Type 1 or 2

[bkkMick]

Hi

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2007.

I am now taking 14 units of insulin every day using Lantus.

Last night a friend asked me if I was type 1 or 2 and I didn't know how to reply??

Am I now type 1 because I'm taking insulin?

Thanks

Mick

 

[Squire Fulwood]

You might just as well be.

I understand that type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children where they have absolutely no pancreatic function at all where insulin is concerned. They are totally dependent on insulin for life.

Type 2 is usually diagnosed in older people who have some impairment in the production or use of their own insulin. They can control it with diet or pills or insulin according to how bad it is.

There are type 1.5's and LADA categories but since I don't understand them yet I will let someone else explain them. Then you can choose which one suits you best.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I just did a search and found this.

" LADA is “Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults”. It isn’t very well known. Sometimes it’s called Type 1.5, or adult-onset Type 1. It’s something that people need to be more aware of, because a lot of people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, actually are suffering from LADA."

Maybe someone else can give some more information.

 

[bkkMick]

Thank you Squire. I didn't expect a 1.5. Something for me to investigate.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. As I posted on another thread yesterday the problem is that there is a continuous spectrum of diabetes types not just the two that the media, DUK and the 'experts' talk about. This includes rare ones such as MODY, also gestational, steroid induced etc. There are so many known and many more unknown causes and some people have more than one issue. Pancreatic islet cell failure (lack of insulin) is the key to the T1 category and insulin resistance (too much insulin) is the key to T2 but you can have both problems and pancreatic failure can be genetic, thru anti-bodies, viruses, pancreatitis and so on. I'm somewhere in the middle, labelled a T2 but on insulin now. DUK will tell you that a T2 can never become a T1 which I can understand but makes the wrong point. A person can become a T1 even at middle age defined as T1.5 (LADA or Late onset T1). There is no difference in practice between a T1, T1.5 or non insulin-resistant T2 needing insulin i.e. there is pancreatic failure to a varying degree. The cause may be different but the end result and treatment is similar. I get asked what I am and I say I'm defined as a T2 but call myself a T1.5.

 

[bkkMick]

Thanks Daibell also.

This diabetes thing just got more complicated!

I think that, outside the diabetes world, nobody will have heard of type 1.5. It will be interesting if I say that I'm type 1.5 diabetic what people will say.

On the positive side, the injections are working a treat on my BG numbers.

Thanks all.

Mick

 

[Squire Fulwood]

On the positive side, the injections are working a treat on my BG numbers.

Who could ask for more.

 

[Daibell]

There is an NHS paper by the Royal College of GPs in 2011 on the subject of classification which you may want to read.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... 5608,d.d2k

I don't agree with some of it as it perpetuates the view that T1 is very different from insulin treated T2 and that the treatment regimes are very different (no, they're not if the T2 is not insulin resistant). It also talks about a T2 actually being a mis-classified T1 if he/she goes onto insulin within 6 months. The figure of 6 months is merely plucked from thin air with no scientific basis and in fact LADA can appear with varying speeds as recent research has found. Note that the paper conveniently ignores T1.5. So, the experts continue to disagree and ignore a lot of recent research.

 

[DaveMH]

OK, just to throw another curve ball into the equation. I was 30 years old when I was diagnosed with diabetes. I was told I the doctor that as it has happened so early in life I wold need to inject insulin as I am Type 1. I was overweight but certainly not obese however, after losing about 5 kg I was getting a lot of hypos. In those days no one questioned the GP or his motives for treatment etc and he decided I should go to tablets, since that day I had never had 'steady' blood sugars....period! I was taking a variety of pills but actually felt well, then for some reason I started to gain weight, I craved food and become very overweight. I now understand that this is the action of the oral hypoglycaemic pills and this weight aggravated the diabetes but I was soooo hungry.

There was very little support for the overworked doctors, I was given appointments to see a 'top consultant' unfortunately he was always busy playing golf or working additional days at the local BUPA hospital.....don't start me off!! :evil:

Due to a house move I had to change doctors and they had there own diabetic clinic, by now I was driving a lorry for a living, hardly the right environment to lose weight but lose I did. The BG was still high and the diabetic nurse would ask "are you depressed?" NO NO NO !! I feel fine, the levels were still high and I was told that despite being on the max dose of all the current medication......they might come down later....see you in 6 months!

After I moved to Spain I had to register with a new doctor, he done a very thorough medical, a series of 3 daily blood tests, the Hba 1c test came back as 11.9, he declared I should be on back on insulin. I now have more energy, feel better than ever, I have lost weight due to having the energy to exercise and have thus far great BG's

So, I am a Type 1, became a Type 2 and now I am a Type 1.5 :crazy:

This is a great forum with so many facets to it, thank you.

Dave

 

[jane67]

Think of it like this insulin is the key which opens your bodys cells to allow them to use the sugar in you blood and turn it into energy

In type 1 your body does not produce any Keys (insulin) so cannot unlock any of the cells so you would have to artificialy supply all the keys (insulin)

In type 2 your body produces some keys (insulin) so can unlock some cells but some of the locks have become damaged (insulin resistant) so the key will no longer fit. So there are several ways to deal with this, diet etc to make the locks more reseptive to the keys sometimes with the help of medication such as metformin. Some type 2's like myself also have to take insulin as we have do not produce enough 'keys' .

 

[LittleWolf]

I thought the difference between insulin dependent T2 and T1 was that the lack of insulin was caused by an unto immune attack on your body's own islet cells.

In practise they are essentially the same I guess only if a T2 is still producing some of their in insulin their levels might be less predictable as their pancreas still could pump out some insulin when it feels like it.@_@


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[trac1uk]

To confuse u more lol my diabetes is gene related. My dr tells me I am both t1 & t2 as I was on insulin injections for 30 years but have been on tablets for 8 years now


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[mo1905]

Most healthcare professionals now seem to use the terms insulin dependant or non insulin dependant. As for T1.5, LADA, Mody etc, these are terms many doctors don't understand and to try to explain them to Joe Public is just a nightmare lol !