So if you have positive antibodies for LADA, were these antibodies always with you ?
Was there a time you had the antibodies and your blood sugar could still regulate as non diabetic?
I have Hashimotos and I had antibodies probably wayyyy before my thyroid showed any type of malfunction.
They think it’s a response to a virus, possibly in the rotavirus strain that sets off Type 1/LADA. And Type 1/LADA lasts years in some people. They call that the honeymoon period, when you still make insulin until you slowly don’t. So at the beginning when you make “enough” insulin, change in diets, medication usually works. But usually if nothing is done you just slowly keep getting worse. Well, you keep getting worse until you get insulin.
Having the antibodies for Type 1/LADA is/causes your beta cells to be destroyed and can also cause thyroid issues in a higher percentage of people with Type 1/LADA…
So you can have antibodies years before it messes with bloodsugar ?
I can’t overgeneralize, since some forms of beta cell loss are more aggressive than others, but generally, there are antibodies indicating autoimmune issues before development of diabetes. I’m not sure how it’s been refined over the years - this is old knowledge - but generally, Type 1 does not show until you’ve lost 75% of your beta cell function, and that loss takes 2 to 3 years.
Yes, usually at the onset of some varying BG levels, most type 1’s need insulin in 3 years. But some can go even longer. It’s slow onset and most of the time people aren’t being tested until after they have BG levels misbehaving. So I’m not sure they would know how long you can have antibodies for before the first signs of BG levels starting to be erratic.
But the whole reason you have antibodies for type 1 is because your body is making them, because you have started the process. We develop specific antibodies to fight things like viruses.
But you are talking about a more unknown territory as like I said most people aren’t tested until after they have started having trouble. I think it’s much more rare to have found the antibodies before any symptoms. They have started some testing in the US to help collect data on people that have antibodies before they show symptoms.
From an article about it.
The test is a simple blood test that looks for proteins in the blood known as “autoantibodies.” These proteins show that a person is at a higher-than-average risk for developing type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes makes an appearance suddenly, with symptoms such as thirstiness, frequent urination, and weight loss. But the disease actually starts to wreak havoc on the body some years earlier, researchers believe.
“Up to nine years before being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a person may have evidence of antibodies,” says Anita Swamy, MD, medical director of the diabetes program at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. “These antibodies may present well in advance of symptoms.”
Thought this was interesting, in that - some might already sense this - autoimmunity might be on the rise: