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So here's a heart attack for all the good LADAs....

You're far from alone.
I was going to say that it's almost 10 years since I was diagnosed actually it was in 2004 so it will be 11 years in April. It was just before my 53rd birthday . I went straight onto insulin and wasn't misdiagnosed This was only because I'd misdiagnosed myself 3 years before and tried to control with diet and exercise for 3 years.
I spent 10 days in hospital (not in the UK) I hated it but I now realise how helpful that was in helping with acceptance and how to cope with insulin in a safe environment.
It really does get easier, carb counting becomes automatic and you get very good at estimating . Learning to adjust insulin becomes more simple when you know how your body reacts to different types of foods, exercise (and lack of it) etc ; keeping good records at the beginning is a hassle but well worth it in the end.
I feel very well and have been able to live a very full and active life. In fact I've probably done more than I would have done, just to prove that I can. I was determined that I wasn't going to let either increasing age or diabetes stop me. (2 marathons; very slow but I finished, several 100km of long distance footpaths, skiing even had a go at rockclimbing; ) I don't always get it right , I do more often now than at the beginning though (probably have a bit less insulin of my own now which I find makes control easier,.) Hypo rather than hyperglycaemia has probably been more problematic for me but I've never needed help or what I would consider a really serious hypo
I've found exercise is really important but you really don't need to do that much!. What I think is important is to decide what type of lifestyle you want to lead and do it. Learn the skills to control your diabetes so that it doesn't stop you because unfortunately if you don't take that control then can restrict you .
 
Hi karen
I was 58 when diagnosed T2 (my 1st ever stay in hospital), never been overweight, then 3 months later reclassified T1 LADA (via a phone call from the UK whilst I was in Australia). It takes a while to come to terms with it all. For me, the more I have learned about it the more able I feel I can cope with it.

My advice is to troll through loads of these forum posts, read, educate and understand as much as you can, never fully believing one post until you read similar posts with similar observations. What works for one person does not always work for another, but it seems that when multiple people say something works around 90% of the time it works for me too, and thus worth trying.

Eg. Most of us find a low carb and high(ish) fat diet helps.

I would say that 90% of my diabetic knowledge has originated from this forum.... Whether this is books to read, web site links or food ideas, the members of this forum have it all..... Keep searching and reading.
 

Welcome Karen and all the best. It sounds to me like you've made a number of very good decisions - like finding out more about LADA, using insulin, tying insulin dose with your carb intake, etc.
In terms of how we think about things, rather than taking the view that my life is ruled by diabetes, I prefer to think that I am now in control of my health, whereas I wasn't before. I didn't take my health that seriously, not in terms of what I was putting in my body. Now I'm in charge, though. (This sounds too preachy by far, but it's how it's happened.)
 
elaine77, i had the same thoughts as your some month ago about insulin/needles i hate needles, but
trust me you will get used to it once you see how much better your life suddenly will be with insulin

Listen to all of us and do your selve that favor the sooner the better
 
Cherryred said:
Hi Karen.. I am new here too. I just wanted to say welcome and you are not alone.
Click to expand...
Hi. Welcome to you too. . I definitely don't feel alone any more. Just wanted to say a big Thankyou to everyone that's responded, today i did the sensible thing and re-started taking my insulin, i couldn't work out the amount of carbs in my home made risotto concoction so i just waited a while, did my bg then used my insulin calc app to tell me how much i needed to inject to correct it. Baby steps....
 
 
Hi Elaine,

Note that I am not a medic, but I have been doing medical research for 30 years and know the diabetes literature well (enlightened self-interest!). I have also been through much the same expereinces as you. On the basis of both here are some thoughts:

There is very little point (assuming that you DO have an autoimmune form of diabetes) in you taking the non-insulin medications you talk about. They will do nothing of value for your condition and may harm you.

On average, people with an autominnume form of diabetes can survive 8 years before tending to die from ketoacidosis if they don't take insulin. Now, when I was diagnosed with LADA I also decided not to go onto insulin (nor did I take the orher medications for the above reaons), I am still very glad that I did not take insulin for the period in question, as exogenous insulin is itself harmful and also causes many of the supposed side effects 'of diaabetes'. This having been said, after five years of increasing blood sugars I did collapse from ketoacidosis and was in intensive care for four days. From this point I have had to take insulin and it has caused side-effects and I would stop it in a second if I could, but on the other hand, I am alive.

So, the reality is that insulin is bad, LADA is also bad. It is a no win scenario. Sorry! I wsh you the best of luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
academicdiabetic said:
... as exogenous insulin is itself harmful and also causes many of the supposed side effects 'of diaabetes'.
Click to expand...
As that's quite a shocking statement of something I've not seen before, could you please substantiate it? Before you are buried under an avalanche of angry autoimmune diabetics, that is.
 
LucySW said:
As that's quite a shocking statement of something I've not seen before, could you please substantiate it? Before you are buried under an avalanche of angry autoimmune diabetics, that is.
Click to expand...
......just found out I'm an autoimmune diabetic.....what's this about?
 
Lol
Means you're LADA, latent autoimmune diabetes in adulthood.
There's quite a few of us around,and load on info and support on here.
 
I meant the bit about insulin causing effects of diabetes.....since I will be on insulin therapy for the rest of my life I'm alarmed to see someone saying it has bad effects!
 
Butterflykeri said:
I meant the bit about insulin causing effects of diabetes.....since I will be on insulin therapy for the rest of my life I'm alarmed to see someone saying it has bad effects!
Click to expand...

It saves your life, if you have insufficient insulin you will eventually get high ketones leading to acidic blood. If this is untreated it causes coma and death. This is what happened before the discovery of insulin, less than 100 years ago.
Fortunately there are now people who have lived for more than 75 years on insulin and have neither complications nor a greatly impaired lifestyle.
I haven't been taking it for anything like that long but in 10 years the only complication (side effect ) I have had is hypoglycema and I have never had a hypo that I couldn't relatively easily deal with by myself.
(oh, I've just thought of another one, except with some hypos(not all), I rarely feel hunger nowadays but this seems to be an odd one, I have never seen anyone else mention it)
 
@academicdiabetic, These remarks about the insulin that we all have to take are alarmist and a bit antisocial. Perhaps you are right: I don't know - I haven't got there yet in my reading. But they will frighten and worry people who are new to insulin, and they've already frightened and worried me. So could you perhaps take these comments on the perils of insulin to a new thread, for example the Insulin forum? Then you can pursue the topic and we will be able to choose whether we read about it.

LucySW
 
Hi Lucy,

Please don't be alarmed. Unfortunately all drugs have risks and undesired consequences - insulin is no exception to this. This is why we should only use medication when the risks of not using it outweigh the risks of doing so. With Type 1 diabetes, the balance is clear and stark - use insulin or die. With LADA, the balance is not so clear in the early stages. However, on balance, insulin is a good drug and I believe worth the risk for most LADAs - certainly at a point in the illness, the balance of risk becomes as stark as for a Type 1.

For Type 2s, it is a far greyer area. The human body is not designed to have an excess of insulin. Insulin is supposed to be released as a result of rising BG, get used and disappear - it is a very tightly-controlled closed loop system. For very many Type 2s, they already have an excess of insulin in their blood to go along with an excess of glucose - because they are insulin resistant and so are producing insulin but not using it effectively. This build-up of insulin in the blood is damaging. It causes many of the metabolic conditions often seen as part of diabetes e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol etc which in turn increase risks such as heart attacks and strokes. It also contributes greatly to the laying on of fat and makes it very difficult to lose weight. So, adding injected insulin to this situation is unlikely to end well.

The answer is to reduce these risks for all diabetics. Only use insulin when it is essential to do so i.e. for those with insufficient insulin production and use the minimum amount necessary. The way to achieve this, as many of us know, is to reduce carb intake to enable any natural insulin production to work effectively and to minimise the requirement for injected insulin. This is beneficial for all diabetics regardless of type.

Insulin is a great and relatively safe drug when used appropriately and when used iintelligently, but it is still a drug and it does still have associated risks.

Smidge
 
I too am absolutely terrified after reading this! Especially as i am currently taking large quantities of steriods and therefore having to use alot of insulin just to get my bg back down, not very successfully i might add. It was scaremongering like this that made me bury my head in the sand and refused to do anything about my diabetes when i was first diagnosed as LADA 12 months ago! I was just beginning to come to terms with it and decide to do everything i needed to do in order to take control of it and now i feel totally depressed again!
 
Please don't be Karen, this is just one persons statement .
There are very many people on here who do very well with insulin including people who have taken it for 50 years or more. It is difficult getting the balance when you have to take steroids but there are again people who do this successfully including for example one long term T1 with Addison's who has to do this.
High glucose levels are dangerous, whatever the type of diabetes. In those with little or no insulin of their own, whatever the cause and whatever the label their diabetes has the pragmatic answer is to replace it with the same hormone.
This has been done since 1921 .
In principle, it's no different to having to supplement/ replace thyroxine if you don't have enough of that (and I'm jolly glad I can do that too since the long term consequences of hypothyroid aren't exactly great)
 
Butterflykeri said:
I meant the bit about insulin causing effects of diabetes.....since I will be on insulin therapy for the rest of my life I'm alarmed to see someone saying it has bad effects!
Click to expand...
Hi Keri,

I think this is exaggerated - especially as we have no choice about taking insulin. Hi, and I'm sure you'll find this forum helpful and useful. I was going to say, a propos suddenly finding yourself in at the deep end - take lots of deep breaths, and read, read, read, that's what I recommend. I read Dr Bernstein http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00FOQS66U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416694236&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165 and, if you're taking insulin, Gary Scheiner http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0738215147/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416694334&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40 . The first gives you a very thorough understanding of what the problem is and how to minimise it, the second is a detailed practical guide to how to get insulin right. And give yourself time to take things in the fifth time. I also found Jenny Ruhl's book about low carb diets (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0964711656/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1416694894&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SY200_QL40 ) useful (even tho she's a Type 2), because she explains the whole digestion/metabolism thing completely clearly. Once you understand how that system works, you'll be better able to make decisions about diet. Which is important. I found that the more I read and understood, the more manageable it got.
 
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