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LADA or MODY or type 1?

E

ExtremelyW0rried

Well-Known Member
Messages
333
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I am asking this regarding my dad.

He was diagnosed aged 28 and didn't take insulin for 5 years. He was slim at the time and active so didn't fit type 2 really but they told him at the time that he was type 2.

He now takes over 120u of insulin a day and has since been told he may be type 1.5.
I am a type 1 diabetic and my dad's consultant told him it was coincidence since he was not a type 1 diabetic.

Is LADA hereditary in the same way as type 1? The coincidence seems too great for the fact we are both diabetic to be unrelated. Or is 5 years too long a time period to go without insulin for it to be LADA? My dad had no symptoms on diagnosis, it was picked up in a routine medical and he then subsequently failed an OGTT so I guess it was found pretty early.

Some of the family link type studies say that type 1 means a diagnosis before 40 and starting insulin within a year.
 
Sorry. This should be in ask a question! Not really in newly diagnosed since he was diagnosed near 40 years ago and I was diagnosed nearly 25 years ago.
 
Hi. T1 and LADA are essentially the same except that the term 'T1' is usually reserved for childhood pancreatic failure and 'T1.5' (LADA) is reserved for pancreatic failure in adulthood. In adulthood it may come on slowly over several years as mine did and that's called the honeymoon period as the pancreatic cells fade. Tradition has it that they are both auto-immune diseases but in fact pancreatic islet cells failure has other causes such as viral attack so the terms are in need of a make-over. I'm sure specific genes are often involved.
 
LADA is type 1, it's just slow onset type 1 where the honeymoon period may be longer and/or stronger than that experienced in a "classical" type 1 presentation. That honeymoon period might include some time off insulin.

The test to determine if you have type 1 is a GAD test. That is the test to see if you have the antibodies associated with autoimmune type 1 diabetes. However, it might not be reliable so long after diagnosis. Although, I was tested 4 years after diagnosis and was strongly GAD positive and I have seen positive GAD tests over 12 years post diagnosis. AND a negative GAD test is not definitive that it isn't type 1, about 25% of type 1 diabetics are GAD negative. Only a positive GAD test gives you a definite answer: that it's definitely type 1, so there would be no point doing genetic testing for MODY.
 
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