgery (he was from Canada) tried to get me a GAD test, but was unable to, as the practice does not fund this test and I would have to see an endocrinologist which my surgery was unlikely to allow, deeming it unnecessary. :thumbdown:

I am Type 2, but I have several auto-immune conditions, and he was pretty sure that it was these that had probably caused my diabetes, so what Type am I?
I don't inject, but I'm finding it harder to keep my blood sugars under control by diet alone, although everything was going swimmingly since January when I was diagnosed, until recently when levels are on the up.

I imagine that even if I knew the results of a GAD test, it might not change the treatment I currently get, but it would be nice to know all the same. I like to know what's going on in my body and what I can expect years down the line.
 
Hi chocoholic, I don't think pancreatitis-induced diabetes is type 1 or type 2 and is usually classed as type 3 but would be treated with insulin like a type 1 because with no pancreas u can't produce insulin

Hi Luna, having other autoimmune diseases can increase ur chances of autoimmune diabetes and if weightloss/healthy weight and diet are not helping and ur levels are still creeping up despite these changes then I think the antibody and c-peptide tests would be useful for u. Unfortunately there are many people on here who can't get them through their GP surgeries and some have had to pay for the tests privately... The only other thing I can think of is to try and get a referral to a consultant...

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.
 
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