To AquariusNL-
I am not going to weigh in on the pre-diabetes debate, because the medical community at large seems to be in debate over whether fasting blood sugars in the 100-126 range is pre-diabetic or early stage Type 2, so who am I to tell you what to call it.
Regardless of what you call it, your blood sugar is messed up and that totally sucks. The one piece of advice I have for you is to find out if your diabetes is pre-diabetes/ early Type 2 or LADA (a form of Type 1 diabetes). The main difference between Type 2 and LADA is that LADA is an autoimmune disease in which your body is destroying your pancreas’ ability to make insulin. If you have no history of obesity, you could be at an early stage of LADA. (I am LADA/ Type1 and was misdiagnosed with Type 2, and it was ridiculous and I had crazy complications from some of the drugs they gave me due to misdiagnoses.) Trust me, you want the information- they are two totally different diseases from what I can tell, that give the same result of high blood sugars. (Although I don’t know much about Type 2, I think it is mainly caused by insulin resistance, not auto-immunity).
I copied the following from Wikipedia. They are the tests you can ask your doctor to give you to see if you have LADA:
Diagnosing latent autoimmune diabetes
It is estimated that 20% of persons diagnosed as having non-obesity-related type 2 diabetes may actually have LADA. Islet cell, insulin, and GAD antibodies testing should be performed on all adults who are not obese that appear to present with type 2 diabetes.[2] Not all people having LADA are thin or skinny, however—there are plus-sized individuals carrying LADA but not getting accurately diagnosed because of their weight. These individuals are more often denied insulin by their health care physicians, considering people who were diagnosed with or have type 2 diabetes are given those treatments by diabetes specialists or their physicians extremely often.[3] Moreover, it is now becoming evident that autoimmune diabetes may be highly underdiagnosed in many individuals who have diabetes, and that the body mass index levels may have rather limited use in connections with latent autoimmune diabetes.[4] Also, many physicians or diabetes specialists don’t recognize LADA or probably don’t know the condition actually exists, and so LADA is misdiagnosed as or mistaken for Type 2 diabetes highly often.
Diagnostic tests include:
[edit] C-peptide (also known as insulin C-peptide, connecting peptide)
This test measures residual beta cell function by determining the level of insulin secretion (C-peptide). Persons with LADA typically have low, although sometimes moderate, levels of C-peptide as the disease progresses. Patients with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes are more likely to, but will not always, have high levels of C-peptide due to an over production of insulin.[5][6]
[edit] Diabetes mellitus autoantibody panel
Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) autoantibodies, radioimmunoassay (RIA) and insulin antibodies, radioimmunoassay, RIA.
Glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies are commonly found in diabetes mellitus type 1.
[edit] Islet Cell Antibodies (ICA) tests
Islet Cell IgG Cytoplasmic Autoantibodies, IFA; Islet Cell Complement Fixing Autoantibodies, Indirect Fluorescent Antibody (IFA); Islet Cell Autoantibodies Evaluation; Islet Cell Complement Fixing Autoantibodies - Aids in a differential diagnosis between LADA and type 2 diabetes. Persons with LADA often test positive for ICA, whereas type 2 diabetics only seldom do.[5][7]
[edit] Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD) Antibodies tests
Microplate ELISA: Anti-GAD, Anti-IA2, Anti-GAD/IA2 Pool - In addition to being useful in making an early diagnosis for type 1 diabetes mellitus, GAD antibodies tests are used for differential diagnosis between LADA and type 2 diabetes[5][8][9] and may also be used for differential diagnosis of gestational diabetes, risk prediction in immediate family members for type 1, as well as a tool to monitor prognosis of the clinical progression of type 1 diabetes.
[edit] Insulin Antibodies (IAA)tests
RIA: Anti-GAD, Anti-IA2, Anti-Insulin; Insulin Antibodies - These tests are also used in early diagnosis for type 1 diabetes mellitus, and for differential diagnosis between LADA and type 2 diabetes, as well as for differential diagnosis of gestational diabetes, risk prediction in immediate family members for type 1, and to monitor prognosis of the clinical progression of type 1 diabetes. Persons with LADA may test positive for insulin antibodies; persons with type 2, however, rarely do.[5][7]
Other characteristics of LADA that may aid in differential diagnosis include:[10]
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Onset usually at 25 years of age or older
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Initially mimics non-obese type 2 diabetes (patients are usually thin or of normal weight, although some may be overweight to minimally obese)[3][11]
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Oftentimes, but not always, a lack of family history for T2DM (family history for type 2 diabetes is sometimes involved regarding a latent autoimmune diabetic adult)[12][13][14][15][16]
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Persons with LADA are insulin resistant like, but at prevalence levels less than, Type 2[17][18]
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Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes associated with type 1 diabetes are seen in LADA but not in type 2 diabetes[7]
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Although some people having type 2 diabetes may inject insulin, this only rarely happens; in contrast, people with LADA require insulin injections around three to 12 years after so called type 2 diabetes diagnoses[19]
