For my first 25 years of T1D, no one but family, teachers and close friends knew. But when I started insulin pump and cgm, it was more visible and discussed. First 15 years single injection of Lente. My “mdi” before pump was NPH+ Reg in morning, Reg at dinner, NPH before bed. Adding CGM (medtronic sof-sensors, then dexcom Seven, 4 and 6) definitely more noticeable. But led to me learning of other T1D co-workers!!
But overall, was not bothered by gluco-normals.
I prefered that they offered food/sweets, rather than saying something like, “oh, you’re diabetic, you can’t have this”. Sometimes I had some, especially once I had convenience of pump.
Used some interactions as an education opportunity to others.
I admit, I’m still surprised to silence sometimes. I was just at my orthos office and they have a new PA. When I told him I ride my exercise bike everyday, especially since it helps with my type 1 diabetes Bg control. He immediately spoke up and he said I must have seen some really old technologies along the way.
I never said how long I’ve had type 1, but he assumed I must have had it a long time obviously. The comment caught me totally off guard and I didn’t respond. I will be seeing him again in a few months and make sure he knows, that everyone is not young when they get it.
But gosh, it still throws me when someone in the medical field just doesn’t have a clue.
Well if you said that you are type 1, then it makes sense that he thinks you got it before the age of 30.
If you said LADA then that suggests you got it older in life.
Yes it’s the same condition of autoimmune diabetes, but the two present differently and the onset is very different.
I was diagnosed at 21 and it happened fast , I was still sick with the virus that triggered it. Classic type 1
But LADA often presents slowly over years and so that’s why the diagnoses are different, instead of calling all of us type 1.
I don’t know how old you are, but if say a 60 year old came to me and said they were type 1, I would also assume they had it most of their lives.
Of course he could have asked you your diagnosis date or read your chart. But it sounds like he was trying to create rapport.
The name was misleading (you might grow out of it!) and it’s good that it was changed, but I’m almost certain that fundraising had nothing to do with the older name.
I think the best gift for someone with diabetes is real hard candy …not diet candy…that could be dangerous if mistaken for the real thing. Yet, well-meaning people think sugarfree is the answer to all our problems.
I was diagnosed late in life AND had to deal with private health insurance. I soon learned that LADA was not one of the options in the insurance world. Type 1 got CGM coverage, Type 2 did not. Etc. LADA was not covered for anything as far as I could tell.
@John58 LADA is type 1. LADA is just a descriptive title because when you get type 1 as an adult, it occurs slowly. But you are tested for the antibodies and usually c-peptide production to prove the type 1 diagnosis. LADA has no slot because it is type 1 and often leads to confusion among people and doctors to what it exactly means. It is not an option because it doesn’t have a set meaning, hence just a enhanced description of type 1.
If you haven’t done the testing for type 1, you need to do so, because us type 1’s are given more leeway in the tools available. And the appropriate treatment. Two tests are crucial. An antibody test and a C-peptide test, a lot just test for the GAD antibodies because that is the most common.
An antibody test if positive is the sign you are type 1. Although some type 1’s test negative but don’t make insulin and they don’t know why. A C-peptide measures your insulin production and if low or low normal means you are losing the ability to make insulin and a sign of being a type 1, high or high normal is a sign of being a type 2, because type 2’s are insulin resistant and make more insulin to try to make up for it.
C-Peptide
While most tests check for antibodies, this test measures how much C-peptide is in a person’s blood. Peptide levels typically mirror insulin levels in the body. Low levels of C-peptide and insulin can point to T1D.
Insulin Autoantibodies (IAA)
This tests looks for the antibodies targeting insulin.
Insulinoma-Associated-2 Autoantibodies (IA-2A)
This test looks for antibodies mounted against a specific enzyme in beta cells. Both the IA-2A and GADA tests are common T1D antibody tests.
Zinc Transporter 8 (ZnT8Ab)
This test looks at antibodies targeting an enzyme that is specific to beta cells.
Islet Cell Cytoplasmic Autoantibodies (ICA)
Islet cells are clusters of cells in the pancreas that produce hormones, including insulin. This test identifies a type of islet cell antibodies present in up to 80 percent of people with T1D.
Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase Autoantibodies (GADA or Anti-GAD)
This test looks for antibodies built against a specific enzyme in the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells.
I think you should say that some adults get Type 1 that comes on slowly and that might be called LADA. But some adults have rapid onset of Type 1 and do not have LADA. Actually they are finding that some children also have slow onset diabetes.
I think most of us know that LADA is not an official diagnosis code. It is still Type 1 or Type 2.
I was thinking about the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF, formerly JDF) specifically when I said the word juvenile was intentional to get more attention paid to what is now called Type 1. The focus on children helped them get funds for research and still does. Children who grow up and have to take care of their Type 1 diabetes themselves aren’t quite as appealing and so less familiar still to the public. I knew a communications director at JDRF who said photos of children were more effective. I should have been clearer.
“Sugar diabetes”. I had a bracelet that said that.
“ insulin dependent diabetes” some type 2s are also insulin dependent
Mellitus which means honey is still used even tho there is no honey involved.
Urine is sweet. As is honey. Distinguished from the “other” recognized type of Diabetes, namely Insipidus.
Before understanding the role of insulin, there wasn’t really type 1 or 2, just kids with DM (who died quickly) and older people which DM who mostly developed complications but sometimes died fairly quickly too. Type 1 diabetes did not cause complications. Only death.
Just a comment, type 1 children didn’t always die quickly way back when. (Obviously they did before insulin) My uncle was born in 1919 and developed type 1 as a youth. I just don’t know at what age, whether he was 8 or 19. I just know he was young and under the age of 20 because when my Dad joined the Air Force my uncle already had type 1. Unfortunately no one is alive anymore that would have known. But he managed to live to the age of 37. My grandparents owned a dairy farm and did not have a lot of money. I would have to assume they managed to get him insulin somehow so he could survive.
Mellitus honey or sweet refers to the presence of glucose in urine in those with high blood glucose levels. This is to differentiate from the other form of diabetes, insipidus, which does not affect blood glucose levels but causes extreme thirst and urination because the person cannot retain water.
In both mellitus and insipidus there is the symptom of siphoning which is what diabetes means, excess thirst and urination.
These two words go way back when physicians would actually taste urine, mel for sweet and insipidus for tasteless.
The word diabetes should never be used without the other word, and if it is mellitus it should also have the type, 1, 2 or 3c. This would save a lot of confusion. Now both type 1 and for sure 3c can be insulin dependent, that should be added as well. I am an insulin dependent T2DM, got it?
