Well I found out yesterday that I was misdignosed as type 2 back in August of 2011, I'm adult onset Type 1. I really always had my doubts about being type 2 and don't really understand why doctors want to just jump to the conclusion of t2 just because of my age (47). Oh well, I least I know now, not that it matters all that much but now it just all makes sense.
Making sense is good. ;)
Doctors don't want to hang the T1 diagnosis on anyone without knowing more than they know when you first walk in. We can't blame them. On the other hand, if one were to withhold insulin from a T2 who was really a T1 and say come back in 3 months, that'd be bad, unfortunate, disgusting, awful,...
Did they now check you for 1.5 just in case, to make sure it is not another misdiagnosis?
LADA is a term I prefer to 1.5 because it is not "halfway between type 1 and type 2"; LADA is Type 1. It is just a slower onset form of Type 1. Which is why many of us misdiagnosed as Type 2 actually did ok for months or more on oral meds. Down the road it's indistinguishable from "classic" Type 1.
You don't say when you went on shots, Karen, but aside from the very important question of treatment, I have found that knowing I'm Type 1 has made a huge difference in how I think about and manage my D.
Sorry, I didn't know not to use 1.5. After all, even the forum here uses it, so I didn't know it was a term disliked by those with LADA.
In other forums, I've seen some people with LADA automatically try to jump to diagnose people like me with LADA just because we were not kids when we got diabetes, which I find mildly annoying. I went into a very quick DKA and coma; I had no "slow onset". I didn't even have the normal T1 "honeymoon" - 2 weeks from diagnosis, I tested 0.02 in c peptides. If they come up with a new term for super aggressive diabetes in old people, I'll gladly take it, but LADA isn't me.
Zoe, I was put straight on insulin when I went into hospital. I've tried to get off the insulin but to no avail, my BS jumps so high with little carbs. I'm on Levimer (2x's daily 26 units each) and Novolog with meals (usually 6 to 7 units) sometimes having to do corrections. Endo put me on 35 units of Levimer back in August 2011 but I've at least come down on that a bit. Put me on the so called "sliding scale" which I found out didn't work so well until I did research and lot's of reading about how the sliding scale was out dated so I started doing the I:C ratio and found that works a LOT better.
But like you said Zoe, just knowing I'm Type 1 makes a huge difference in thinking and managing diabetes. :)
You will also get better care and insurance company's will cover treatment without question, many T2's are just kicked to the curb when they ask for more test strips, a insulin pump, or CGM. My brother is a very skinny T2 and the health care system has treated him like dirt when compared to my treatment and we see the same doctors and need the same insulin...I just don't understand what the big difference is.
No problem, Jan. I just was saying I prefer LADA myself, because it's clearer. My main point was that LADA is Type 1, just a slower onset version.
No, you definitely are not LADA, but "adult onset Type 1". I think there are more of us older people with Type 1 who had slow onset so people jump to the wrong conclusion. The good thing about being sudden onset is it's less likely to be misdiagnosed.
It is true, even before the antibodies test came in, as soon as I woke up from the coma, the doctors already told me "You have T1 diabetes". They didn't consider any other possibility.
Yeah I call sliding scale "wait until you have horrible blood sugars, then correct it". Bolusing is being proactive before you have horrible blood sugars, so it is a lot better.
Hi Karen: Welcome to the club! There are so many TuD members who, as adults, were misdiagnosed as having Type 2 diabetes when in fact they have Type 1 diabetes, including TuD founder Manny Hernandez. Sadly, misdiagnosis remains the norm not the exception for adult-onset Type 1s. I have written several blogs on the problem, including a field guide to identifying the misdiagnosed T1 and my top ten tips for the newly diagnosed Type 1, which you might find very useful.
Hi Jan: I am with you! There was nothing latent about the onset of my Type 1 diabetes at age 35.
Hi Melitta, yes I have read several of your blogs and find them VERY useful. Thank you so much, you are so helpful with all your information!
Hi Karen: I am glad you found them useful! I wrote them in part because I am lazy.....SO many people come to TuD suspecting they are misdiagnosed, so I wrote those so I could just provide links and not repeat myself over and over (broken record).