Technical Article on LADA

Technical article. Still can't find the chart that shows the rate of decline in the pancreas as a function of when diagnosed.

Target Blood Glucose Guidelines

The following are targets as reported by Diabetic Living, Fall 2009:

American Diabetic Association:
Fasting: 70-130
Before Meals: 70-130
After Meals: Less than 180 (1-2 hrs after start of meal)
A1c: Less than 7%

American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
Fasting: less than 110
Before Meals: less than 110
After Meals: Less than 140 (2 hrs after meal)
A1c: Less than 6.5%

Reader's Digest: Hope for Cure for Type 1 in 5 Years

In Feb 2009, Reader's Digest published an article on some research for a type 1 cure.

Here is the article:

In an exciting study in mice, researchers reversed new cases of type 1 diabetes using the cancer drugs imatinib (Gleevec) and sunitinib (Sutent). The mice were bred to develop diabetes, but none of them got the condition while on either drug. In mice with early stages of the disease, 80 percent were symptom-free after two weeks of treatment-and when drugs were given for ten weeks, results lasted even after the regimen ended. Up next: years of human studies to check safety and efficacy. (The researchers say the drugs will likely work only for people with new cases of the disease.)
Available: Not for at least 5 years.

Sounds interesting. I'm always looking out to see how I can keep these Beta cells working.

Latest A1c-- Wrong Direction, More Insulin

Latest result this week was 6.8. Moving in the wrong direction after the 6.3. I now moved up to 8 units of Lantus at night. Weight and exercise regimes are OK, so it looks like the Pancreas is slowly fading on me.

3/1/2008 14.4
5/30/2008 7.4
9/2/2008 7.2
11/19/2008 7.6
4/2/2009 7.1
7/10/2009 6.3
10/28/2009 6.8

My Weight History

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I got lucky and started diligently collecting my data on Jan 1, 2007, before I was diagnosed with diabetes. This gave me some interesting data to look at.

At some point before Mar 1, 2008, my blood sugars started going though the roof (my A1c on Mar 1 was 14.4).

From this graph, it looks like I had extremely elevated blood sugars for quite some time. This is why I thought my diet was so great-- i was essentially starving to death. It didn't matter how much I ate, I kept losing weight. I was drinking a ton of water (and going to the bathroom a ton) to essentially flush all the calories out of body.

Once, I went on insulin (the little circle on the graph), you can see that my weight shot up!

Since, then, I've had to work to maintain my weight.

A1c Results-- Takes a long time to move that ship

Since diagnosis on March 1st, 2008, here are my A1c results:

3/1/2008	14.4
5/30/2008	7.4
9/2/2008	7.2
11/19/2008	7.6
4/2/2009	7.1
7/10/2009	6.3

For the newbie, these numbers should be less than 7 or 6.5 (or according to some, less than 6.0). The 14.4 was so high that most charts don't even go that high. Luckily, I wasn't showing any signs of damage to the eyes, nerves, kidney's, etc. (at least yet!).

The initial insulin really brought the numbers down to a reasonable level. But, there is still a lot of work to do. And, this is not an easy process. I was already exercising quite a bit and the diet was ok.

It is a constant reminder that it takes daily work to get these numbers where they should be.

I'm still researching how the risk levels really change from 5.5 to 6.0, or from 6.0 to 6.5 as an example. It is hard to get a good answer to where these levels should be. And, it may be that there are just too many factors to consider.

Does Byetta Save Beta Cells

As my honeymoon period wound down and my blood sugars started to rise, my doctor put me on Byetta. The idea was to use Byetta to control the post meal spikes rather than go on insulin right away.

He indicated that in some studies in mice, Byetta restored Beta cells. He stressed that in no way have these results shown to be true in humans.

But, as a diabetic newbie, I was willing to try this approach.

I was on Byetta for about 6-9 months and it did lower my post b-fast and post dinner numbers.

For me, a side effect of Byetta was that it made me mildy nauseous to certain types of foods. I compared it to my wife when she was pregnant-- there were just certain foods that I couldn't stand to look at.

Recently, I went off Byetta in favor of Lantus (insulin) because my pre- and post-meal readings were pretty low.

I hope that Byetta helped preserve some beta-cells.

Unusual Honeymoon Period

On March 1, 2008, I was diagnosed with diabetes. It wasn't clear exactly what was going on when I was first diagnosed.

I immediately went on insulin-- Lantus. I started with 10 units per day and over a short period of days worked up to about 16 units per day. Then, as I started to get some lows throughout the day, I eased off on the number of units. Eventually, by the April, I was not taking any insulin.

I stayed off insulin all summer-- from April until late August. By August, my morning fasting readings were starting to creep up, so I went on Byetta to see if that would help. By December, I was back on insulin.

From what people I have said, this is an usual honeymoon period. But, Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA), can develop slowly-- and this seemed to be my case.

A Diet That Wasn't So Great

On Jan 1, 2007, I decided I needed to go on a diet. I weighed about 185 and needed to get down to about 170. So, I started eating better and exercising more.

The diet worked better than I could have imagined.

By July 2007, I was down to 170.

By Sept 2007, I was under 160 and still going.

I weighed in before and after Thanksgiving weekend and actually lost a few pounds after quite a few huge meals.

At this point, I was mildly worried, but mostly was giving credit to my great new diet.

By the start of 2008, I was under 150 and now my wife was quite worried. My diet really wasn't that great (in fact, I was eating a lot more food and losing weight). And, I was drinking a ton of water and couldn't go more than 2 hours without a trip to bathroom. I was quickly becoming concerned as well.

On the morning of March 1st, 2008 when I went to the doctor's office, I weighed 142 and knew that something was wrong.

My blood sugar levels were 540 and I immediately started injecting insulin. My A1c Level was 14.2%. I was off the charts and needed to get this under control quickly.

Turns out that a lack of insulin makes it impossible for the body to process food. So, I was actually slowly starving to death. The diet wasn't so great after all.

Within 14 days of going on insulin and eating at my pre-insulin levels, I had gained 8 pounds. It was time for a real diet now.

Why This Blog?

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 37. Type 1 Diabetes means that your pancreas is failing to produce enough insulin. In most cases, this means that you are dependent on insulin to live. By contrast, Type 2 Diabetes means that your body cannot use the insulin it is making.

My case is a somewhat rare since most Type 1 cases are diagnosed in children and most cases come on pretty fast. Even some folks in the medical profession who deal with Diabetes seemed to be confused by my case.

This type of diabetes is called Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) or Type 1.5.

So, this site is meant to help provide and share information on this type of diabetes.