The Other Diabetes: LADA, or Type 1.5 - Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults is gradually being understood

[nbreight]

Following Twitch's reply to the "little difference of opinions" Activity and i had about whether Twitch had type 1 or type 2, it turned out she has.... 1.5.

Taaaadaaaa both where right, sort'a, was my first reaction.

But, what is LADA, type 1½?

As the spelled out name indicates, it is autoimmune, thus closer to 1 (sorry....). However because the antibodies that destroy the Beta cells are less numerous for LADA then for type 1 patients, LADA is often initially mistaken as type 2. And this is were This post actually might be important. If LADA patients are treated with insulin from the moment they are diagnosed rather after the oral meds don't work anymore and they are forced to the beta cells can last much longer.

Here is the link to the webpage i "educated" myslelf on: diabetesforecast.org/2010/m...

Cheers,

nbreight.

[Twitch_1 Star]

Thanks for posting this. I should have been more clear in my posting.

I was thought to have T.2 despite the facts that I was slim, active and ate a very healthy diet. Oh, to be that young and fit again! Eventually I ended up collapsing and was hospitalised. It was here that the correct diagnosis was made and I was given insulin. For the most part, I have never looked back.

I tend to forget that LADA isn't that well known. Sorry, I should have given a much better explanation in my original posts.

[nbreight in reply to Twitch_1]

Sorry to hear that you were one of those misdiagnosed

[Gambit62]

There are actually quite a number of variations on a theme called diabetes.

diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-typ...

As well as LADA there are also a number of variations known as MODY and there is even a type of diabetes associated with Alzheimers called type3

diabetes.co.uk/type3-diabet...

MODY variants account for about 2% of the diabetic population. These are also closer to type 1 (insulin production impaired) than type 2 (insulin resistant)

Knowing which type you have is important because it will affect which treatment is best for you ... and in the case of MODY it's important because it is a dominant gene - if you have the gene you will develop the diabetes so useful to know for other family members.

[nbreight in reply to Gambit62]

if you have a certain gene (combination) you MIGHT develop the corresponding diabetes.

[Gambit62 in reply to nbreight]

if you have a MODY variant you will develop diabetes - it is a dominant gene rather than a latent gene.

A MODY variant runs in my mother's side of the family - she inherited the gene from her father - her sisters didn't. I didn't inherit the gene from my mother but my brother did.

This only applies to MODY variants - some have a very limited impact on insulin production and can go totally un-noticed. Others, like the one that runs in my family have a bigger impact - my grandfather managed to control his mainly through diet. My mother is now dependent on insulin - my brother needs drugs that promote his remaining insulin production. Initially he was identified as type 2 and put on metformin and was totally unable to control his sugar levels.

[nbreight in reply to Gambit62]

This is indeed the case for MODY. The other diabetes MIGHT develop.

BTW, didn't wan't to overdo it the other day, but here is the link to the MODY page from the same site i got the LADA information from

diabetesforecast.org/2010/m...