I just found out Friday I have the anti-bodies. Thought I had successfully crushed "type 2" that I was diagnosed with back in 6/12 with diet and exercise. (1 year of kombligyze than just stopped cold turkey on 9/1)
I've been reading a lot about gut health, relationship between gluten being the environmental "trigger" for the anti-bodies. Also read some pretty promising stories about keeping or restoring remaining beta cells by eliminating gluten. I'm NOT on insulin as of yet. I'm new to this so I guess that's called honeymoon. Goal would be to manage with diet and exercise but confused about the info thats out there. Anyone else attempting to stay off insulin using the gluten free diet or any other method? I've never been a fan of traditional medicine, I practically use a chiro as my primary. Likely will be starting some homeopath for pancreatic function probably next week.
Hey David I totally respect homeopathic treatments, but, in some cases, they are best in conjunction with traditional Western medicine, not instead of. Type 1 diabetes is definitely one of those cases. If you have antibodies, for better or worse you are a Type 1 diabetic which means your body doesn't produce enough insulin. Insulin is something we all need to live; "normies" make it naturally but us Type 1's don't so we need to use externally injected insulin in order to live and be healthy. Eliminating gluten, if it is a problem for you, will certainly help, but, unfortunately it won't provide for the insulin you are lacking.
Hi David: I think one of the difficult things about being misdiagnosed (as Type 2 when you are actually Type 1) is that you don't get told from the beginning, "you have Type 1 diabetes, your body doesn't produce insulin (or enough insulin in the beginning) and you need exogenous insulin for the rest of your life." Those of us with Type 1 diabetes are alive today because of Western medicine--before insulin in 1922, people with Type 1 simply died. Although eliminating gluten and going lower carb may help, if your body doesn't make enough insulin you need to inject/use a pump. Have you considered or have you had a c-peptide test to know how much insulin your body is producing?
The main reason I encourage people with slow-onset Type 1 to go on exogenous insulin (even very low levels) as soon as possible is that multiple studies have shown tight control preserves remnant beta cell function, which improves blood glucose control and reduces the risk of complications. Anecdotally, what I have seen is that people who have been misdiagnosed and denied insulin develop complications far earlier than those who get on exogenous insulin/tight control sooner. Have you talked with your doctor about your thoughts on insulin, and are you seeing an endo?
I am gluten free by default because I don't eat fast acting carbs. I remain grain free only because I know I have a Celiac gene, without testing positive for Celiac, that is related to LADA. I don't think anyone knows if it will help. Two of my dds need to be gluten free. I know that one of them also has the gene. I am not on insulin after four years, but I follow Dr. Bernstein, who wrote "Diabetes Solutions," and exercise religiously. My Endo told me at the beginning that he didn't care what I did as long as I could keep good numbers. Last A1c was 4.9. That took a lot of work and concentration. Type 2 medications did nothing for me. My Endo Rxed knowing I had GAD antibodies. I only took a few of them because exercise was far more efficient.
As soon as I can't control my numbers, I'll transition to insulin. When you are first dxed, you have to test all the time until you get a feel for cause and effect. There are times I resent the amount of time that I exercise because I have to fit it in no matter what, but I like that I look much younger and can do hip-hop at 60yo.
I was diagnosed with LADA 4 years ago and even though my A1c was 6.0 I started on low doses of basal and bolus insulin. I think that you will discover that the process of treating diabetes is not a one size fit all. Things that I have learned through trial and error are the following: high GI foods are not your friend, gluten causes high spikes in BG, interval training allows my bedtime sugars to stay within 80-110mg/dl range with very little basal insulin on board, eating no carbs didn’t work for me instead I eat high fiber fruits and vegetables, this is a progressive disease and you eventually have to go on insulin so be flexible. I am like you and prefer not to be on any types of medications. But as somewhat else mentioned your beta cells are slowly depleting and the only way to compensate for that is with insulin. Hope this helps!
Hi there, I have eliminated gluten and dairy and basically eat an autoimmune paleo diet. I am taking long-acting insulin because I started losing weight and I am naturally underweight to begin with, so that has helped me maintain that. I have been avoiding the rapid insulin since I feel that it causes a dependency, but that is just based on my own personal experience. My A1cs are around 5.0 eating about 50-100 g carb a day.
Yes I agree! I spent almost two years misdiagnosed as T2 as a slim 29 y/o. Not only is the education process different for those with T2 (loose weight, watch what you eat, exercise regularly to lower your bs, etc.), but my thought processes were molded differently too. I've become more diet focused. Which is good in it's own way, but detrimental to learning all about insulin. I have had to retrain myself to think "insulin is good." And I've had to learn that I need to bolus for things like some veggies, healthy food etc. Sometimes I need insulin if I've been working out too hard at the gym. That was a hard concept to grasp. Also as we've been diagnosed as LADA later in life we've also heard more (often misinformation) about diabetes in the news, etc. We have a certain mindset formed about diabetes. Sometimes I wonder if those of us T1's diagnosed in childhood or adolescents have a leg up because from the get-go they were treated with insulin because they were diagnosed with a disease. I think the key word is disease. We have a disease. It needs to be treated WITH insulin. We aren't just in need of some fresh food and exercise. T1 is very different from T2. Being diagnosed later in life just adds a lot of confusion, but thank you Melitta for all your blogs and words. They have helped me understand tremendously and I'm STILL learning.
What types of food do you eat? The greatest challenge for me is finding the "better" kind of food. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'll be tested for gluten sensitivity soon. But in the mean time: I often have headaches or my mouth become sore or inflamed after eating bread, oatmeal, foods containing large quantities of high fructose corn syrup.
Hi Sharon, What types of high fiber fruits and vegetables do you eat? I was misdiagnosed as a type 2, and only recently been correctly diagnosed with LADA. I'm on insulin, but would prefer to continue with my currently low doses of insulin (usually less than 10 units in total, basal and bolus). I feel better not eating bread. My celiac blood test came back "negative"; so I suspect sensitivity instead of allergy or complete intolerance.
Thanks,
Lilian
Interestingly, I am going to have an enteroscopy this month to rule out refractory Celiac (a kind that doesn't respond to being gluten free) and to help with my FODMAPS. I have not been able to tolerated any form of high frustose corn sweetener for over forty years. I get violently ill. I vomited most of my youth. I will also be having tests for Fructans and Lactose.
