Unsure if I am type 2 ?

Hi @Beatrice246 ,

Doctors often make sweeping judgments with the preliminary diagnosis. I am tall and slim and was diagnosed as a T1 and put on insulin immediately. Blood tests a year later confirmed the diagnosis in my case.

If a person is overweight when they present themselves to their doc, an assumption is often made that the person is a T2, although it's clear from these forums that not all T2's are overweight.

Typical T1 and T2 symptoms are explained in the links below. There is some overlap which goes some way to explainning why it's not always a clear decision for doctors. Quite a few people in the forums have had their T1/T2 diagnosis questioned after the original decision.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/type1-diabetes-symptoms.html
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/type2-diabetes-symptoms.html

In a round about way, I guess the answer to your question is yes, you might be feeling quite unwell without insulin injections if you were a T1 but it's also possible that you might be getting by without insulin injections if you have a low carb diet and your body can still produce some of its own insulin. Are you testing your glucose levels after eating?

I see from your previous posts that you're taking Metformin, which would also be helping to lower your glucose levels a little.

You will have to wait for the results of your blood tests for confirmation.

Hi. Late onset T1 can have a long honeymoon period of perhaps years in which case you wouldn't suddenly become ill. You are very young for T2 and if you are slim I would bet that you are T1 and will have a positive diagnosis from the tests. If you have excess weight then I would have the low-carb diet and see how things go. Do get a meter if you haven't already got one. BTW GPs very often guess the T1 or T2 diagnosis but they should have tested you at age 15.

Most cases of type 1 diabetes are diagnosed between the ages of 10-14 - https://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/News/1-in-5-cases-of-diabetes-diagnosed-in-the-over-40s/. So at 15 you are prime for diagnosis with type 1 if you present with a diabetes diagnosis.

It's very unusual for people diagnosed with type 1 when they are teenagers to be classed as LADA/1.5 and have a honeymoon period that enables them to survive time off insulin. A strong honeymoon period is more common in people diagnosed with type 1 when the are older. This is because type 1 is an autoimmune disease where the immune system kills off the insulin producing beta cells, generally a young persons immune system works more efficiently than an older persons immune system so will kill off the beta cells more quickly.

It's very unusual for someone aged 15 to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

I would guess that a 15 year old presenting with blood sugar high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes is much, much more likely to be diagnosed with type 1 as the default position rather than type 2. I wonder if there is something unusual about your diagnosis that led to the determination you are type 2, and really whether that unusual thing is your weight.

What is the story of your diagnosis?

Someone with type 1 is likely to be diagnosed with very high (>30) blood sugar, with ketones present, with dramatic weight loss.

If you are waiting for GAD test results, I believe there is only 1 lab that does these. So yes, it's standard for there to be a long wait for the results.

A c-peptide test can take a long time to come back (goes to a specialist lab) but an antibody test should be pretty quick. However having a negative result for antibodies does not mean you are not type 1.
The c-peptide result would give an indication of how much insulin you are making.

Diakat said:

A c-peptide test can take a long time to come back (goes to a specialist lab) but an antibody test should be pretty quick.

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I think it's the other way around. Any lab can do cpeptide. I think all antibody tests get sent to Devon.

catapillar said:

I think it's the other way around. Any lab can do cpeptide. I think all antibody tests get sent to Devon.

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Nope, not for me, my c-pep lovely collection of wee went off to Exeter for testing. My blood stayed local.
Immunoassays are pretty easy, just need to react antibodies and have some sort of developer. Used to do similar ones as a student.

Diakat said:

Nope, not for me, my c-pep lovely collection of wee went off to Exeter for testing. My blood stayed local.
Immunoassays are pretty easy, just need to react antibodies and have some sort of developer. Used to do similar ones as a student.

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Sorry. That's weird isn't it, my wait was totally the other way around. Cpeptide was local, but they had to ring RD&E for GAD results.

Beatrice246 said:

On the form it's says my blood test it to test - c peptide
- glucose level
-hba1c
- insulin
- liver function
- non fasting lipid screen
- urea , electrolytes and creatine
- thyroid

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None of those tests will determine what type of diabetes you have. The only test that can do this is antibody testing. Even then, antibody testing is only determinative if it is positive (if it's positive then you are definitely type 1) as about 25% of type 1 diabetics are antibody negative.

Diakat said:

Nope, not for me, my c-pep lovely collection of wee went off to Exeter for testing. My blood stayed local.
Immunoassays are pretty easy, just need to react antibodies and have some sort of developer. Used to do similar ones as a student.

Click to expand...

Ah. I believe c-peptide can be tested via the blood or urine? I'm not sure which test is preferred and what the differences might be. My c-peptide was a blood test.

Diakat said:

Nope, not for me, my c-pep lovely collection of wee went off to Exeter for testing. My blood stayed local.
Immunoassays are pretty easy, just need to react antibodies and have some sort of developer. Used to do similar ones as a student.

Click to expand...

catapillar said:

Sorry. That's weird isn't it, my wait was totally the other way around. Cpeptide was local, but they had to ring RD&E for GAD results.

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I suppose it all depends on where you are and where you go.

I had mine done privately (not an essential test, just useful and I was just interested). I travelled to a clinic in West London where they drew blood, results in a matter of days.

Beatrice246 said:

Just had blood tests done there was 2 other ones for testing which was anti insulin antibody and anti GAD antibody . Apparently the 1st one is to distinguish if it's type 1 or not.

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Hi. I wonder what the first test actually was? There are several different beta cell anti-bodies of which GAD is the most common. I've never heard of an 'anti-insulin anti-body'. Be aware that not all causes of beta cell death are caused by anti-bodies. Viruses can be a cause and the result is the same.