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Steve Redgrave T2 and straight onto Insulin.

mo1905

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Type 1
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Well, as the title suggests, I've been wondering lately about Steve Redgrave and his diabetes story. I just wondered whether anyone had any more information about his story ? For many T2's ( correct me if I'm wrong ), the progression to insulin is not sudden. Many start with diet and exercise and I wondered why this was not the case with Steve ? I have often given advice to others regarding this and I have suggested lowering carb intake and increasing exercise and you may keep insulin at bay for years and if I never knew Steve's background, I'd have probably said the same to him lol ! Anyway, I was just curious if anyone had more info. Thanks.

Mo
 
I'm not sure Mo,I know he was very sick at diagnosis and believe he had high ketones which makes me wonder if he actually has LADA but was never tested for it at the time.
 
I agree with Paul that he could well be a LADA rather than a T2. The NHS is quite good at mis-diagnosing LADAs. If he had Ketones at diagnosis he is almost certainly a LADA
 
LADA would make sense but even Steve himself says T2 ? You'd think with his profile he would get the best care possible and I would have thought he would have had every possible test available, including GAD. His wife is a doctor too ! Strange.
 
I've read a bit about this.

Apparently it's to do with the exercise regime he was on. He couldn't sustain it with reduced carbs and so went on to insulin almost immediately so he could have some form of "normality"


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Apparently in order to train at the level he was at, he felt he had to carb load, and it was easier to put him on a pump.
 
Thanks Hale, Dawn, I guess that would make sense. I would still have thought with the amount of training he was doing he wouldn't have had to worry too much about the carbs lol !
 
Steve Redgrave's wife is a Doctor I expect she know a fair bit about diabetes.

FB
 
As far as the NHS is concerned once you get labelled as T2 you are stuck with it no matter whatever they happen to find later, this snippet supplied to me by our local PCT's specialist team- I rather got the impression they thought this was stupid, but there you go!


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Great post Catherine, enjoyed reading that and it certainly makes sense now ! Thanks, Mo
 
Sir Steve and Ann Redgrave, together with Ian Gallen (his diabetologist) wrote a paper describing his diagnosis and subsequent treatment. They diagnosed him at the time with T2. They tested islet cell antibodies and at the time these were negative but they don't say that they tested for GAD antibodies. (LADA had been 'named' in 1995 but there was hardly anything about it even in 2005 when I was diagnosed)
The random blood glucose was
25 mmol/l associated with moderate ketonuria, but
no proteinuria. The results of investigation suggested
a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes with a negative islet cell
antibody titre and detectable C-peptide
Click to expand...

Interestingly though, he had needed insulin in the past
The whole paper is interesting as it describes how they gradually learned how to control the D and enable him to row at Olympic level.
http://www.clinmed.rcpjournal.org/content/3/4/333.long
.org/content/3/4/333.full.pdf html
(edit spelling, punctuation)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Amazing man Steve Redgrave and shows what can be achieved, a true inspiration to people with diabetes IMHO.
 
Before the previous Olympic games I thought I'd read he was a type 1 and had coped with it since his teens and had been on insulin all that time.

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Ref LADA, quite a few diabetes GPs don't know about LADA e.g. mine. 15-20% T2s are not overweight and many believe a lot of these are Late onset T1 (LADA). Even DUK hardly mentions it. There are many causes of pancreatic destruction and although GAD anti-bodies are the most common cause there are various antibodies as well as viruses, pancreatitis etc. The treatments are similar i.e. tablets then insulin but a key measure is the c-peptide test for insulin level; in simple terms, low and you have pancreatic failure, high and you have insulin resistance.
 
I still think Sir Steve would have had every possible test imaginable so I think they would have found out if he was LADA or whatever. Unless it's a relatively new thing ? But even then, I'm sure he must still have access to the best medical care possible.


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My doctors notes still say I am a type 2 as that is what I presented with on original diagnosis . Suffice to say I have since has a near total pancreatectomy to remove a tumor in my pancrease and I now require a basal / bolus insulin regime but I am still type 2 !! Go figure .


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Yes, crazy ! However, if you had 5 gold medals things may have been different
 
I suspect Steve didn't have every diabetes test now possible but perhaps all that were available at the time of his diagnosis. Knowledge of LADA is very recent. There was a very simple view of diabetes even when I was diagnosed 10 years ago (I was defined as a T2 with a urine stick). Never underestimate the degree of ignorance of diabetes within the NHS or even around the world which is why this forum is so important. My newly trained diabetes GP 2 years ago when I queried my T2 diagnosis said 'well, you're not T1 therefore you must be T2'. When I said my nephew was diagnosed with T1 at age 21 a few years back (i.e. LADA), the GP said 'that's very unusual'.
 
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