So I finally went back to my dr. and had a full panel of antibodies tests. Islet Cell and IA-2 were both negative, but the GAD autoantibodies was elevated. The reference range was 1.0 or less. Mine was 1.7. I haven’t been able to speak to my dr. yet. What does this mean? Is there some magic number for diagnosis?
Thanks, I really appreciate your collective advice!
I am pretty sure anything positive is just that - positive 
The actual # isn’t as critical as the fact that there are antibodies at all.
It would confirm your LADA diagnosis. A classic T1 would tend to have positive results for all of the antibodies, not just one of them… but LADA commonly only has positive GAD antibodies.
I don’t know- it seems to be within a reasonable the margin of error, and GAD autoantibodies aren’t only for LADA.
Hi Anita: If you are antibody positive, which it appears you are, then you have Type 1 diabetes/LADA. Sarah is correct, LADA’s are almost always GAD positive, sometimes IA-2 and islet cell as well. Good for you for pushing to get the antibody testing!
Hello, I have also just been tested for GAD antibodies (they didn’t test any of the other antibodies, my doc said ‘it’s not done anymore’), although my doctor was sure I had LADA right from my diagnosis 4 months ago. My result was 1.5 so I am wondering if I need to go back in a year’s time to see if they are any higher? Because the people at the lab said that 0.5 could still be an error… Anyway, seeing my doc on 8 December so will check with her then, but in the meantime it was good to read your comments on Anita’s question (and thanks to Anita for asking it!).
Hi Uta: Are you on exogenous insulin, either pump or injection, and using tight control? That is SO important for all Type 1s, but if you are LADA then you can preserve those last beta cells and “honeymoon” for a long time. Better control, less chance of complications, etc. Best of luck to you, Melitta