Hi. I am way earlier to this diagnosis than most as I work 12 hour shifts and started noticing that I only peed during my shift if I ate something and didn’t when I didn’t have time to eat. I am very intuitive about my body and started tracking my blood sugars. Well, long story short, I do not meet the criteria YET, but I am slowly on my way there. Over the last year fasting blood sugars creeped above 100 and postprandial sugars have risen. My HA1C is slowly going up as well and my fasting insulin level is low. I have a BMI of about 20 and am an active runner. I saw an endocrinologist at the university nearby, and despite negative antibody tests she told me she thought I had LADA, but was at the beginning of its uncovering, and it could be a while before I fit a formal diagnosis or needed insulin. Meanwhile, I watch my numbers continue to creep up and I am FREAKING OUT. Like is there anything I can do about this??? She suggested I look at some clinical trials, but I also have rheumatoid arthritis so I am excluded from pretty much all of these, plus I don’t formally have the diagnosis yet. I feel like I’m in this pit of despair where I know my body is slowly destroying my pancreas, yet the only thing anyone can tell me to do is wait until I’ve got a dysfunctional pancreas and then they can start insulin. But what about NOW? Isn’t there anything I can do to slow this down or stop it?? Please help!
Well, the thought is that getting on insulin early may help preserve endogenous insulin production. I was dx’d with T1 32 years ago and I still produce a bit, and I think that has helped me over the years in spite of some long periods when treatment regimes were crude and my attentiveness to it wandered. So, y’know, it’s not great but it’s not a death sentence. If there were some miraculous way to head it off at an early stage there’d be no shortage of articles proclaiming it. I think the best you can do is continue to monitor it closely and start insulin as soon as you can. If you can get yourself tested for antibodies that might help speed the process along.
I agree with DrBB, exogenous insulin, even small amounts (which is all that many people need in the very early stages) is what has been shown to preserve beta cell mass. A low carb or lower carb diet can also really help. I am so sorry that this is happening to you, but this is a great place to get support.
Piling on . . . The Joslin Diabetes Center is pretty much the gold standard of diabetes treatment, much as the Mayo Clinic is to medicine in general. For several years now, Joslin’s policy (and recommendation) has been to put all newly diagnosed T2s on insulin right away.
One reason for this is what has been alluded to above: early intervention with insulin can help greatly to stabilize the situation and establish good control, even if the insulin is only needed temporarily.
hi! i was diagnosed 4 years ago. i caught it early because one of my best friends had been diagnosed two years before me-not as early as you, though! i would also recommend insulin as soon as it can be used safely.
my doctors started me on insulin right away and though i was given both long and short acting, i was able to use only long acting for about two years. i really believe that starting insulin early helped slow things down. my dosage went from 2 units once a day to what it is now-18. i ate lowish carb and learned how everything worked before things got into full swing.
for the first twoyears, controlling everything was a cakewalk and my a1cs were in the 5s mostly.
i also enjoy a very active lifestyle and love running mountain races of between 10 and 15 km. it takes some practice to learn to exercise and use insulin but you can do it!
for now, if they dont want to start insulin, i would go low carb and maybe get a second opinion about starting insulin. as BB said, its not a death sentence, though it takes time to get accustomed to doing things differently.
good luck with everything!
Agree with the other comments so far. Don’t freak out; it’s weird for sure, but totally manageable. Whatever the diagnosis and outcome, make sure you have good data at the right times, whether finger-sticks or from a cgm. If you know how your body is doing you can have great control over this.
Wow you sound v pro active and obviously if do become diabetic of whichever type you are already in the daily routine. Well done for not ignoring. Not sure can be halted but maybe look at nutrition side. Sometimes it is slow to happen certainly was with me. Now T1 on pump. Dx 19yrs ago in pregnancy but had symptoms for years previously.