We were talking about getting the news early about oncoming incurable diseases so we can take steps to prevent or ameliorate them. But if you take that premise of the discussion seriously, then since type 1 diabetes has an extremely rapid onset and once it is seen it can’t be stopped and there is very little management to do in that tiny time frame before its first signs and the initial trip to the doctor for diagnosis, what use is it? For example, because there was a lot of type 1 diabetes in my family I was idiotically tested for type 1 diabetes a month before I was diagnosed. The result was that I was found not to have it. Then, a month later, I had four days of polyuria and polydipsia, which caused me to assume diabetes had set in, and when I went to the doctor, that was confirmed.
So what is all this talk about the importance of early management of type 1 diabetes? Was that four-day period decisive in the 51-year course of my type 1 diabetes? And in terms of the extreme rapidity of onset, my case is typical. It is totally absent one day and totally present the next, and nothing can prevent it. Sure, it is worth managing once it is diagnosed, but catching it four days early would make little or no difference.
Not all cases of T1 develop in 4 days. (Read up on LADA, either here or elsewhere.) In any case, I was objecting to the lumping of T1 with ALS and other diseases that can’t be managed for a normal lifespan, which diabetes can. Apples and oranges.
Type 1 diabetes is not LADA, which is why they have different names. The ‘Latent’ in LADA indicates its slow onset, and this distinguishes it from type 1 diabetes, which is rapid onset.
Reading I’ve done over the years has informed me that the semantics of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is not a settled issue. I’ve read sources that declare that LADA is a form of T1D.
Many researchers believe LADA, sometimes called type 1.5 diabetes, is a subtype of type 1 diabetes. Other researchers believe diabetes occurs on a continuum, with LADA falling between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Some medical settings make no distinction between T1D and LADA. If I’m in the ER I will not confuse my communication by telling medicos that I’m LADA. I believe that my diabetes is essentially T1D with the only difference between me and others with T1D being the slow nature of my diabetes onset.
There has been a lot of literature recently relating even type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which are certainly phenomenologically very different conditions with very different symptoms, even though they are now known to have more genetic and immunological connections than were previously suspected.
But with genuine cases of type 1 diabetes, there is little that an early warning can do. A. Michels, et al., “Pre-Diabetes and Prevention of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus,” Pediatric Diabetes, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 465-484 (2015) notes that “Unfortunately, significant progression involving predictions of type 1 diabetes mellitus have not yet been paralleled by safe and effective intervention strategies aimed at preventing the disease.”
I was beginning to figure out something was up along with my doctor Goggle but there isn’t a “diagnosis” button - yet. Being thirsty & things were some of the clues. And I found out during a physical at a local free clinic. My BG was off their machine, forget now how high the machine went. Doctor gave me a shot or was it 2. Informed me I had type II and handed me a sheet of recommended items to eat & tips for meal planning. I wondered what were Tree vegetables, ah it was a typo. Changed my diet right away. Also contacted the diabetes.org and they sent along some diet & health tips & short time later found this site too.
I started going to the bathroom a lot and was very thirsty. I lost a lot of weight and knew something was wrong. I went and got checked and ta da! Type 1 diabetic at the age of 51. I was also in Europe at the time that I started thinking that something was wrong. I wanted sugar really bad and I started drinking lot of cokes, which I NEVER did before. When I got home to GA that’s when it all became a reality.
It’s a very frustrating and scary disease. I don’t have a good support system with my husband. He just doesn’t get it. I try to explain to him how it feels when I go low but that’s not something you can explain. He has actually left the room while I was low and getting my own sugar to come back alive.
patti 16 thanks for responding. sorry you got it . maybe he should go to a db class. most people don’t know
much about db. how bad it is ecpecily type 1. I did not know much. about it either till I got it . do not have family
so no one to talk to about this . this blog help’s . your only 51 I think that there are getting close with stem cell
research . you mightcheck out a Dr. Douglas Melton video impressive guy with 2 young son’s who have type 1.
anyway you hang in there to.
That is for sure. We had a crash course in terms of Diabetes T1 education. Thankfully we had a great Endo team and were provided with many classes. We knew absolutely nothing about this beforehand.
Actually I’m 62 now, so I’ve been dealing with this for some time. I only know one other person in my circle (not close, though) that has type 1, so I pretty much just go it alone. My nephew got juvenile diabetes at the age of 12 and he’s now 46 and has dealt with it a long time.
Thanks for the stem cell information. I am interested in that. I checked with a research company (can’t remember the name) and I was one year too old. Sigh.
