Do you have Prediabetes, Type 2 or LADA?

1

I am posting this for Sushma who is writing a magazine article:

Hello to the TuDiabetes community.

My name is Su and I am a writer for a National women’s magazine. I am writing a story about how women of all shapes and sizes, even those who are thin, can develop type 2 diabetes. Hopefully this story can help raise awareness about diabetes among people who consider themselves not at risk. I am looking for women to profile in my piece, particularly young women in their twenties, thirties or early forties who are not overweight and have been diagnosed with Type 2 or prediabetes. I may also include one Lada woman. Participating would involve a couple interviews. No photos are necessary. If interested, please contact me at sushma.subramanian@gmail.com.

Thanks for your time. I hope you all had a nice Fourth of July weekend!

2

Does this person understand that 20% of Type 2 diabetics are in fact misdiagnosed and are LADA and that LADA is, in fact, merely slow onset Type 1? What we don’t need out there is more misinformation.

3

I think that is why she is looking to interview people so that she can get all of the facts and find out more about people’s personal experiences.

4

LADA is Type 1 diabetes, according to NIH/WHO etc. So a person with LADA/Type 1 should not be included in an article on Type 2 diabetes. A large percentage of those “young, thin” Type 2 diabetics have been misdiagnosed, and have Type 1 diabetes or MODY (or other forms of diabetes, see my recent blog on misdiagnosis of insulin-deficient diabetes). Unfortunately, doctors simply assume that any adult with new onset diabetes has Type 2 diabetes, without doing the appropriate tests to ensure a correct diagnosis has been made. I agree with Zoe, the last thing that we need is more misinformation.

5

Hopefully she will read the information that is already out there about misdiagnosis of type 2 and about LADA, and then proceed with a better idea of questions to ask. While I believe wholeheartedly in anecdotal information, if you are writing articles it should be backed up by statistically significant data. Many of those “thin type 2’s” end up being correctly re-diagnosed as LADA/Type 1’s. I’m sure I will get blasted for this statement by people who are thin and certain they are type 2, so remember I said “many type twos”, not all.

6

I will be sure that she reads all of the posts to this discussion! :slight_smile: I am sure she would also welcome any information you have to offer her as well. If you would like to email her directly, please do so, or let me know and I can have contact her.

7

I just sent off an email to Su, and I included multiple of my blogs on the problem of misdiagnosis (for example, my Bill of Rights for People with Adult-Onset Type 1 diabetes and A Field Guide to Identifying the Misdiagnosed Type 1 Diabetic).

Part of my message to Su was “Misdiagnosis and the parading of wrong information in the media only makes life worse for women who actually deserve a correct diagnosis and correct treatment. Instead, I suggest that you ask for stories from women who have been misdiagnosed as having Type 2 when they really have MODY or Type 1. By shining a light on this terrible problem, you could do a lot of good.”

8

Thanks for doing that, Melitta, and for writing those blogs. I think an article like that would do a lot more good than the one originally described.