Type 1.5

[Sammytashmo]

Originally they thought I had type 2 but recently been diagnosed with 1.5, even though my bloods are good and are going down from five months ago (when I was first diagnosed) they say I will almost certainly end up on insulin. Why is this?

 

[catapillar]

Originally they thought I had type 2 but recently been diagnosed with 1.5, even though my bloods are good and are going down from five months ago (when I was first diagnosed) they say I will almost certainly end up on insulin. Why is this?

If you have a confirmed type 1 diagnosis with antibodies then those antibodies will be killing off your insulin producing beta cells. Once the autoimmune attack on the beta cells starts we don't know how to stop it and it will continue until all of the beta cells are killed off and you aren't making any insulin. If you aren't making insulin you will die, unless you inject it instead, and luckily that is an option because that's how type 1 is treated.

So, was the diagnosis with 1.5 after antibody testing?

Type 1.5 is just slow onset type 1. Type 1 is autoimmune diabetes, where the immune system gets bored/over enthusiastic and kills off the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. The kill off of the beta cells doesn't necessarily happen all at once, in an instant. In children, who have super speedy efficient immune systems, it can happen very quickly, but in adults the kill off process can take a while. This is the honeymoon period. Where a newly diagnosed type 1 has some residual insulin production. All type 1s have a honeymoon period. For some it can be particularly lengthy and strong, allowing them to avoid exogenous insulin for a little while. But it doesn't, and can't, last and eventually insulin will be required.