So confused

[Isobel Hunter]

Was diagnosed type 2 diabetes 3yrs ago ffwd im on tablets victoza injection past yr insulin added.I was at hospital apt the nurse said I was now type 1 as I was on insulin is this true .... HELP!!!!

 

[Martin Canty]

Sorry to hear that Isobel, however, there are many T2's who require insulin.... Check with your GP & have tests done to confirm a change in diagnosis between diabetic types rather than taking a nurses word for it.

 

[Robin]

Hello, Isabel. No, I don't think Type 2 can turn into Type 1. I suspect one of two things,
1) You were misdiagnosed and always were a slow onset type 1. There are antibody tests that can distinguish the two, but they are unreliable, especially when time has elapsed since diagnosis. There is also a test called the C Peptide, which measures how much insulin your body is producing, which can give a good indication.
or
2) You are type 2 but require insulin to support your pancreas, but unfortunately some health care practitioners get the wrong end of the stick, and assume that if you are on insulin, you must be type 1!

Whichever type you are, the most important thing is that you are getting treatment that works for you, as an individual.

 

[Rosiecarmel]

There are quite a few type 2 diabetics that eventually need insulin as it is classed as a "progressive disease"

On the other hand there are also type 2 diabetics that don't need ANY medication

 

[KookyCat]

Hi Isobel
Sorry you've been thrown into a bit of a spin by the nurse. As Robin says it's possible you're a slow developing type 1, but it sounds likely from what you've said the nurse may just not quite understand the difference between the two. Lots of people with type 2 use insulin because their pancreas can't cope and needs support with extra insulin. What type of insulin are you on?

I'd check with your GP when you next see them regarding the type just so you feel a bit more comfortable with it 🙂

 

[stephknits]

There are more type 2s on insulin than there are type 1s. I think the nurse probably got the wrong end of the stick. not very helpful for you to hear confusing messages from health care professionals though! And welcome to the forum, glad you found us 🙂🙂

 

[Mr MCC]

Hi, I'm in a similar situation, when I was diagnosed last month I was initially put on metformin as my gp believed I was a T2. I was then admitted into Hospital for a serious lung infection, which messed with my glucose levels, the drs there said my insulin production was too bad to be a t2 but not bad enough for t1. they decided to treat me as a t1 so I have two lots of humulin 1 )level 14) a dayand have a novarapid for emergencies, but they still have me on the metformin?

 

[Ralph-YK]

I read you're other post before this one. Attempt 2:
Last Thursday I was at an Daibetec course with a Diabetic Specialist Nurse. She talked about people getting confused, and type 2s thinking they were now type 1 because they'd started taking insulin. She said they're not. They're still type 2s, who have starting taking insulin.

 

[robert@fm]

Bit late in my reply I know, but I was admitted to hospital on Sunday night to have a fistula done (this occurred about 16:00 Monday), and spent yesterday recovering.

I am an insulin-dependent T2 (definitely T2 as my doses are much larger than a T1 would need), but at least once I have been given advice on dose levels in which the nurse clearly assumed I was T1. 🙄 I was told to increase my dose by no more than 5 units, although I know from my own experience that such a small adjustment would have little or no effect on me. The nurse also missed the fact that I had recently given myself a shot which was 30 units more than is usual for me, and that didn't cause a massive hypo.

 

[Andy HB]

I made this mistake when I first joined the forum.

Basically, I misunderstood the nature of type 1 which is an autoimmune response killing off the insulin producing cells of the pancreas.

Type 2 is caused when the body doesn't use the insulin it produces properly which may then eventually cause the pancreas to fail because it over-produces insulin as a response.

The end result is that type 1 diabetics and some type 2 require insulin. Which was why I got confused. But essentially one does not morph from being type 2 to type 1.

Andy 🙂

 

[DaveB]

Hi. T2s who are on insulin may have quite high levels of insulin in the body due to insulin resistance whereas T1s will have little natural insulin due to islet cell death. This is a big difference in cause and effect. As another poster has said a mis-diagnosed LADA may be labelled T2 as I was, but that is a wrong diagnosis and not T2 becoming T1. The c-peptide test is a good differentiator.

 

[Alba37]

You can of course have both 😡 Scary but true! I think you have either been misdiagnosed Isobel or have progressed to insulin. As Dave said a c-peptide test is one that can be easily done to check. There are somewhere around 20-30% of T2's on insulin, which is a much larger number compared to all T1's.

 

[Ljc]

Hi. It is possible to be misdiagnosed.
Tbh it does sound to me as though that nurse doesn't know enough about diabetes.
Over time t2s can become more and more resistant to our own insulin and perhaps even start producing less of our own , I imagine but don't really know, this is because our pancreas has tired itself out by having to produce so much of the stuff.
Im on insulin now but am definitely t2.
With the insulin resistance, we usually need to inject more insulin than a lot of t1s do.