I was in the er w/ my brother the other night because I tested his sugar and the meter read HI, would not even give a number, it was over 600, he says he is TYPE 2 but I told his doctors I have LADA, TYPE 1.5, they had no idea what I was talking about. they told him to take his metphormin so that he wont need insulin. I could not believe that er docs dont even know what it is, they think its TYPE2 that needs insulin cause they dont follow the plan.Anyone have an experience like that?I keep saying my brother has LADA too but even his regular doc dosent know what it is. I told him he HAS to see an endo.
Just say “Type 1” diabetes because, fundamentally, that is what LADA is.
When I was diagnosed at age 30, 6 years ago, they also thought I was Type 2 and even my Endo eventually called me a Type 1… in case that makes you feel any better… :S
What have these doctors studied? They are not familiar with the LADA classification of type 1. Okay why not. But to classify a person with a blood glucose of over 600 as T2 is very questionable. To treat this person with metphormin is grossly negligent.
Where are all these brilliant advocats I have seen in the TV? Suing other doctors I guess 
I got my sign in all screwed up and seem to have created a new one, but if anyone wants to reply to me, please use THIS account!
–Jenny Ruhl
Holger,
Type 2s get blood sugars that high too. So that isn’t the basis for distinguishing the diagnoses.
In fact, there are some forms of Type 2 that strike thin people, so that doesn’t help either.
About the only way to tell them apart is with antibody tests. Doctors not trained in endocrinology often don’t know this. Or much else about diabetes.
I have asked this question many of times:) I am starting to meet more and more healthcare people who recognize Type 1.5/LADA, which is a GREAT thing. It’s all about Education:) I have been blessed to have been to 2 different Endo’s in 2 different states who recognize and treat Type 1.5.
I was thinking about getting a shirt made with
Diabetic
Not 1 or 2
Just in between
As Jenny Ruhl says, just say Type 1 diabetes, which ALWAYS requires exogenous insulin for survival. LADA is Type 1 autoimmune diabetes at a later age. It is not somewhere between 1 and 2. It is WAY more common than childhood-onset Type 1 diabetes (two to three times more common). So yes, insist on seeing an endo and insist on insulin as the only treatment for Type 1.
I agree… far too many are misdiagnosed as T2 just because of age factors then just given metformin and told to cut out carbs and exercise…That didn’t work for me…If your brother is not responding to oral treatment I would certainly send him to an endo so that further testing can be done. My endo told me that typically a T2 can go up to 10-15 years before needing insulin and an adult presenting with T1 or “Latent onset” of T1 usually requires insulin within 2-3 years after diagnosis. It was my CDE who first told me about LADA or “1.5” the term LADA makes more sense to me because it is essentially Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults…therefore recognizing that yes, adults can be diagnosed as T1. My regular Doc was surprised at my “re-diagnosis” also…they had no idea it was possible to be 38 and a T1 instead of T2! Do you or your brother have any other known autoimmune disorders?
That’s so funny! I want 1 2 LOL…
There was no antibody test as far as I have seen and I dislike the doctors choice to jump to the T2 track without considering the family history. Why jumping to Metphormin if the likelyhood of T1 / T1.5 is even higher?
Now on Metphormin it will take up to two weeks to find out if there is any improvement with this medication. If there is no improvement they will jump to insulin and bring him within two weeks slowly down. The result can be estimated three weeks with very high blood glucose values.
The likelyhood is very high that - even as T2 - he will need insulin for the rest of his life. Therefore it would have been a feasible option to start with insulin right away. If this later turns out as not necessary it would be less stressfull than the current approach. With normal glucose values you could easily verify the effectiveness of different medications. Maybe I am just to sensitive to this diagnosis of over 600 mg/dL.
Thanks to you guys…now i know what type i am…usually the doctors who handled my case always tells me that i’m in between…i always hear them saying to me that “you’re borderline type1 and type 2”…at least now i know that there’s type 1.5…what a relief… i can really relate to you, lynn…whenever someone asks me which type am i… i always respond to borderline type 1 and type 2 and they looked at me in a funny way… they said i’m probably type 1 since i was first diagnosed with diabetes when i was 17 but since the doctor told me that i’m kind of old not really juvenile then i was diagnosed with type 2.
Today his BS was 152, w/ metphormin and counting carbs, I think he will eventually need insulin also but right now he is following his docs plan, not mine, he is going back in three weeks and going to an endo soon too, thanks for your input, I am trying to get him to join TU Diabetes for some support, thanks for yours
I also have hypothyroisism and am anemic, just a wonderful endocrine mess, I cant wait to see what I get next, just kidding. Thanks for responding, I felt like the only one that is in diabetes limbo
LOL… Kristy I am 4 real about my shirt…I have to live with diabetes…y not express my feelings I’ll prob get it made after the holidays:)
my doctor sent me to endo because pills didnt work for me which i only took for a month.she my endo had a pump and is lada so she did all the tests and i was put on insulin right away i do not make zero insulin.what i went to the doctor for was because i lost alot of weight endo told me my diabetes was living of my fat cells because i wasnt making insulin.i am T1.5
It seems half the medical community doesn’t even understand the difference between T1 and T2. On one hand, in theory they should know about LADA. On the other hand, I’m more forgiving of general practitioners because I think it’s impossible to fully understand the intricacies of every medical condition they come across. Of course if they don’t understand, they should have ready access to resources that will help them understand so they can adequately treat, but in the end, I really think the widespread confusion is solely the fault of the ADA.
I question the ultimate benefit of even having another sub-category for what is essentially T1. It seems the ADA is purposely trying to make sure no one but people with diabetes understand diabetes. Even then, they’ve made it so confusing by changing the names twice in less than 30 years (Juvenile DM to IDDM to T1DM). By arbitrarily assigning numbers instead of something descriptive (like auto-immune mediated diabetes), it seems at least half the people with diabetes don’t even know what type they have and how their kind is different from other kinds of diabetes.
The ADA has become a poorly-managed behemoth with their hands in too many cookie jars to know what the other hands are doing. The entire world diabetes community would be far better served if some other entity dictated diabetes doctrine.
I don’t discount the good they do, I support what I think serves us as a community and I’m a professional member, primarily because they have the monopoly, and that’s my only means of having access to their resources - not because I favor them as an organization that has our best interest in mind. However, my opinion of them has shifted over the years as they’ve proved themselves to not serve our best interests. I think the disservice they do to us is outweighing anything positive.
I’ve been a diabetic (T1) since 1986. I understand the confusion with all the name changes. It’s frustrating on every level. Diabetes seems to be a continually evolving disease. I wasn’t involoved in the diabetic community (online of off) until about 3 years ago, so I didn’t have any idea what LADA was because I’d never been told. I didn’t know adults could get T1.
Since figuring this out, I have at least 2 people that I know that were diagnosed in their early 20s that were mistakenly diagnosed T2 and put on pills. It wasn’t until I urged one of them to see an endo (because the BG’s were WAY too high) that they were diagnosed as T1 (basically LADA).
I have the same thing, but my doctor called it late onset juvenile diabetes. I had never heard it called type 1.5 either. I had a new doctor( not an endo) who tried to put me on oral meds about 2 yrs after becoming a diabetic eventhough I was doing well on insulin. I took them once and they did absolutely nothing to my sugar levels. I never went back to that doctor again. It is amazing how uneducated many doctors are about this disease.