My diabetes developed very quickly - I had a stomach virus and put my illness down to that, but after losing 17 pounds in 3 days and reaching a point where I couldn't walk across the room without gasping for breath, I called an ambulance and ended up in A&E. I was diagnosed with DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis) which occurs when your body has stopped producing insulin. My blood sugar was 37 mmol/l. All these factors suggested Type 1 rather than Type 2 - Type 2s normally still produce their own insulin so although blood sugar levels might be higher than normal it is highly unlikely they will develop DKA. There are tests that can be done to determine if you are Type 1 as it is an autoimmune disease, although I've never had those tests done. The doctor thought that I had a slow onset form of Type 1, called LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) sometimes also called Type 1.5, and may have had declining insulin production for a couple of years. Then I contracted this stomach virus and this overwhelmed my pancreas' ability to cope with my rising blood sugar levels.
So, usually (but not always) a Type 1 will need insulin right from the time of diagnosis, whereas a Type too can often (but not always!) manage their levels with changes to their diet and activity levels, perhaps combined with tablets. 🙂
Type 2s often find that they have other family members with Type 2 as there is a genetic factor involved. A Type 1 may have no other family members with Type 1, but may have relatives with an autoimmune disease like Coeliac, hypothyroisidm or psoriasis, for example.
