Hi all,
I want to share the following with you, just in case it might trigger and help anyone in the same situation.
I have type 1 myself since I was 11 and am 49 years old at the moment. My mother is 78 years old and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two years ago. In these 2 years her blood glucoses where rising slowly despite low carb diet and for her age a good dose of exercise. Medication went up from at first Metformine alone, then combined with glicaglizide, and then combined with empagliflozine. Doses of these medications also went up. She also uses thyroid and heart failure medication. Since I live with type 1 so many years, I started to wonder if my mother would also have type 1 instead of type 2. I found she reacted badly on the treatment and she has never been overweight at all. I told my parents already a year ago to have it checked, but they believed that the specialist would know best and he had diagnosed her with type 2. In March this year she suddenly got very weak, lost 5 kgs in one week and got in a delirium. She was hospitalized and the specialists concluded that her medication in total was not correctly adjusted. In other words: she had a medication intoxification. Medication was slightly altered. After a week she was home again but did not really get better. I joined my parents to the follow-up consult with the internist. I asked him to check if the diagnosis was right. He said that it would be a very rare situation for a woman of that age to have type 1, they never had seen that before. Sometimes they misdiagnosed people of around 40 years old but not of 78. I insisted to have the GAD-antibodies checked. And indeed: she had a huge level of antibodies in her blood. The internist now has stopped the type 2 medications and put her on 2 times daily mixed insulin and she is doing great on it. She feels much better, is happy not to have to take 8 pills a day for her diabetes (besides all the other pills) and feels more at ease that things are right now. I am very happy that this came out and she feels she has gained so much with it. Hopefully she will keep doing well this way long term!
Although this might be a rare incident, it is possible that it happens much ofter than we expect. I hope, if anyone endures the same, it helps you find your way.
Rianne
I want to share the following with you, just in case it might trigger and help anyone in the same situation.
I have type 1 myself since I was 11 and am 49 years old at the moment. My mother is 78 years old and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two years ago. In these 2 years her blood glucoses where rising slowly despite low carb diet and for her age a good dose of exercise. Medication went up from at first Metformine alone, then combined with glicaglizide, and then combined with empagliflozine. Doses of these medications also went up. She also uses thyroid and heart failure medication. Since I live with type 1 so many years, I started to wonder if my mother would also have type 1 instead of type 2. I found she reacted badly on the treatment and she has never been overweight at all. I told my parents already a year ago to have it checked, but they believed that the specialist would know best and he had diagnosed her with type 2. In March this year she suddenly got very weak, lost 5 kgs in one week and got in a delirium. She was hospitalized and the specialists concluded that her medication in total was not correctly adjusted. In other words: she had a medication intoxification. Medication was slightly altered. After a week she was home again but did not really get better. I joined my parents to the follow-up consult with the internist. I asked him to check if the diagnosis was right. He said that it would be a very rare situation for a woman of that age to have type 1, they never had seen that before. Sometimes they misdiagnosed people of around 40 years old but not of 78. I insisted to have the GAD-antibodies checked. And indeed: she had a huge level of antibodies in her blood. The internist now has stopped the type 2 medications and put her on 2 times daily mixed insulin and she is doing great on it. She feels much better, is happy not to have to take 8 pills a day for her diabetes (besides all the other pills) and feels more at ease that things are right now. I am very happy that this came out and she feels she has gained so much with it. Hopefully she will keep doing well this way long term!
Although this might be a rare incident, it is possible that it happens much ofter than we expect. I hope, if anyone endures the same, it helps you find your way.
Rianne
