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New LADA anyone?

M

mrbroons

Member
Messages
8
Hi,

I have been diagnosed in Feb with Type 1.5? Hope I'm getting that right. I am 38 and was fine up until Feb with the past 5 years of fasting glucose tests all reporting normal. I have no history of DB in my family. I've gone through the merry go round of emotions since diagnosis see below for the snapshot. Luckily I have had a lot of support and I feel that whilst I am getting through this there is a long way to go.

upload_2014-5-8_20-9-56-png.4593


I am currently in the 'Honeymoon' period where I am producing some insulin on my own. Like everyone I am finding it hard as the only things I can adjust are how much I eat and how much exercise I take. I'm on one long lasting Humulin of 8 units a day and Glic twice a day. I initially lost a lot of weight then put it back on, but have since had a bad cold lasting around 4 weeks and lost a lot of weight again trying to keep my levels down. I am usually somewhere between 4.x and low 6.x before meals dependent on food and exercise.

I was hoping to speak to other people in my situation to share experiences and problems. It can be a very dark place at times and you can get lost trying to ride the knife edge of low and high numbers, which I have done. Ultimately there is always someone who has been there first however and I'm so happy to have found this website as just from skimming some of the posts titles I know I am not alone.
 
Hiya mrbroons!

I also have LADA - misdiagnosed as type 2 originally. I was 42 when diagnosed 5 years ago - no diabetes in the family, slim and only diagnosed at a random blood test for something else entirely. It was a Hell of a shock. Try to take things easy - you need to come to terms with it - it is life-changing, but not the end of the world - even though it feels like it at first!

When you get a cold or an infection, your BG tends to go really high - controlling your food intake might not be enough to deal with that. Go back and discuss it with your DSN, because she could give you some rapid-acting insulin to keep in the fridge for emergencies when your BG goes high from food or infection. 5 years on, I still produce some of my own insulin - that makes things interesting in caulating insulin doses, but also safer to manage the diabetes i think.

Anyway, if you're feeling depressed, don't let it get out of hand - go and ask your doctor for help. It is a lot to take in, but you can and will survive and thrive!

Smidge
 
Smudge that is good advice. With a level of 5.4% you are absolutely kicking it! Very impressed! I'm sure I will have good and bad days. I was very low looking at all the numbers and the futility of pushing your numbers in either direction to try and 'win'. I had no concept of how well people can do and my head was full of renal failure, heart attacks and limb amputation. I now fully believe that I can get better numbers than before my diagnosis even, given the right tools and support. Just reading your sig has inspired me.

Are there any tips you can share or books to read etc?

Many thanks. Support from real people dealing with T1DB means far more to me than support from those without, it shows life goes on and mentally that makes a huge difference.
 
Hi mr broons

I too am LADA, diagnosed T2 in sept 2013, BS levels 20+. BMI 22, age 58. No diabetic family history. Requested a GAD test in November, came back very high 2,000+, doc said I would be T1 and on insulin within weeks, but presently still LADA, and still 'in the honeymoon period' managing to keep 99% of my BS readings one hour after meals under 7.8 without insulin or any medication.

In my opinion, the only reason why I am not yet on insulin is because I am on a low carb diet, low carb meaning absolutely no bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. Probably less than 100g per day.

Dr Bernstein is a diabetes expert, in his Diabetes Solution book (page 96) he writes:-

"There are several hypotheses as to why conventional treatment won’t let the honeymoon go on forever, but my experience with patients indicates that with proper treatment it can. Essential to this is a low-carbohydrate diet and normal blood sugars. This will help preserve whatever insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells you may have. (The same is true for type 2 diabetics. Beta cell burnout the destruction of beta cells caused by excessive demands on the pancreas and by the toxic effect of high blood sugars upon beta cells — can be avoided, halted, and in some cases reversed if you get on the Diabetes Solution program and get your blood sugars normalized."....... Although I did not realise it before I started my diet, this is what I am trying to emulate.

Have a good long read on this forum about LADA, there is a load of useful info. Nearly everything I have learned has come from this forum, sadly not a lot from the NHS.

But if you do decide to go low carb, you will probably have to reduce your insulin levels, otherwise you will be in danger of a hypo.

Ian



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Hi mrbroons, I was diagnosed type 2 six years ago and pretty much told to eat sensibly and get on with it apart from annual check ups as levels weren't too high and oral meds had no effect at all. It was a shock at the time as I was otherwise slim and healthy and my GP took some convincing too. Then two years ago things took a turn for the worse as levels quite quickly rose and I was rediagnosed type 1.5 or LADA after the appropriate tests and went straight onto insulin twice a day. This is when the depression set in and still lingers occasionally now, it has been difficult at times though and joining this forum helped enormously.
I am now on Humalog mix 50 three times a day before meals in quite small doses after much trial and error with Mix 25 twice a day, which seems to suit me fine and really levels out the spikes. We discovered that I still produced enough long action insulin naturally but hardly any short acting. My needle phobia is still around though but thoughts of the alternative are enough to keep it at bay and I now use tiny 4.5 mm needles which helps. The only real down side seems to be some weight gain around my middle but it does mean I can now eat a near normal diet with occasional treats.

You will have ups and downs and you will get through them. My experience points to getting used to insulin as soon as you can and gaining control. After two years of taking it i now feel almost back to normal.

I wish you all the best with it and do keep in touch on here, life goes on after diagnosis and there are people on this forum who know a huge amount about what you are going through and are happy to help.
 
Just wish my consultant would consider lada ,when i asked if i were type 1 she shouted no if you were you would have been on the floor before now
Have had high glucose since 1962 and asked for blood test in the 1990s which showed me to be a diabetic. rapidly went from diet to diet plus tablets of many types and then to insulin .I know the treatment would not be any different if was type 1 but at least would be considred for a pump
 
mrbroons said:
Smudge that is good advice. With a level of 5.4% you are absolutely kicking it! Very impressed! I'm sure I will have good and bad days. I was very low looking at all the numbers and the futility of pushing your numbers in either direction to try and 'win'. I had no concept of how well people can do and my head was full of renal failure, heart attacks and limb amputation. I now fully believe that I can get better numbers than before my diagnosis even, given the right tools and support. Just reading your sig has inspired me.

Are there any tips you can share or books to read etc?

Many thanks. Support from real people dealing with T1DB means far more to me than support from those without, it shows life goes on and mentally that makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Hi MrBroons!

You can and will get it under control. At first, everything seems daunting and the conflicting advice just adds to that, but day by day you find a way to get your BG where YOU want them to be. I am often told by the medics that I run my levels too low - I don't - I run them right for ME. I run them as close to non-diabetic levels as I safely can.

The advice I would give you is to take things slowly. Set realistic targets and try to achieve them - if you can't achieve them at first, don't get disheartened, just keep trying. Record what you eat, how much carb, how much you inject, what your levels were pre and post-meal etc etc. Use your notes to review your control on a weekly basis and adjust things from what you learn. If you do this for the first 6 months, you will learn so much about how you react to food and insulin and you will be able to adjust your insulin with confidence and run your levels lower in a managed and safe way.

The two books i found invaluable in explaining things were:

'The Diabetes Solution' - Dr Richard Bernstein and 'Think like a Pancreas' - Gary Scheiner.

The first of these books is an amazing insight into managing diabetes through low-carbing - I haven't got the dedication to control my diet as much as Dr Bernstein advocates, but the book was invaluable to me nonetheless. The second of the books has a great explanation on how the body works and how you might go about mimicing that on injected insulin - I don't really agree with the author's approach to managing diabetes, but his explanations are throrough and straightforward and really is a 'must read' for anyone needing to understand what's going on with BG and insulin.

Take care

Smidge
 
Another LADA here too! I too am making some of my own insulin and am on a Basal only regime at the moment along with a low carb diet-how long my current state of good control on basal insulin only will last is anyone's guess but I take it as it comes at the moment.;)

My story is here.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/diabetes-uk-and-reduced-carb-success.52051/

Best wishes and welcome to the forum-there's some great folks on here.:)

Paul
 
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