what type

Type 1.5 is a term used for atypical type 1 diabetes with a slow and late onset (unlike t1 which is usually diagnosed in children and young adults). it's the same autoimmune condition - the body attacks insulin producing beta cells, resulting in hyperglycemia. If it's necessary or sensible to have a special name for it is debatable.

Type 2 is different in that plenty of insulin is being produced but which doesn't work as it should (insulin resistance). Type 2 medication includes drugs that aim to fix insulin resistance (Metformin), insulin secretagogues (which stimulate insulin production) and injected insulin.

Because insulin sensitivity varies widely between people, there is no "right" amount or insulin for people to take. Active and fit T1 diabetics will need little insulin, type 1.5 patients will need even less whilst T2 patients may need considerably higher doses (because of the aforementioned insulin sensitivity).
The right amount of insulin is whatever you need to control your BG

Hi. As a side issue probably worth saying that around 20% of those classified as T2 are not insulin resistant and hence probably don't have elevated insulin but it is not routinely tested by the GP. Included in this 20% are some T1.5s who have been mis-classified.

AMBrennan said:

If it's necessary or sensible to have a special name for it is debatable.

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I agree with this and sometimes it just confuses people and at the end of the day whenever my GP prints out a blood form for me it states Type 1 IDD anyway so I do wonder how relevant the sub category is.

It's not really an 'official' category.
T1.5 used sometimes in academic papers and often on forums but the World Health Organisation and the American diabetes Association clearly put LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults ) into the type 1 (T1a) category.(along with idiopathic or T1b which is T1 of unknown cause)

In this form of diabetes,(ie T1a) the rate of β-cell destruction is quite variable, being rapid in some individuals (mainly infants and children) and slow in others (mainly adults). Some patients, particularly children and adolescents, may present with ketoacidosis as the first manifestation of the disease. Others have modest fasting hyperglycemia that can rapidly change to severe hyperglycemia and/or ketoacidosis in the presence of infection or other stress. Still others, particularly adults, may retain residual β-cell function sufficient to prevent ketoacidosis for many years; such individuals eventually become dependent on insulin for survival and are at risk for ketoacidosis. At this latter stage of the disease, there is little or no insulin secretion, as manifested by low or undetectable levels of plasma C-peptide. Immune-mediated diabetes commonly occurs in childhood and adolescence, but it can occur at any age, even in the 8th and 9th decades of life.

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http://care.diabetesjournals.org/conten ... 1/S62.full


The other types
are T2
Gestational and then a whole lot of other specific types in several different categories.
This includes MODY and other forms of diabetes called by a gene mutation . MODY is often called type 1.5 on diabetes forums.

Like Paul my doctor in France officially categorises me as T1. He did explain when I was diagnosed that people with my type of history are sometimes said to have 1.5.